Not Habit, But Christ

Not Habit, but Christ

I am hanging out this week, in the letter to the Galatians.  Once again, I’m blown away by the reality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

Paul, God’s chosen instrument, called to be an Apostle, said he received the Gospel by revelation of Jesus Christ – he was not taught by man but from God.  And in this letter he states that he stood firm and did not yield or consent to the falseness opposing  the TRUTH of God not even for one hour, so that the TRUTH might remain with us!

What is this TRUTH?

Well for one, God’s Son spoke while on earth and said the TRUTH sets us free – and that He Himself is the Truth.  This has not changed one iota!

This should make us perk up like my dog perks his ears when I say, “Dog treat.”  Even a dog has good sense to sniff around when he smells a bone and he starts digging.  As far as I am concerned, we’d advance so much further in our understanding, if we “dig beneath the surface” and go for the riches of Christ!

If the Gospel could be understood intellectually – why in the world would I need revelation from the Holy Spirit?  Why would Paul write Ephesians 1 with a prayer of asking God to show us the knowledge of His Son in all spiritual wisdom and understanding?

Oh my- the Gospel of Christ is incredible indeed.  Christ is not some holy habit we now learn to look and only appear righteous to the world.  Even the world tries to do that!

“These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (power of sin).  Colossians 2:23.

Christ is resurrection life to our very being and the life we are to live, is coming from the power of His resurrection life, not developing new habits by human efforts.  I learned to brush my teeth through a habit – yes, now I don’t even think about it.  But that’s the natural life here.  Habits DO NOT enable me to conquer the power of sin – they never have and never will.  Christ alone is the power over ALL sin!

In a way, it sounds like I’m against habits of any kind – but that’s not the point I am making.  I guess I’m saying we’ve not realized WHO IT IS WHO dwells in our hearts through faith and that we are called to live through Him and by Him.

All the Lord Jesus can be in us is faithful.  So when we put our trust in Him, we are truly looking in the right FACE, the right Place!

In other words, He alone can “pull this off!”  And when we put our trust in Him, HE will NOT fail!

This is supposed to free us – free us from ourselves “trying” to live the Christian life.  It is like a car in a ditch gunning the accelerator with the wheels spinning – just sitting in the car saying “well, on the next spin and acceleration we’ll get it!”  That’s not faith – that’s futility.

Faith is simply this: To quit gunning and spinning, and realize the impotence of the flesh and put all your faith in the LIVING Christ dwelling in our hearts (that’s not passive but alive).  Then and only then will we get out of the ditch and start walking a life from Him that’s alive and real, not outward appearances.

Looking at Jesus alone,

Sue Gaither