Finding Your Way In Christ

The Secret to Christian Living

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

By Hannah

I can't tell you how many times I've heard amazing preachers, whom I do love and respect, say the following at the end of a prayer: "We're not perfect Lord Jesus, but we're trying to be more like You."

To me, this sounds like starting a drive on a dead-end road. Jesus doesn't want us to "try to be more like Him." Because, then, we would get the credit when we finally reach our impossible goal of thinking and acting just like Jesus. The goal of being a Christian, is not to try to be more like Jesus. It's simply to stay weak and dependent, watching the mighty, powerful, loving, gracious, indestructible God work in your life. You might say that isn't much of a goal because we're not doing anything! Exactly. We cannot boast and we can't get the credit when we let God work in us. It's all Him. It's so beautiful to see God use weakness!

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 says: "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him."

God loves to use weak people (or I should say people who admit they're weak), because there's room for Him to demonstrate His power and strength. He gets to show off! I've found that God often calls us based on our weaknesses, not our strengths. When we stay weak, there's room for God to be strong. God has personally called me based on my inability rather than on my ability so that He can display His ability...if that makes sense :) When we finally give up and just let God work out His will within us (Philippians 2:13), we can finally experience deep joy in Christ! Giving up our foolish pursuit of trying to be like Perfection, will expose our weakness and God will rejoice because we have opened the door of our hearts to Him! Bottom line, God wants the credit. If trying to be like Jesus is done in our own effort, God doesn't really have anything to do with it. The Lord wants to be involved in our lives! He wants to convict us, grow us, teach us, love us, forgive us, and live through us. We just need to be willing to let Him change us. He will.


Sometimes God allows us to fail when we depend on our own strength. He wants us to learn to depend on Him for everything. Sometimes we'll only realize that letting God work in us is the key to Christian living, when God continues to allow us to fail. Apart from Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5)! I love the way Corrie ten Boom puts it:

"Perhaps only when human effort had done its best and failed, would God's power alone be free to work."

Now, does letting God work in us mean we'll never sin again? Of course not. But God is more patient with us than we are with ourselves. He's so faithful and He'll never give up on us. We've already been made perfect, holy, and righteous because of what Jesus did on the cross (Hebrews 10:12-14). He took our shame, guilt, and sin upon Himself. And after we've accepted Christ as Savior and Lord and we continue to live in shame, guilt, and condemnation, it's like telling Jesus the cross wasn't enough. Jesus came to set us free from shame and guilt (Romans 8:2). Because we, as Christians, are free from shame and guilt, that doesn't mean we keep on sinning and living how we want. However, God's grace and this freedom gives us the confidence to live for God, knowing that when we fail, we'll fall right into the arms of unfailing love. "Trying to be like Jesus," is actually wasting God's time. When He could be working in us, transforming us into His likeness, we're trying to be like Him! He wants the credit and the glory so lets give Him our weakness and watch Him work. When you let God work in you, you effortlessly become more godly, wise, joyful, loving, and zealous for the Lord! You become more like your Creator when you let your Creator work in your life. This is not because you have tried to be like your Creator. By just simply resting in the work of Jesus and letting our loving Savior work in us we actually become like our Savior!

Here's a quote from one of my favorite Christian writers, Watchman Nee, about living the Christian lifestyle:


"We labor all our lives to be Christ-like, only to find that such a goal was impossible from our first effort. While we struggle to be more Christ-like and grow more discouraged daily when it doesn't happen, He simply wants to live out His life within us. For to me, to live is Christ (Philippians 1:21). It is Christ Himself living through us; speaking, witnessing, fathering, befriending, writing, and singing through us! I don't want to be more like Jesus; I want Jesus Himself living within me. Once I saw this truth, it was the beginning of a new life for me. From here on, your daily life can be summed up in one phrase, 'Walk in His love.'"


 That's the secret to Christian living! Letting your loving Savior work in you and live through you. He can't wait to hear you say, "I give up." Because the Lord is a Gentleman, He won't push His way in and work in you if you don't want Him to. If you want to try to be more like Jesus, He'll let you do that. He will allow you to fail. He wants so desperately to work out His will within you! I pray you will turn away from working to earn God's favor, and get started on the amazing path of learning to live in His grace!

  "The Christian life is lived when we receive the life of Christ within us as a gift." -Watchman Nee


Have an amazing day!