HALF YEAR EVALUATION: THE STRUGGLES OF LIVING RIGHT
It was June 30, 2014, and we have lived 181 days in the year 2014. We should be thankful to God for the gift of life. We are not unaware that not all who started the year are a-life. Also we should be grateful for the gift of His grace and mercy. Without His immeasurable grace and mercies, many of us could have been crushed and dead. We began the year in high spirit and hopes. We remembered at the Cross-Over worship service, we made vows and resolutions to renew our commitment to God and one another. We prayed to God to help us and make us turn new live and begin to live right. One question we should ask is: how have we fared in our half year report? I do not know about you, in this society dominated by distractions, I have been struggling daily to live right or doing the right thing. My experience revealed it had not been easy.
Unfortunately, even before the end of January or at most February, many have seen themselves falling apart. Some like dogs have gone back to their vomits (i.e. doing the very things they vowed not to do again). It has become so bad and ugly that some seem to live in deceit and deny the extent to which they had fallen. Some were so ashamed to accept their fallen state or even to ask God again for forgiveness. They had asked for forgiveness over and over again for the same wrong doings. Most resolutions have been completely abandoned or discarded due to repeatedly breaking them. Yet we wonder why our prayers were not answered or why we were not experiencing miracles and breakthroughs. Surprisingly, God has not given up on us. Our success is not measured by how many times we have failed but by the times we refused to quit.
Many started by vowing: This year I shall get closer to God; meditate and pray day and night! We could imagine how many days and times we jumped out of our beds and houses without saying a word of prayer? Some have totally forgotten the vows they made. Others get to realize their failings and simply say God forgive me, I know You understands. They do not pray to God to give Him what He doesn’t have but all in our own interest and goodness. Some vowed I shall fast at least once a week, say perhaps on Wednesdays or Fridays. Those were the days their unfriendly friends invited them for breakfast. Those were the days their spouses served them breakfast on bed. Those were the days they ran into their best dishes and couldn’t resist the aroma. After they had satisfied themselves, they wonder what happened. Does that sound familiar? You are not alone; still don’t give up!!!
Have your ever wondered where God is in your relationship and decided to create time to love God and your spouse? You vowed to bridge the gap between you and your significant half. You know God asked wives to submit to their husbands as unto the Lord and husband to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and died for her. Has that being a mental thing to you and you struggled with bringing it into your heart but still can not fix it. It has been same o, same o!!! If you create time to love and fall in love with God, He will teach you how to love your spouse and other people. Is your mind asking you, “Since I made that vow have I continued to be nasty on my spouse and children? I have kept secrets from him/her that other people know. I have hoarded and molested him/her emotionally, physically and financially, etc. We still quarrel on our way to Church services and nagged at each other through our anniversary suspiciously. Each time she angered me I recalled all the wrongs I had claimed to have forgiven.” Perhaps to forgive is different from to forget!! I remember I vowed that I shall provide for my household first and foremost before paying attention to other issues. I do not think I have had much improvement on this issue yet. Surely you are not alone!!! But what efforts are you making to improve it?
Did you vow to attend events promptly this year? I mean there is no African time anymore! I would break the habit of lateness. Furthermore, I shall forgive all my unfriendly friends. This year I shall attend Church services regularly; pay my tithe dutifully and give God my offerings sacrificially to support the work of God. This year, I shall help to clean the Church at least once a month but have not done it even once. Perhaps you did just once, and stop for no factual reason. This year I shall be involved in God’s business by way of personal witnessing. If the basket of souls is examined, would you have a soul to show for? Someone spoke to me about Christ and since I got saved I have not shared God’s goodness with anybody. I do not think I am alone in this failing. Perhaps like many often think, it is the work of Evangelists, Pastors and Church leaders to grow the Church. I may be among those who are ashamed or claim not to know what to say. I vowed to honor my parent more this year by sending them money to help them in their daily needs. But I always feel I do not have enough yet to remember them. I may as well have been denying myself parental blessings by not seeing to their needs.
Apostle Paul, a man from Greece wrote to the saint in Rome (Romans 7:15-25). He shared with them his own inner struggles with wrong and right. He was a former persecutor of the people of the Way; a direct convert of Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus (Acts 9). He was a devoted disciple and a Jew of the Jews; one who hand written most letters in the New Testament. Yet he struggled with living right. Paul was not a perfect man; no body is, indeed. He honestly admitted his shortfalls and weaknesses. He did not pretend or try to cover his shortcoming or weaknesses. He failed severally and was worried; yet he did not consider himself a failure.
In verses 15-17, he confessed, “Infact, I don’t understand why I act the way I do. I do not do what I know is right. I do the things I hate. Although I don’t do what I know is right, I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them” (CEV). In verses 21, & 23, He added, “The law has shown me that something in me keeps me from doing what I know is right…….But in every part of me I discover something fighting against my mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do.” Apostle Paul frankly admitted records of interrupted failures and broken resolutions: I have discovered this principle in life: that when I want to do what is right, I end up doing what is wrong. He was speaking to his contemporaries and us (saints of God). This man of God reflected on his experiences with vows and resolutions. Making a vow or resolve is a great commitment!!! It is better not to make a vow than make and not keep it (Judges 11:30-40; 1 Samuel 1:11, 22). Yet at a latter date, Paul could testify, “I have fought a good fight and have won the race. I now wait for the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give in heaven (2 Tim. 4:7-8).
I am tempted to ask: why was Paul so frank and honest about his struggles of living right? He realized he could not hide from God just as we cannot. Honesty is what God needs from us. He felt uncomfortable with his sins and shortfalls. By so doing, he was also confessing his sins to God and one another. Furthermore, it was to encourage us in our Christian journeys. Are you comfortable with your sins or do there bother you? Paul felt concerned about his shortfalls that he was struggling with. He always tried to fix them in his own way but failed. Paul searched his mind just like King David in Psalm 51:3-4, 12. This passage also reminds us the cry of Jeremiah (17:9-11) saying, “You people of Judah are so deceitful that you even fool yourselves and you can’t change. But I know your deeds and your thoughts and I will make sure you get what you deserve. You cheat others but everything you gained will fly away like birds hatched from stolen eggs. Then you will discover what fools you are” (CEV). Paul also reasoned with Proverbs 4:24 that admonished “Never tell lies or be deceitful in what you say.” Furthermore, it reminds us of Jesus commendation of Nathanial, “Behold an Israelite in who has no deceit” (John1:47). Paul wept, “What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die? Thanks God, Jesus Christ will rescue me” (vs. 24 and 25). Paul asked who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death. He found an answer in Jesus Christ, our Lord. We also would find a solace in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and Life. No one comes to the Father except through Him (John14:6). Paul’s answer to applicable to us too (John 3:16). Jesus is the answer to human sin problems. Even before His birth the Holy Spirit revealed His name, Jesus meaning a Savior. He will save His people from sins (Matthew 1:21). Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). Apostle Paul reaffirmed, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). Also read vs. 12-15; Acts 5:30-32; Heb.7:23-25; 1 Peter 1:8-9; Gal 1:3-5; Eph 2:4-8. These passages sum up that: i). Jesus is the answer to our sin problem. ii). Jesus solved the problems of the consequence of sin. iii). Jesus destroyed the work of the devil (1 John 3:8). iv). Jesus through His death destroyed him who had the power of death, that’s the devil. v). Jesus gives us peace and eternal life.
Apostle Paul explained the work Christ did for us when He saved us and the effect of His work in human hearts. According to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5). Sin brought the death penalty which automatically separated us from God and we are lost into eternal hell. We become lost when we sin….but Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). The word Salvation means deliverance and the spiritual usage of this word has 2 fold results: i).Salvation from sin and ii) Salvation from the penalty of sin. When we are saved from sin and its penalty, God gives us eternal life right then (John 3:16). Our names are written down in the Lamb’s book of life. Beware that only those who have their names in the Lamb’s book of life will be permitted to enter into heaven (Rev. 20:15, 21: 17 and 22:19).
Salvation is describes by different terms: i) Salvation ii) Justification iii) Conversion iv) New Birth, etc. Each of these words conveys different aspect and is related to the same experience. However to make our salvation complete all these different experiences had to happen to us at one time.
a) Forgiveness: As we hear the Gospel, we are convicted of sin in our hearts. In order to be drawn to God, we have to confess our sins and ask Jesus for forgiveness of all past sins (Acts 13:38, 26:18; 1 John 1:9-10).
b) Justification: To justify means to free from guilt in a court when a man is tried. If he is found guilty, the judge can pardon or forgive him but everybody knows he committed the crime. But if the man is tried and he is found innocent he goes out of that court with head high, a smile on his face and no bad mark on his record. He was found not guilty and that is what justifies us from our sins. It means: i). Jesus took our sins and we are not only forgiven but stand before God as though we had never done anything. ii). Jesus took all our blames and so when Jesus forgives us, the Father received us as though we have never sinned (Romans 3:23-28).
c) Conversion: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). Turn from sin to God; give up your sins and unrighteous ways of the corrupt generation. Listen to everything that Christ tells us to do and you will be forgiven. This reflected what King David did in Psalm 51:9-13. Also Matthew 18:3 says, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
d) New Birth: This is a foundational doctrine of Christian faith where one experiences salvation through faith in Christ by recreating of spiritual life in a human heart. When a person hears the word of God and receives it into his heart, in response he confesses Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; he becomes saved [born again]. The word, in the power of the Holy Spirit recreates the spirit man and turns it into a living being. The person sees his wreck state and long for God’s forgiveness by putting faith in Jesus Christ. He accepts that Jesus Christ, the son of God died for him and resurrected to save his soul from sin.