February 9, 2020 WALKING AS HE WALKED
1 John 2:5-6 “but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: verse 6 “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
Verse six above may be the most difficult verse in the New Testament for believes to actually believe, and that it applies to them. That is true because for a long time, we have not been exposed to the complete gospel message. Mainly, we have heard that ‘Yes, we have been saved and we are going to heaven when we die, but we still have a sin nature and we still sin.” This line of thought has penetrated the minds and thoughts of many well-meaning leaders and Christendom in general. One of the central truths of the scriptures, and particular the writings of Paul, has been over looked, misinterpreted, or out-right rejected by many, having a detrimental impact on the lives of countless believers. The tragedy is that by missing this central truth of the gospel, one has no alternative to living life beneath his or her privilege as a child of God. To make my point, do you or I feel a little uncomfortable saying that we can walk as Jesus walked? We probably do. Many pages could be written on this subject, but hopefully what is said here will spur us on to search out the scriptures to see if we have missed a major truth that God has plainly spoken. It’s difficult to know where to start, but one basic truth of scripture is that we have been made new-not refurbished; we have been given a new spirit, a new mind, and a new heart. Paul makes it abundantly clear that the power of sin over us has been broken; we no longer have to sin-we can live without sinning. (This is not about sinless perfection.) We can choose to walk according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh. We have the power to lay aside any sin that would entrap us. Scripture tells us that we have the mind of Christ. Many believe that what Paul said in Romans 7 was his testimony when he said that ‘He did the very things that he did not want to do’ (sin). That was not Paul’s testimony; Paul was describing life in the flesh, what his life was like before He came to know the fullness of Christ; in chapter eight, Paul gives thanks to God for delivering him form life in the flesh. We could go on for a long time with this line of thought, but for now, let us open our hearts and minds, and search out the truth of the scriptures regarding what it means to be made new, to have the power to say no to sin, and to be joined to God. Do not let our pre-conceived ideas, our filters, and beliefs blind us to the truth. The salvation we have in Christ is greater than we now know. We have been raised with Christ and now have the opportunity to walk in newness, with power over sin. If we sin, we do so by choice-not because Christ in us is insufficient. If you do not currently believe that you can walk as Jesus walked, reject that as false and believe that you can walk in His ways, pleasing Him in all you do.
Colossians 2:10a “and in Him you have been made complete,”
Romans 6:1-2, 12 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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