Dead Works part 5
The reason why it is so important to repent from dead works--to have our CONSCIENCE purged of dead works--is that this life is not supposed to be a struggle. And, as always, I'm not saying that once you get born again, or accept Jesus as your Savior, or whatever other way of saying it there is, everything will be exactly the way you want it to be. That's unrealistic. Even for a believer. Because things being in Divine Order doesn't MEAN that the are exactly the way YOU want them to be. Being in Divine Order means, "on earth as it is in heaven." And, believe it or not, that's how things already are. The Kingdom came when the King of kings took up residence in us. Because that's what the Kingdom IS; the realm where the King rules and reigns. The realm where LOVE rules and reigns. And one of the characteristics of love is that it (HE) doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. Doesn't demand His own way... and doesn't try to GET His own way. What I'm trying to say is... let me say it like this: I used to cuss like a sailor when I was younger. I thought, "words are words. What's the big deal?" And as I writer I thought it was pretty grown up to pepper my speech with adult language. But then, about the time I reconnected with the church and my pastor, something changed. And it didn't come from me WANTING to change, or TRYING to change. That's dead works, in a nutshell. If you aren't good enough to begin with, how can you somehow BECOME good enough on your own? Answer: You can't. But when you repent of those dead works... when you totally and completely shift your thinking and your focus from one thing to another... when you LET the mind of Christ that's already in you BE in you... that's when a real and lasting change comes. Not from the outside-in, but from the inside-out. From the heart. And that's why, when Logan started to talk, and to discover that there are some things you can say, and some things you probably shouldn't, I felt 100% comfortable telling him, "Little buddy, you can say ANYTHING you hear me say." Because my conscience had been purged of cuss words. And listen, I'm not condemning anybody. It doesn't offend me when someone says a four letter word. That's not the point. The point is that TRYING to change will get you nothing but frustration and failure. But RECEIVING the change that took place 2,000 years ago on the cross gets you totally and completely out of the old and into the new. Things that used to take up a lot of space in your head are squeezed out by things like forgiveness, and mercy, and love. No man can serve to masters, right? There isn't enough time, or room, for both. And here's where we can hang our hat: 1 John 1:5, "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." God is light. There is no darkness in Him at all. God lives in you. LIGHT lives in you. There is no DARKNESS in you at all. So stop struggling. Stop trying so hard. And just because swearing was turned off like a light for me doesn't mean it will be for you. The maturation process of understanding how perfect we are and understanding what it means to BE perfect takes time. But when your conscience is purged... that's when things DO, in fact, get easy. That's when life stops being a struggle and starts flowing out of our hearts!