“But we have this treasure in clay jars” (2 Corinthians 4:7) “For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practise the very evil that I do not wish” (Romans 7:19) The hard part of following Christ is that I am still two things. “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” said Jesus to Peter, and I know both sides of that equation all too well. Reading Paul this week has been a reminder (both of the problem and of the solution). I am a clay pot who also carries spiritual treasure. I am wasting away AND being renewed! (vs 16) My part in the management of this duality is to keep my eyes on eternal things. ( Vs. 18) I may not be able to change the fact that I am two things. But I can have one focus, one heart, one goal. When I do, being two things is not as hard as I once thought.
I was reading last night about this very thing. My SS teacher is a Baptist seminary student and we are making our way through a book by W Ian Thomas.
In his book, The Indwelling Life of Christ, he started out with a question from Galatians 3:3:
….After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
He then adds “The flesh within you has never ceased to love sin, and never will. Given half a chance, it will always manifest its corruption and depravity. This is why the godliest of men still have latent within them the most terrible potential for evil. It is the godliest of men who know it best, for it is the acknowledgment of this very fact which is the secret of their godliness. They have learned, often by bitter experience, that character does not change for the better by improving the flesh, but only by allowing it to be replaced by the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can render its pernicious appetites inoperative. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9). Be persuaded therefor of the wickedness of your own heart, and humbly confess it before God. Never be shocked or dismayed at the amazing capacity for sin that lies within you, for this is the nature of your case. It is only when you are honest enough to face up to these facts that you will have, on the one hand, a big enough view of what the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to do for you; and on the other hand, the desire to let Him do it!”
Father,
I thank you that it is ALL about you. I relax and surrender to what you are doing in and through me.
We want to know you!! {All For Your Glory!}. Amen.