Not Good Enough - Galatians 3:2-4

I was reading The Message translation tonight, and began to think about what Paul had writeen to the Galatians in Chapter 3. Check this out:

"Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!" (Galatians 3:2-4, The Message)

No one ever said the Christian life goes uphill after you are saved. In fact, the Christian life, with all of its spiritual highs and lows, looks more like a heart monitor, or a printout of an earthquake. There are going to be times when you are so spiritually high that you just have to tell everyone you know run into about this Jesus who saved you, and then there are going to be times when you are so spiritually low that it is totally discouraging.

But after reading this, I stopped to meditate on my own walk with Christ, and on my spiritual highs and lows, and something occurred to me: when I am at my lows is when I take my eyes off of Christ!

It is not new information, and something that is so obvious that I probably new it, but I just never brought it into consciousness. It is those times when I start thinking that I have this whole "Christian" thing figured out, and I really start feeling good about myself, that I come crashing down. When I really start puffing up my chest and feeling super spiritual because of what I have doneand not because of what God has donethat I fall flat on my face. Why? Because I can't do it on my own!

No, it is impossible to live the Christian life yourself. In fact, the way the Bible puts it, you can't live the Christian life at all! Paul says that nothing he does has anything to do with his Christian life - it is ALL JESUS! That is amazing, disheartening, and encouraging all at the same time.

It is amazing because of the sheer supernatural activity that occurs. God lives through me! I don't know why He would even want to, but He does, and that is amazing in and of itself. God knows what is best for my life, and as long as I believe that and focus on Him, then the best will come about for my life. However, when I decide that I know what is best (which is what happens, either consciously or subconsciously whenever I choose sin over God), I usually mess things up horribly and have to run back to God to clean it up.

It is disheartening because, as a human, I can't do it. Paul says that to live by the law is void. You can try your whole life to live by the Law, and it still will not be good enough because you can't do it. Jesus said on the sermon on the mount that to even look at someone with lust is sin, or to hate your brother is the same as murder - so there is no way a human can make it through this world without sin!

But, in the end, it is encouraging, because I know that I am not good enough. That sounds like an oxymoron, I know. But the good news of the Gospel is that, while we were not good enough, Jesus Christ decided to step down and take the punishment for us so that we could be good enough. He started the whole process of salvation, and He will end it - not us.

So, we must stop thinking that we can do it. We can't. We have to give our lives totally to Christ every second of the day if we are to live this Christian life. That is what is meant by the phrase "dying to ourselves". We have to say no to what we want and focus on what God wants, and in the end, we have a much happier life because of it - and also an eternal home in Heaven.