Being Intentional in your walk with Christ
Life is an interesting paradox of choices and labor. We make plans and get emergencies. We set goals and get mouths to feed. We set to do good and evil presents itself disguised as good. Even our prayer lives can be like rummaging through the trash heap to find words we know we don’t deserve to speak sometimes. Yet we live to make choices by the grace of God, to go through plans we can scarcely figure out, overcoming temptations from inside us along the way because we know by faith, God will answer our prayers.
We cannot always have perfect outcomes, but we do have a God who is patient with us. Our God reminds us many times, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, Hosea 6:6. As early as Leviticus, God called to the Israelites to remind them that his desire is mercy. That meant and still means, above all God wants us to show mercy to one another. Jesus Christ gives examples of how we could show mercy in the beatitudes found in Matthew chapter 5 and others going through chapter 7.
How can we show mercy?
Jesus tells us in John chapter 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”. The Psalms mention that the commandments of the Lord brings joy to the heart. But what does that have to do with us? One of the things I have discovered while living this life in Christ is that following the commandments of the Lord frees me from many things. God in His grace gave us power to resist sin. Not that we don’t struggle. When we mature in the Spirit of God, we find power has been given to us to overcome the sins we tend struggle with.
But why should we keep the commandments when the law is dead?
Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments”. That is worth thinking about for any Christian. Reading the Bible carefully, Jesus says in Luke 8:18 ‘careful how you listen’. We fall to temptation. We do wrong. These are unintentional and we try not to repeat what we did before. It is not an easy road we walk. But we do not intentionally go out to sin. Paul, tells us in Romans 6 that we ‘should not sin in order that grace abounds’.
So, we have the power to resist sin. The same sins we repeat sometimes. But we were set free, not to be victims of sin forever, but to overcome sin by the Spirit as we mature in our faith. The more I study the word of God, the more I realize studying does something to us from the inside out. The word of God comes alive in us, and we can do them. We can apply the word of God to our lives. The more we intentionally do the word of God, not just read – the more the word of God becomes our way of life. Intentionally living the commandments of the Lord gives us the power to resist sin as we mature in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Should we sin because we mature in the Spirit and don’t need the Law? Again, Paul tells us in Romans 6 that we should not. Each of the apostles in his letter warns us to avoid the sins we are able. That does mean examining our lives against the word of God. If you see things in you, you shouldn’t be doing, don’t panic, pray instead. Jesus is our advocate before God when we screw up, 1 John 2:1. But we should still live intentionally righteous so that our acts before God are right (Not because we want to be saved by our righteous acts, but because we are saved by Jesus’ righteous acts). Thinking that we “NEED” to do XY or Z to be saved isn’t the way to live. Knowing that we are empowered to live through Jesus Christ is the righteous way to live.
So how do we do this without works?
James 2:20 explains that faith without works is useless. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul explained that we are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”. When we believe in Jesus our faith allows us to do the commandments of the Lord in righteousness, because we believe God. We are redeemed for the kingdom of heaven, after all. We do not have to fall into sin because we are tempted. In Jesus, we have power to resist temptation. Plus, God leaves us a way out of temptations, we only need to choose that way when we see it.
That doesn’t mean we don’t sin. Ecclesiastes reminds us of what people mean when they say we’re not perfect. Eccl 7:20 says, “Surely there is no man who only does right and does not sin”. We don’t use that as an excuse to sin when we decide to live intentionally, instead, we lean on Jesus when we don’t feel strong enough. With our pure intentions in Christ, we do the good works that we have been redeemed to do. We do not do good works because we want to be redeemed. Instead, we realize we are redeemed to do good.
Galatians 5:22-24 tells us that there is no law against those who live by the fruits of the Spirit. When we intentionally walk in the way of God, who is Love – we walk in the way of Love. Think about it, we are redeemed to be forgiving, peaceful, patient, loving, holy, godly and so many good things. So then why should my intentions lead me to continue being ratchet, when I could do good with my ghetto-ness?
Jesus tells us that He was sent into the world so we could live abundant life. That isn’t about money, but about the quality of life we can choose to live. When we study to do the will of God, we find out that we are enabled to walk in the goodness of God. We can put away lying, greed, desire to murder, lust, and many other acts that tend to trap us. We do fall. But we have Jesus Christ who rescues us from unrighteousness. Salvation who directs our steps.
Living intentionally to follow the way of the Lord leads us into His righteousness, Matthew 6:33. We fall. We get up. We try not to repeat. We mature. The Bible tells us that older men should be sober. With the power we are given in Jesus our lives can look a lot different than the jumbled mess screaming don’t judge me! We can instead be those who say; Lord bless me and my adversary, because we need you so we don’t do stupid again. Jesus tells us that whatever we ask in His name he would do in John 14:13. Believing in Jesus, we can overcome because Jesus already overcame John 16:33.
That means sin no longer has power over us. We are given life to live abundantly. That is why we were redeemed. To repent and come to the kingdom of God and carry the message of salvation and, the Kingdom of God to those who have not yet decided.
For those who have questions. We are born in sin. That means we are born to the wrath of God. We can choose to live and not believe in God, which means we’re condemned, John 3:18. When we choose to believe in Jesus, we are forgiven and redeemed from sin and death. Thank God that He extended this free grace to a dying world so that many could live with Him forever. You are invited to eternal life by believing in Jesus. You are redeemed and God justifies you for the kingdom of heaven. That is the gospel message. The redeemed who choose to believe God, by believing in Jesus are justified as righteous and will inherit the kingdom of heaven when this present life we know ends. When life here ends, judgment will begin. But God has prepared for us who believe, a city in His kingdom– Revelation 21:2-6
