Awake To Righteousness!

Beloved,

How do you think people would respond to this question "Who am I?" Often they'd respond with statements like "I am a teacher, I teach at a school" or "I am a doctor, I work at the hospital" or "I am a student, I study at MGS". Don't you think answers like these are more suitable to the question "What do you do?" People naturally identify themselves by what they do. In other words, people do what they think they are.

Therefore it follows that if you know you are a policeman, you will act like one. If you know you are a doctor, you will act like one. If you know you are a teacher, you'd act like one, definitely not like one of the students right? :-) Even a student when appointed a prefect will act like a prefect, no longer an ordinary student.

This is also especially true in children. If a child thinks he is naughty, he will be. If he thinks he is caring, he will be. If she thinks she is a dancer, she'll dance. So be careful what we say to our kids. If we want him to be caring and loving, tell him "You are a caring and loving boy" and watch that seed you planted in his heart grow :-) Has anyone seen a boy become good by telling him over and over how naughty he is? It just reinforces what he thinks of himself. What he needs to know is that he is a good boy so he can grow into one. :-) Use phrases like "You are a good boy and good boys don't punch others" instead of "Why are you so naughty? Punching is bad! You naughty boy!"

Have you ever wondered how people change once their "role" changes? A swinging bachelor one year can change to become a loving husband the next year and into a responsible father the following year. That is if he accepts the role he is being put into. If he does not accept that role, he may try his best to be a loving husband or a responsible father, he will burn out from all that trying. He may in fact feel trapped in that situation and may long for escape... because in his mind he still thinks he is a swinging bachelor.

This is also why some people who have been retrenched or retired struggle very hard to get back on their feet. They are so used to being the person they thought they were by what they used to do. So when they stop what they were doing, they become lost, they don't know who they are anymore. They lose their sense of self-worth and confidence and it really becomes a slippery slope from thereon.

But do you know that this part of human nature is the key between living a victorious Christian life or a defeated Christian life?

Usually when we get to church to listen to a sermon, the pastor will exhort us to live good lives, love our spouses and children, join a cell, participate in some church outreach program, don't cheat, don't steal, deal honestly in business etc, and rightly so! We have lists & lists of good behaviour we know we have to keep if we are to be good Christians. But in our minds we know we are not really capable of keeping them all right? We sincerely try, and some of us try very hard... but we sometimes still fail... and we think we become sinners/unrighteous again, we repent, ask God for forgiveness and for strength not to do it again, then hope for the best the next time around right? We are righteous until the next sin and then we have to ask for forgiveness and strength all over again.

That, my friend, is living a defeated Christian life... wondering when we will next sin does not give us much hope for the future does it? These cycles of defeat makes us wonder what is so great about living the Christian life?

But that really is the problem. In our minds we think we are still sinners... ever heard the phrase "We are sinners saved by grace"? If we still think we are sinners, then guess what, we will sin. I really cannot agree with that phrase. I can't find anything in the New Testament to support it. I'd make an adjustment and say "We were sinners, saved by grace, made righteous to live as saints for the glory of God". Amen?

This is the way God made us, it is how we are wired up... We become who we think or know or believe we are. Right believing will produce right living.

Who does the bible say we are? Still sinners? No!! The bible says we are a new creature in Christ, the old things has passed away, new things has come. (2 Cor 5:17 NASB) If we know and believe we are a new creation, born again in the spirit, we are no longer sinners! Just like a frog is no longer a tadpole, a butterfly is no longer a caterpillar. We may fall into sin but God does not see us as sinners anymore! In fact, He does not even remember it! (Heb 10:17)

Now, what if you know you have been declared righteous by Jesus' blood, not by your works? (Rom 5:9)
What if you know you are the righteousness of God in Christ? (2 Cor 5:21)
What if you know that the righteous man has God's blessings on his head? (Pro 10:6)
What about if you know if you a king? And a priest? (1 Pet 2:9)
And what about if you know you are a child of the Most High God? (John 1:12)
What if you know your big brother is Jesus? And you are co-heirs of God with Him? (Rom 8:17)
What if you know you are seated with Christ at the right hand of God? (Eph 2:6) Above ALL principalities and powers? (Eph 1:21)

How will knowing and believing all these facts about yourself change the way you live?

In other words, we should NOT be trying to do righteous acts to become righteous. We do righteous acts because we ARE righteous. We act like royal priests because we ARE. We begin from a position of righteousness therefore our acts or fruits will follow.

Notice how the apostle Paul spends all the early chapters in his letters explaining to the saints their position in Christ before telling them what is right and wrong behaviour in the later chapters? To the saints in Corinth who were committing adultery with temple prostitutes, he could have told them to "repent of your sins and seek forgiveness!", instead he reminded them of who they are; "do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" (1 Cor 6:19 NASB) He focused not on right doing... but rather on right being or right believing. When the Corinthians believe that their body is the temple of God (right being), they will not want to defile it with prostitutes any longer (right doing). Hallelujah!

Or when husbands know that they are to their wives as what Christ is to the church, they will give up their lives for her (Eph 5:25). And when wives realise that their husband is to them what Christ is to the church, she will submit to him (Eph 5:23,24). Hallelujah!

So my friends, it is all about right believing, right thinking. The practical advise Paul gave us can be found in Rom 8:6 and Rom 12:2. I like the translation in NASB of Rom 8:6 which reads

"For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace" (Rom 8:6 NASB)

We are to wake up every morning and decide to set our mind on the Spirit, not on the flesh. When we think we are sinners trying to do good deeds, we are setting our minds on the flesh, our efforts. However when we think that by the finished work of Christ on the Cross, we are new creatures, righteous and blameless before God, we set our minds on the Spirit and our fruit will be life and peace.

So does that mean we won't ever sin again? Well, even if we do commit a sinful act, it does not change who we are, which is the righteous of God in Christ. When a butterfly falls into a heap of dung, does it turn into a housefly? No, it remains a butterfly, however it won't remain in the dung, it will just fly away back among the flowers where it belongs. Likewise for us, if we do fall into sin, we don't suddenly transform from being a saint to a sinner. Let's just get up, remind ourselves who we are in Christ and move on; for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).

But my friends, I believe that we all can live victorious, righteous life on earth! The key is not to focus on the right deeds we need to do (ie keeping the law) but to focus our minds to know the love of Christ (Eph 3:19), what His love accomplished for us on the cross, which will result in love acts flowing out of us; for we love because He has first loved us (1 John 4:19).

When we focus on trying to do good deeds, it is like trying to keep the law. And Paul states that the power or strength of sin is the law! (1 Cor 15:56) Believe it or not, when we try to keep the law, it actually activates our flesh and gives strength to sin. Read about how Paul struggled to keep the 10th commandment in Rom 7.

So don't focus on what we should or should not do but focus on the love of Christ, what he did for us, which resulted in who we are in Christ, the righteousness of God. As we focus on "we are the righteousness of God in Christ", sin will lose its strength over you and you will lose that desire to want to indulge in that sin.

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Rom 6:14 NASB)

So do not put yourself back "under law", that is trying to do good to be righteous, but be "under grace", trusting in His abundance of grace and accepting righteousness as a gift! (Rom 5:17)

That is why Paul later in Romans exhort us to renew our mind!

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom 12:2 NASB)

This verse makes it very clear that we transforms ourselves by renewing our mind. In another place in 2 Cor 10:4,5, Paul talks about destroying mental fortresses/strongholds of wrong thinking and speculations.

My beloved friends, when you know and believe you are all that the Bible declares you are in Christ, you will REIGN IN LIFE! In THIS life, not the life you get one day in heaven. :-) And you will not only reign over sin in your life, but you will reign in all areas of your life. There are blessings and promises that cover every area of your life that God has given to the righteous. And they are all YES to you in Christ! (2 Cor 1:20) Hallelujah!

For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:17 NASB)

Spend your time learning, believing and receiving all you can about the abundant grace showered upon you and the gift righteousness that has been given to you. You can only become who God says you are when you really think and believe it.

Let us all therefore "awake to righteousness and sin not!" (1 Cor 15:34 KJV)

For His Glory!