How do you react to a verse like, “Be holy, for God is holy”?
Seriously, like that’s possible!
Perhaps, the Lord gave us this standard to help us realize that all of our own efforts to live righteously are doomed to failure.
I grew up in a church that did a solid job sharing the gospel, but it did a horrible job teaching me to appropriate God’s grace in my daily walk.
They taught a ‘here’s your Bible verse, now just try harder’ approach to Christianity.
Beloved, all that does is leave a Christian frustrated and defeated.
God never intended for us to try harder; He intended for us to boast in our weakness and glory in His strength.
There are many believers caught in the ‘just try harder’ Prime Rib Flesh Pattern.
What do I mean by Prime Rib Flesh?
There are three basic categories for flesh patterns: Yucky, Plain Vanilla, and Prime Rib.
The church loves Prime Rib flesh, because it gets stuff done.
It’s a hard charging, power of positive thinking, you can do it if you just try harder philosophy.
It loves ministry programs. It loves being in charge of ministry programs.
It loves to be in control of everything, because it’s way is always the best way.
It presents itself as having it all together on the outside, but oftentimes, it’s hiding serious strongholds on the inside.
Prime Ribbers know all the answers to Bible Trivia, as they seem to adhere to their list of do’s and don’t’s, but on the inside they can be judgmental and miserable.
Beloved, the only way we can be holy is to appropriate Jesus’ holiness.
He is holy, and He lives in our skin!
We can’t try hard enough!
How do we appropriate Jesus’ holiness? By setting our minds on the truth over and over…
“not I, but Christ; I can’t live the Christian life, but He can through me. Thank You, Jesus, for doing this through me.”
When faced with temptation, acknowledge that the battle belongs to Jesus.
Are you having trouble loving people? Acknowledge your dependence on Jesus to love them through you.
Living in God’s grace means resting and receiving His love and allowing Jesus to express His live and love through you.
Grace does not lead us to indulge our flesh in sin; grace teaches us to say “NO” to ungodliness and live uprightly in His strength as we look for His return.
It’s by God’s grace that we can stop trying harder and start resting in His love and acceptance that is already ours by faith not by performance.
He delights in us always!
Let our battle cry no longer be ‘just try harder;’ but instead be ‘not I but Christ who lives through me!”
Blessings!
Robyn