Devotional || I'm not cut out to be a Christian!

    Have you ever had a moment of despair when you've just had it with being a Christian? Fighting sin seems too hard, and you're tired of trying to be perfect. Maybe you've thought "I'm not cut out to be a Christian!" Well, I have!


   Light-bulb moment: we're missing the point. None of us are naturally equipped for this life. We're all born as sinners, unable to please God on our own. That's why Christ came to take the punishment for our sin upon Himself and give us His own righteousness. It's not about anything we do at all!

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them

Ephesians 2:8-10

   As believers, we aren't expected to muster up our own strength to serve the Lord. We have new life in Christ and have received the Holy Spirit, enabling us to follow God with the strength He gives us. This isn't to say that we just sit there while God uses a remote control on us - there is surrender and effort on our part; However, we are now walking by the Spirit, not our flesh.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:1

   As you and I are well aware, sin still daily rears its ugly head. Though alive in Christ, we still have the flesh warring against the Spirit. The apostle Paul empathized well with the struggles all Christians have.

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

Galatians 5:16

   Oh, it sure sounds good to give up at these times. There is hope for us though! If the Lord loves us and desires for us to do what is right, why would He abandon us to our own devices at the first sign of trouble? He is far greater than our flesh. Instead of wallowing in our own inadequacy, let us surrender to Him and ask for His help...

 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Philippians 1:6 

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. 

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24