Look to Jesus
"Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary of fainthearted." Hebrews 12:3
Even this morning I am longing for sin to be erased. I find myself in situations where I am greatly distracted by my "care" for others but in my caring I am experiencing pride and self-motivation rather than Christian love. I hate it. But I am called to endure through it, and the way the Bible tells me to kill that sin is by looking to, and considering Jesus. You know the language well, run the race with endurance... looking to Jesus. Hebrews 12 gets right at the heart of Christian life and the pursuit of holiness. It should be a salve to our souls.
"That's the nature of sin. We love it and we hate it. We know it's killing us yet still we pet it and want it near. Of course, this analogy breaks down because our problem isn't a ring hanging on a chain around our necks. No, this dreadful wickedness lives within us, in our own hearts, and it isn't willing to surrender without a battle. Would that we could, in one great act of will, hurl it away from us to be forever free!"
But it doesn't work that way. We strive. We wait.
"Our problem is that we don't see the depth or power of our sin or how we're to continually fight against it... If this battle is so difficult, why don't we just give up? That would seem reasonable if it weren't for the gospel. The gospel teaches us that instead of focusing on ourselves and our closely clinging sin, we've got to focus on, to consider, Jesus."
"Our thoughts should be steadfastly riveted on what Jesus has done. He began our faith (or we wouldn't have it), and he's committed to bring it all the way to completion."
This is the Jesus we look to. This is the Jesus we rest in. This is the Jesus that empowers us to war against our sin and endure in him alone.
Lenten devotion from Comforts from the Cross by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Day 9.
Even this morning I am longing for sin to be erased. I find myself in situations where I am greatly distracted by my "care" for others but in my caring I am experiencing pride and self-motivation rather than Christian love. I hate it. But I am called to endure through it, and the way the Bible tells me to kill that sin is by looking to, and considering Jesus. You know the language well, run the race with endurance... looking to Jesus. Hebrews 12 gets right at the heart of Christian life and the pursuit of holiness. It should be a salve to our souls.
"That's the nature of sin. We love it and we hate it. We know it's killing us yet still we pet it and want it near. Of course, this analogy breaks down because our problem isn't a ring hanging on a chain around our necks. No, this dreadful wickedness lives within us, in our own hearts, and it isn't willing to surrender without a battle. Would that we could, in one great act of will, hurl it away from us to be forever free!"
But it doesn't work that way. We strive. We wait.
"Our problem is that we don't see the depth or power of our sin or how we're to continually fight against it... If this battle is so difficult, why don't we just give up? That would seem reasonable if it weren't for the gospel. The gospel teaches us that instead of focusing on ourselves and our closely clinging sin, we've got to focus on, to consider, Jesus."
"Our thoughts should be steadfastly riveted on what Jesus has done. He began our faith (or we wouldn't have it), and he's committed to bring it all the way to completion."
This is the Jesus we look to. This is the Jesus we rest in. This is the Jesus that empowers us to war against our sin and endure in him alone.
Lenten devotion from Comforts from the Cross by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Day 9.
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