Imagine sitting down in a lawn chair in a beautiful backyard on a temperature-less afternoon. You have the best job in the world… doing what you love every day. You come home to a beautiful house and property that you wouldn’t trade with anyone. You are married to the spouse of your dreams. You are healthy and have money in the bank. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the squirrels are playing, and the rabbits are resting in the cool of the pines. You lack nothing. You have everything you could ever want… and much, much more…
Yet there I was… miserable. Not because of any external circumstance. Not because of any known sin I needed to repent of. I was just sitting there… sad and frustrated. I didn’t know why or at what. It didn’t make any sense. And then it did…
The Problem
The bible says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18). Often we think the cause of our problems is outside of ourselves. If we could only have that job, or own this property, or be married to that person, or be this healthy, or have that much money, or go to this kind of church… then our problems would… well… be negligible…
Yet Solomon availed himself of all these and more (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11). He was King, built a magnificent palace, married anyone he wanted, was healthy and wise, was the world’s wealthiest, and was the chosen head of God’s people, with their full support. He writes, “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure” (Ecclesiastes 2:10). Yet in the next verse concluded, “Indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).
Do we know this Christian? Will we concede that no career, no person, no church, no external circumstance can fix what is wrong with us? Can we just admit it? “The problem is me… I’m the problem!”
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9
The Solution
If the problem is me… how do we solve it? Just because we can say, “I know… I need to change…” doesn’t help matters. We don’t have the ability to change. Paul said, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Romans 7:19). We can’t change ourselves. It’s impossible! That’s the point. Romans 7 ends with “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?“
Thankfully, Paul continues on in the next verses to give us the solution. He tells us the answer to our problems is “through Jesus Christ” (Romans 7:25) in the form of the “Spirit of life” (Romans 8:2). Through Jesus Christ’s death, we can now have His Spirit, His vitality, His mental disposition, His power, His life… We don’t have to be us. We can be Him, completely changed from the inside out.
But even as Christians, we are never free from the conflict between our flesh, and His Spirit. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other” (Galatians 5:17). The Holy Spirit is not pushy. We must continually choose to go His way, to be led by Him, to live according to His will. We can experience his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control. But these results will only come by killing our flesh… with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:16-25). They cannot both survive…
“For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
Galatians 6:8
We must surrender all…
Imagine
Imagine sitting down in a wet camp chair. It’s cold. You are a long way from snuggling up in your warm home. You brought your tent and are committed to camping, though it has all the potential of being a miserable night. And your spouse isn’t too excited about the idea either. A lot of your friends have already bowed out of this adventure (and for good reason). Then you realize you forgot your pot for heating your coffee in the morning… And on top of that, all the food items you brought are cold serve (i.e. salads, nuts).
Yet there I was… perfectly content. Not because the weather was going to change. Nor because of any external circumstances. I was just sitting there… so thankful and so blessed. It really didn’t make any sense. And then it did…