April Grace even, and admonition.

April,

spring? Foot of mine! Ever since you came, I have been struggling to grasp myself. You're sending me the same ol earthquake and I keep crumbling with it.

I cannot seem to stop. Whenever I do, c'est juste pour un moment ! (Si c'est le français correct). Anyway, I hate to come here and just whine, so I am going to stop.

The thing about grace is this- the same way the sting of death is in sin, the effect of righteousness is grace. The fruit of sin is death (the child of sin is death), while the fruit of grace is righteousness (the one imputed unto us). Grace is receiving what we do not deserve, and this includes, justification, forgiveness, etc. Sin preempts God's righteous judgement upon the sinner but with Christ in the picture, the judgement falls (fell) upon Jesus.

However, it is not right for us to sin because we receive no judgement anymore from God. "Shall we then who have died to sin walk any longer in it?" (Rom 6:1-4) Rather, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and walk in the good works prepared for us to do (Eph 2:10)

So why do we still sin?

We sin because we have two problems ever at hand- the mind and the flesh; in other words it could be referred to as one problem- the soul. Whereas our spirit is right with God, if it is not in agreement with the soul, it cannot effect itself on the flesh. We walk in the flesh, not in the Spirit.

According to Galatians-Gal 5:16-17 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

The soul comprises our mind, will and emotions. Our flesh is the slave who is either to be led by the soul or the spirit. The problem we have is that our soul and flesh have been thoroughly educated in the ways of sin and self pleasure and therefore, only a thorough buffeting of the two can give us an upper hand.

My life as Christ follower is a process of no longer walking the way I used to. It starts with a willingness to obey and a desire to please God. Sans these two, we are bound to end up in circles of despair and disappointment. To this, we must purpose to devote ourselves to the renewal of our mind through the Word as well as not be empty by just knowing but not doing- knowledge should help us make better choices, better decisions. It ultimately trickles down from your mind to your actions. Mindless actions are like empty sacks. Mindful inaction is a sign of hypocrisy, pride and the whole lot.

How can God help us with ourselves? He has already.

He has given us all we need for life and godliness according to His divine power (2 Pet 1:3). It is upto us to do the right thing. So help us God do it.

Baseline:
That He would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Eph 3:16-19