The Christian!

(Romans 1:7) “Called to be saints.”

What is needed to drive doubts with all it fears away? It has to be faith; it can only ever be faith in the finished work of Calvary. When we struggle with a particular sin what enables us to find victory? Do we now not have a way of escape as Christians in and through our great Saviour, of course we do! And if we stumble and fall because of our lack of faith, is it not the goodness of God that ignites our faith in Him, which in turn drives us to seek out His forgiveness? Of course it is! It is no longer bulls or goats or even turtledove that need to be sacrificed in order for us to find forgiveness, our great Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ has made the way, praise His name! We have all been called to perform the duties of saints. Who and what is a saint? The Apostle Peter was a saint but no more than any other repentant born again believe who believes in his heart the Jesus rose from the dead and confesses Him as Lord with their mouths. They are both as equally covered with Christ’s righteousness. To think that the Apostle Peter’s name will be mentioned amongst the foundations of the New Jerusalem (heaven) and then to think of us who are weak and frail Christians; bruised reeds amongst what appear to be tall straight usable reeds, how poorly we seem to fair at times, but does that make us any less qualified? Of course not! For if it did, then we would stand upon own righteousness, and not the righteousness of Christ, and let us never move far from this truth. 

It is about His accomplishments and not ours in that sense. It is once this truth is cemented deep within our hearts that we will then be useful to others. How so? Faith will take on a new dimension; we will be quick to remember that it is only the Lord Jesus who overcame the devil and defeated Him on Calvary’s cross. But the story never ended there because on the third day He rose again bringing with it power for us to walk in newness of life an enabling ability for every saint to find grace to overcome their greatest fears and what appears to be never-ending thorns in their flesh. The sin that once had such a hold on us now no longer has the same power as the shackles have been broken by our King. All that is left for the believer to process; will we believe this truth! Herein rests the key whether we walk in victory or in defeat. Remember Caleb and the giants as they were no match for his faith. He believed God, will we! We must!

We should not think that the Apostles received more than us. Their measure may have been greater, but then their trial would have been grander, nevertheless it was no different. We have all been given a measure of enabling faith to overcome sin in our lives. We must believe it! We will never be tested beyond what we are capable in finding grace to overcome; no never! “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1Corinthians 10:13) 

We all have access to the same throne room of grace and we have all been commissioned to approach it with boldness whenever the need arises. But then again our measure of faith is a gift from God and we are to be sober about this truth and not to think that we are better than our brothers when we walk in victory and they fail to find it or visa versa. There is no place for boasting! It is a gift from God. Nevertheless the facts are before our very eyes, we are to use what God has given us, and we must appropriate these truths in faith. Our eyes need to shift from self and onto the Lord Jesus if we are to walk in victory. No matter how steep the climb, our King has conquered the hill, praise His name! He is our Commander and He always leads from the front, He will never require anything from us that He hasn’t already dominated. But before my thoughts run away with themselves… now would be a good time to get someone else’s perspective…

“We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were “saints” in a more especial manner than the other children of God. All are “saints” whom God has called by His grace, and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the more his Master honours him in his service, the more also doth the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day. The fact is, if we had seen the apostle Paul, we should have thought him remarkably like the rest of the chosen family: and if we had talked with him, we should have said, “We find that his experience and ours are much the same. He is more faithful, more holy, and more deeply taught than we are, but he has the selfsame trials to endure. Nay, in some respects he is more sorely tried than ourselves.” Do not, then, look upon the ancient saints as being exempt either from infirmities or sins; and do not regard them with that mystic reverence which will almost make us idolaters. Their holiness is attainable even by us. We are “called to be saints” by that same voice which constrained them to their high vocation. It is a Christian’s duty to force his way into the inner circle of saintship; and if these saints were superior to us in their attainments, as they certainly were, let us follow them; let us emulate their ardour and holiness. We have the same light that they had, the same grace is accessible to us, and why should we rest satisfied until we have equalled them in heavenly character? They lived with Jesus, they lived for Jesus, therefore they grew like Jesus. Let us live by the same Spirit as they did, “looking unto Jesus,” and our saintship will soon be apparent.” (C.H.Spurgeon)

Signing off

Tyrone