No Pain no gain...

“No pain no gain” is a phrase I have heard more than once throughout my lifetime and it has played an integral part in molding my character. At times when applied correctly it has worked out advantageously. Who liked to study while at school, not many I would suggest but without the hours put into preparation for the exams the results end up speaking for themselves and exposes those who made very little effort; “no pain no gain”! The same applies on the sports field or throughout military training, “no pain no gain”! It is when we are driven to uncomfortableness that we learn so much about ourselves. I know that all will be able to relate to this type of pressure in some form or another. Life is sure to try us in these areas; even though this is the reality for a fallen world due to the thorns and thistle of life, it unquestionably if viewed correctly molds us into more rounded individuals. Now obviously if we work with clay we end up with pottery. Like for like! Our flesh has been thwarted by sin and it is irreparable. We need a new beginning with greater material to work with; hence the Spirit of God intervened. Praise His name!  

Sure we have learnt to do patch work; a doctor gives a man a new heart or a psychiatrist brings out a deep rooted hindrance to enable someone to face a deep fear. But it will only ever amount to patch work which will need to be readdressed in the not too distant future and if you read the Bible from cover to cover you will soon learn the value of this lesson, that it is impossible for mankind to become Godlike in character without the work of God the Holy Spirit in our lives. We need a new beginning, a spiritual beginning and only then can we begin to portray the fruits of our great Saviour, Like for like! The Old Testament teachings with all its sacrifices are very clear on this. Our own inadequacies should leave us understanding this one truth, that we will never achieve this by what we strive to do, we need help and God has sent that help, Firstly in the form of the Lord Jesus Christ where he lived as a man and conquered sin, the only man to ever achieve this and then the Holy Spirit to do the work in a repentant sinners life transforming him from a sinner into a saint. This is done by the Spirit and not through the work of our own achievements in the flesh. Our own efforts will only ever drive us deeper into sin. How so? As an alcoholic we may learn to stop drinking but we will then be sure to boast about the change in our lives. It won’t be boasting per say but we will certainly remind people how long we haven’t touched a drink for. A pat on our own backs whilst others then do the same. This is why the Lord Jesus was so direct with Nicodemus; “Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”” (John 3:3-5) – Like for like, we need a spirit to enter the spiritual realm and we need God’s Spirit to give us access into His domain. How do we receive His Spirit? Through repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing complicated about it and if anyone gives you some other means whereby you can be saved they are nothing but liars!

For those who now have been born again, there is a new saga we need to deal with, our very own flesh, which is the enemy of God. This must be realised for us to make the correct progression by the Spirit. We need to die daily so that we become more Christ like in our natures and this is a painful process! “No pain no gain”! 

      

In order for us to necessitate desired results in the areas we strive in there must be pain associated with it. We must learn to arm our minds with this reality; “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” (1Peter 4:1-2) 

I could look to specific examples in my life but is that needed? The only true example that stands head and shoulders above the rest is the Lord Jesus’ accomplishments whilst on earth. He conquered sin, Satan and death. Now that is worth exploring, he faced such immense pressure that he coined this phase, “foxes have holes and birds have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head”. Wow! If that doesn’t give us great insight to how he felt at times I am not sure we have understood anything at all.   

Our God is a brilliant God and every action is carefully weighed to achieve an unambiguous result. Without constant pressure in his life he could not claim to understand the pressures we face because of the weakness of our flesh due to our inherited sinful natures. As a man the Lord Jesus has claimed the highest accolade achievable and that is the title of High priest after the order of Melchizedek. When we study we get glimpses of what he faced to achieve this. The pressures he faced were immense but he was driven by love for a people lost to sin; all of us oblivious to our hate for God and so blinded by it that we crucified the Lord Jesus.  Nevertheless the Lord Jesus marched onward in the hope of completing the task which His Father, the great “I AM” had asked him to accomplish. The Lord Jesus needed to  bridge the gap that Adam had shattered due to his sin, which we, by birth have all inherited, we are all sinful beings – we were never taught to lie, that came naturally, which in itself proves that we are sinners. Christ needed to re-establish a fresh relationship with God on our behalf and the only way to achieve this was to conquer the immense pressure he faced. He ticked every box ever faced, praise his name!

We have been blessed by the Superior, why? Because He is love!  “It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.” (Hebrews 7:7) – However this must become our representativeness if we are to be benefactors of God’s grace in our lives. Needless to say that salvation is a free gift from God; “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:1-9)  

    

Any achievement we receive in the flesh will leave us boasting, but if we understand that our new journey in the Spirit is a gift from God we will understand that our dependency is upon Him and not ourselves.

Signing off

Tyrone