Specificity is the difference between the condemnation of the enemy and
the conviction of the Spirit. It
requires little contemplation or courage to confront one’s own shortcomings in
the most general terms, because generality is only a pretense for
transparency. But no life change ever
resulted from a man recognizing a tendency in himself toward ‘lust’ or ‘pride’
or ‘anger.’ Rather, something distinct
and substantial begins to happen only when a person chooses to repent of
thinking on that woman, or deriding that brother, or condemning that colleague. We have made no progress in our walk with
Christ until we confront our sins as they are, in the particular, and not in
the abstract. Christ died not only to
accomplish the removal of sin in general and as a concept, but the removal of the
sins of real life, the ones with real effects, in need of real forgiveness.
Satan has no interest in bringing you face to face with the reality of
your particular sins, unless he can also convince you that they have removed
you beyond the reach of the grace of God.
His tactics alternate between alienation and approximation: he will use
either your particular sins to drive you from the Savior or your lack of specificity
to keep you from Him. Satan will call
you an angry person, but he will never point out an angry word; he will call
you lazy, but will never lead you to action.
The result is that we become discouraged with our lack of progress and
confused over how to change. The enemy’s
lies always involve a kernel of truth: our sins do prevent us from fellowship with the Lord, and the general can always be drawn from the
particular. But if the blood of Christ
is not sufficient to cleanse even the deepest sins, then it is not adequate to
eliminate any of them. And just as
scrubbing the kitchen floor does not merely consist in purchasing bleach but
also in applying it to that spot by
the stove, so victory over habitual sins does not consist only in the
discussion of principles, but in repentance from that offense and restitution to that
offended person.
The antidote is the rough and uncomfortable work of detailed honesty. The difference between principles and
repentance is the difference between morality and obedience. And obedience is not simply the rejection of
extremes or the discovery of a balance between them; it is a series of
choices. Take a moment and think back
through your day (or week). What words
did you speak in anger? When did you
look at a woman with lust for her in your heart? When did you act in selfishness instead of
love? Spend some time in Galatians
5:16-26, and allow the Spirit of God to apply the principles of His Word to the
particular choices of your life.
Addressing sins directly is just a band-aid on the issue. When we sin, we "miss the mark"; but that "mark" is not to be less lustful, less prideful, or filled with less anger. That mark, the goal of life, is a full and intimate relationship with God as our Father. Christ may have come with the task of covering sin by fulfilling the Law (1 Timothy 1:15), but His purpose was to allow right relationship with God by revealing the Father to us (John 1:17-18).
ReplyDeleteRelationship is "right" with God when it is as He intended: we, recognizing our son-ship to the Father through Christ, commune with and grow in the Father (have a relationship with Him). As we become more like Him, a byproduct of being in relationship with Him, we love, we give, and we live out of a nature that has been formed through that close and intimate relationship with God, our Father, our Dad.
Then, we no longer miss the mark because we live in and with the Goal. The point is not to focus on avoiding sin by condemning ourselves for what is the natural result of living with a nature formed by a corrupt and broken cosmos, or world. The point is far more simple: focus on loving God and others, and you've already hit the mark.
It is far easier to do this if you recognize that all are children of God by nature and by birthright, but not all claim and cling to this truth and are lost in the darkness.
i don't intend to claim that holiness ought to come at the expense of intimacy with Christ, but rather that the latter is what motivates the former. i *want* to be in a right relationship with my Savior, and therefore i'm going to take care of the sin in my life, not simply in a general sense but in a particular sense.
ReplyDeletethis is where the role that Scripture plays in the sanctification of the believer becomes clear: Scripture is what allows us to be specific about the areas that need changing. yes, the goal is the relationship, and not simply the holiness (as though such a distinction could ultimately be possible). but the holiness (and therefore, the relationship) are often lost or severely hindered through the presence of sin in a believer's life, and it is precisely this which the specificity of God's Word ameliorates. failing to address the specific sins in our lives brings us perilously close to the caution found in Romans 6:1-2. moreover, from a practical standpoint, there are plenty of people (myself included) who agree wholeheartedly with Jesus' statement (that “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40)), but differ greatly as to what this looks like in practice. Scripture is why this is necessary, because it is what provides the needed specificity.
the Holy Spirit works through His Word (Ephesians 6:17). that's why Jesus says that "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." this desire to continue in the Word of Christ is exactly what we mean by being specific about the areas in which our lives are not conforming to that Word. it's not that sin is the focus; it's about setting people more and more free to be more and more fully in relationship with the Lord. it's neglecting to be specific about where we need to be changed through allowing the Word of God to speak to us that so many Christians fall short of what God is intending for them; it's ultimately a failure to render full Lordship to Christ in one's life.
also, i disagree with your last statement. the lost are not children of God by nature at all; in fact, according to Ephesians 2:3, they are "by nature, children of wrath." being lost is not merely a subjective reality but also an objective one. i am not a child of God except through Christ; if i am not in Christ, then i am not a child of God. the imputation of Christ's righteousness is by faith (cf. Romans 4:13), so that without faith, the transaction cannot have taken place.
Specificity sounds like a good idea, but I still think that the fruit is mutated. When you focus on rectifying all of your mistakes and shortcomings, it can instill in you a bitterness and resentful fear of God since He is the one scolding and nit-picking your every failure. That's obviously an over-exaggeration, but concept remains true. Trying to rectify your behavior is really just another way of trying to please your Master, and a servant/slave-based relationship is no relationship at all. At least, not when you have a Father who loves you, and all of the Father/Son benefits are at your fingertips.
ReplyDeleteMy main point is this: when you focus on loving people, everyone around you with everything you have in equal parts wisdom and child-like innocence, everything else really does just fall into place. My experience tells me that the more I love and give, the less time and even motivation I have to partake of the depravity that I sometimes choose. The difference really comes down to being on the constant offensive in love rather than the defensive in attempted righteousness.
Primarily, love. Then, obey, because obedience proves our righteousness.
Eph 2:3 is talking about our choice to follow the way of the world, or cosmos, in disobedience. It is at that point that we have chosen to live as if God is not our Father, but rather this world or system or satan has taken His place and is now our father. Therefore, we are “sons of disobedience”. Yet, that does not change the fact that we were originally from God and that we were made in His likeness and that our original DNA comes from Him. We were in His mind before the Creation, our spirits come from Him. Even if we were to die denying Him, that wouldn’t change the fact that we are his children, regardless of how we see ourselves and how we act. Semantics, really, but we are all children of God with some acting as sons of satan and the world and some acting as Sons of God. The difference is, obviously, in accepting or not Christ’s gift to all.