WORK IT OUT!

Before the foundation of the world, God set his plan rolling. His desire was to create a people with His image. Their entry point and destination would be Christ; hence the bible says whoever is in Christ is a new creature. 

It is a timeless truth that the believer belongs to God’s family. This comes with certain privileges and inheritance, chief of which is the DNA we share with the Father by His Spirit in us i.e., Eternal Life. We are wired to do all he can do, to respond to issues the way he would, to have a good grip in this life. 

The Christian is a citizen God’s kingdom Col 1:13. We are bestowed with the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of Zion citizens. Righteousness, Power, Authority, Forgiveness of Sins, Justification, Access, the Holy Spirit etc. All ours in Christ.

Let’s cut to the chase.

Although all believers have received this life, not all are living in the reality. There are righteous men who are under the grip of sin consciousness, men of power who are being messed up by the devil.

This explains certain statements of Paul that seem inconsistent but are not. 

In Col 3:10 Paul says, we have PUT ON the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Then he turns around to instruct believers in Eph 4:22-24 to PUT ON the new man, which is created after God in righteousness and true holiness. 

I thought he earlier said, we have put him on????

Similarly in Galatians 3:27 the Apostle reveals that as many as have been baptized into Christ have PUT ON Christ, then in Romans 13:14, he instructs believers to PUT ON the Lord Jesus and make no provision for the flesh.

What could this mean?  We know the scriptures are not contradictory. 

Paul was simply showing the dichotomy between legal and vital aspects of redemption. 

This is what I mean. The bible affirms that the recreated human spirit is like Christ. 1Cor 6:17 In the believer’s spirit, he legally has all benefits of redemption. 

The scriptures however do not affirm that the mind of the believer is already renewed.  Although God has done all the work necessary for salvation and given all to us for free, taking hold of the benefits of salvation remains our duty and must be done intentionally. We must be daring and bold to live the kingly life that we have been ordained for.

To TAKE HOLD, is to consciously WORK IT OUT. Philippians 2:12-13 To bring the realities from the latent state to the active state; from the potential to the kinetic. The picture of a man who is not given to fitness exercises comes to the fore. He has muscles, but he is not muscularly fit. The reason is obvious. His muscles have not been exercised enough. However, as he begins to run, lift weights and dumb bells, and do the drills, he sees more manifestation of biceps and fitness.

To live a victorious life therefore, we must exercise ourselves in the realities we have received.  

What to do?

• Get Knowledge: Don’t you know you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Paul asked in 1Corinthians 3:16. To grow in the grace of God is to grow in knowledge 2Peter 3:18. We must be given to reading Ephesians 3:4, to listening, to study. 2Timothy 2:15.

• Conviction: There is knowledge, then there is revelation. Revelation births conviction. It is one thing to know a truth, it is another to have such truth as a reality. Prayer is that agent that converts knowledge to conviction Ephesians 1:16-19. Paul calls it the enlightening of the eyes of our understanding. Meditation is also key here 1Timothy 4:15.

• Association: Paul discussing doctrine says “evil communications corrupt good manners” “Iron sharpens Iron” says Proverbs. Your associations play a good role in determining how much of your God given reality you express. Who do you give your ears to? What jokes do you laugh at? What company do you spend your time with?

In all, we must stay consistent. We must commit to the same dealings of God even in times when it doesn’t seem pleasant. We have received the rest of God at salvation, we must now take his yoke upon us, and learn of him, that way, we shall find rest for our souls.