Romans 7:15 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” We are constantly at odds with ourselves, we know the things that can benefit us spiritually, or to some extent like in relationships, health or wealth. For example:
- “Meet new people every day!”
- “Learn a new development framework!”
- “Write a new tech article”
- “Learn new things every day!”
- “Wake up early to join the 5 AM club for super high productivity!”
- “Work out, eat less sugar and fats for better health!”
- “Do investment early via DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging)”
- “Read more books!”
- “Stop watching porn!”
- “Read the Bible!”
Christians and non-Christians alike. We know and we understand for sure, that doing the things listed above is good for us. Yet most of the time, we do not do them. We either say “I’ll do that next time!”, or “I’ll do that eventually”, or “It’s impossible for me” as excuses for procrastination. More discouragingly, we even lashed out at our friends, family or loved ones when they reminded us that we were not doing what we ought to do. Why are we like that?
The main issue is the matter of the heart of our soul, as the prophet Jeremiah puts it “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”. We should examine ourselves and reflect, on what is holding us back.
God’s most graceful and loving nature blessed His creations with the things that most of us can enjoy: good food, relationships with loved ones, and employment to earn a living. But James, the brother of Jesus Christ wrote: “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”
His ultimate blessing is having God and having eternal life with God. It is reserved for the people who put their trust in Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross for their sins, pride, and self-centeredness — All things from their deceitful hearts contrary to His goodness were crucified and died with Him.
As Jesus said, recorded in the gospel of John “Apart from me you can do NOTHING”. Nobody can will themselves to believe and trust in God, but you try to see if you can do one thing — Reflect.
If you call yourself a Christian or a follower of Jesus Christ, and if you are not striving to do better in the process of sanctification, perhaps reexamine whether you are really what you say you are. As the Apostle Peter mentioned “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
If you are not a Christian, or you don’t know if you are a Christian or not, there are 2 ways to go:
- Remain as you are right now. Live your life the best you can without God. Strive to achieve your goals, earn lots of money, raise a family, perhaps travel and see the world, maybe start your own business or startup, be an activist or join politics to make the world a better place. Know that after you die, the things you enjoy, and your achievements ultimately be washed away by the ravages of time, reduced to nothingness. Near the end of this life, or in the next one. You will realise that everything that you have done is ultimately — pointless.
- Realise that you can do nothing, as in totally nothing. No one can do anything to help you. You can’t do anything but beg for God’s mercy for your rebellion against Him. If you somehow managed to come to this realisation in the second point. Read the following:
Do know that God has sent His only Son, Jesus who is both truly God and truly man to Earth two thousand years ago. He lived a perfect life according to God’s perfect standard that YOU and I failed to live. And He gave Himself up, and died on the cross and perfectly satisfied God’s perfect judgement that was intended for YOU and me. And He was raised from death to show the people back then. And also to YOU and I who are living in the present day, that He is perfectly reliable. Believe in Him who does this, and YOU WILL BE SAVED. Afterwards, as my fellow brother and sister in Christ:
- You will be blessed beyond any measure by having God in your life in whatever situations that you may be in.
- You will have true PEACE in your heart. Life may shake you up, but you will never fall away from His promised blessings.
- You will have God The Holy Spirit, to guide you to live life. Progressionally making you a better person through reminding you about what Jesus did for YOU. And He will also give you the boldness to face life’s challenges for God’s glory.
- You will recognise WHO is the one giving you the blessings when you receive what you wished for while you are living this life.
- You will get to know Him more through the Word of God, and you will trust and love Him the more you get to know Him.
- You will be blessed with the ultimate joy, richness and benefits that He promised when you are with Him in paradise.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.
