Romans 8:1-2 “With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.”
When we decide to trust in Christ, He gives us a fresh start; we ARE a new creation. We are no longer slaves to the sin that holds us captive. Our YES to Christ sets us free to live the abundant life He has planned for us; a life that is led by the Holy Spirit living within us. However, this promise of abundant life doesn’t come with a promise of a life “comfort and ease.” As long as we are breathing in and out…there will always be valleys to walk through. Why is this? Because God is consistently at work in us molding us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Molding us? Pretend for a moment that you are a piece of clay. The potter begins to shape you and mold you into the very thing he has in mind for you to become. I had the opportunity to watch an artist begin to create a clay pot a few years back. When she started, the clay was just a lump on her table. As she began to work with the clay pulling it this way and that, I thought about the way God shapes us. Just like the clay, sometimes the shaping process looks painful. When I look at my life through the lens of our Heavenly Father, I know I’ve been called to “take off my former way of life – my old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires.” (Eph 4:22) I have to “take off” or “change” the way I think, feel and treat or speak to others….everything has to change.
Ok, I get that… but what happens when I go through a really tough time of temptation and every desire in me wants to slide back into my “old way” of doing things? Will Christ stop loving me? ABSOLUTELY NOT… There is NOTHING that can EVER separate me (or you) from the love of Jesus Christ – absolutely nothing. I just can’t stay “stuck” in a cycle of sin.
“There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” (Romans 8:31-39 MSG)
Isn’t this truth comforting to know?