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A WORK IN PROGRESS Pastor Randy Barnett, Oklahoma A young man
by the name of “Joe” came to my office very concerned about his inability to
be perfect. Joe received Jesus as his Lord and Savior in one of our services;
he was wondrously saved. His new birth happened just a few months prior to
this visit to his pastor. The problem was that Joe could not seem to get
everything right in his life. He still felt urges that were not godly and
thoughts that he knew were not of God or from God seemed to haunt him at
times. He just could not understand why these unrighteous things were
challenging him because he knew beyond any doubt that Jesus was living in him
and he had been delivered from the curse of sin through the blood of Jesus.
As hard as he tried, he could not achieve perfection to the point where the
temptation to sin no longer harassed him. The problem
Joe had is not unusual for born-again Christians. I could personally identify
with Joe’s dilemma because I too had fought this same battle years before,
and with the same discouragement and self-disappointment as Joe. Joe did not
understand one simple truth and that is the new birth does not elevate a
person into instantaneous perfection. The
new birth is a spiritual birth and it does little to initially change
the physical body or the soul of a man. (The soul is comprised of the mind,
the will, and the emotions of a man) Truly, the born-again believer is
positioned in truth to see powerful changes take place in his body and in his
soul by virtue of his covenant with God; however, those changes happen as the
Holy Spirit works His work in us through the Word of God. Of course, there
are miracles that happen (miracles are instantaneous demonstrations of God’s
love and power) and we rejoice in them and give thanks and praise to God for
them. However, our covenant walk with God is not built on miracles it is
built on faith in the Word of God. And that
is a process my friend, it is a process of spiritual growth and
learning and lifetime of developing in the truths of God. For a season,
there was a stretch of highway that I regularly used to travel to and from my
office that was under construction. It took months for the workers to
complete this project, and all the while, it was such an imposition for all
of us who went that way each day. It hindered our speed and oftentimes even
stopped us totally as equipment and men worked on the road. The rough road
felt awful under our cars. But how wonderful it was when they finally
finished the work! The completed project was well-worth the inconvenience and
delays, and now we all enjoy the new road. This simple illustration reveals
how things work for us in our spiritual maturation process. Along the way, we
make mistakes – lots of mistakes! – and we feel frustration over our
inability to defeat the enemy at every turn. Guilt sets in when we blow it
and of course, the evil one is right there to join in the condemnation.
During this process of growth, the progress may seem to you to be slow or it
may seem like there is However, the Lord is at work in the unseen realm
building you into the image of Jesus His Son as long as you continue in His
word seeking to know Him and to understand His ways. The challenge
you have is to understand, first of all, that you are a work in progress.
And, secondly, you must remember that while the work is happening it is
important for you to remain patient with yourself. You must be diligent to
get up after each fall, dust yourself off, and jump back in the race. The
good news is that your walk with God is not like some board-game in which you
must start all over under certain situations. You do not start all over when
you fall to temptation in some way and commit a sin. No indeed! Your
immediate progress might stall temporarily, but your engine has not stopped.
God is still at work in you bringing about His perfect will for you and
making sure that His plan for your life is fulfilled. Aren’t you glad you
have the Holy Spirit living in you! Whenever I
teach on this particular subject, I feel the necessity to bring balance, and
so I do so now. The balance I refer to here is the recognition that in one’s
humanness the possibility exists that one can wrongly depend on this
“progressive” concept as a cover for error. The understanding that you are a work in progress is not meant to be a
reason to neglect your vigorous pursuit of excellence in living a holy life.
The intent in this teaching is to develop the truth that grace is God’s keeping force while you are learning
how to walk in triumph; it is not a reason to continue in spiritual
mediocrity. Rejoice in the fact that God has His grace in place for you while
you are developing spiritually. Randy Barnett |
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