Yesterday I mentioned that the starting point for participating in the transformation of my soul that only God can accomplish is to (paradoxically) give up on myself. This process called sanctification cannot be reduced to a Christianized self-help talk. When I don't feel ready to give up on self-improvement, I need to read and meditate on these truths:
"Apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) That's sobering. Jesus doesn't even soften the blow by saying I can do very little without him. No, I can do nothing. Nada. Zilch. No effect, no change or transformation without Jesus.
"Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." (Psalm 51:5) Paul later echoes this truth by saying, "I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin...I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature." (Romans 7:14, 18) Apparently both David and Paul gave up on themselves with an honest confession of their sin--not just a particularly bad action, but a factory of sin within that keeps pumping out the worst of me. I'm a slave, unable to simply break free by more effort and will power.
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10) This must be God's work, not mine. I can ask, but only God can pull it off.
"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." (1 Corinthians 15:10) I'm ahead of myself here, but even when the transformation of his character and life began to show, Paul made it clear it wasn't his doing. And Paul indicates there is an effort we will put forth. We don't sit around like bumps on a log waiting for our lives to change. We will participate and "work hard". But it will be a secondary action that occurs as a result of God's work in us. The starting point is to give up on myself because, as these verses indicate, if left to myself I can do nothing.
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