I Don't Struggle With Sin!

In self defense classes, especially for women, they teach that fighting against an abductor only makes it easier for him to kidnap you. The kicking and flailing actually makes a person light enough to be lifted and carried away. They teach that dropping to dead weight actually prevents the abductor from completing his crime. What if the same were true for sin? 

One thing I have been learning through this great revelation of grace is that, when we become focused on our misbehavior, it only serves to produce more misbehavior. The harder and harder I try to not do that thing that goes against my true identity, the more it rises up inside me, the more it feeds and grows. No matter how hard I try, I still fail. I may do good for a while, but inevitably I succumb to it. It's as if every time I fight against it, it picks me up with the utmost of ease and carries me into itself. We are told that Christ fulfilled the law (which by the way, unless you're Jewish, doesn't affect you anyways) but we then we teach the "5 Steps to sin management" and that we need accountability partners and we need to confess to one another and pray for each other. Was that the plan from the beginning? Was that why Jesus came? Did He come just to give us a way to manage our "sin"?

What was Jesus' plea at the beginning of His ministry? 

"Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." 

It isn't very restful to have to keep fighting and fighting with "sin" day in and day out. What was the burden He was speaking about? He was talking about the burden of sin, the burden of religion, the burden of having to do it on our own! That is what He wants us to have rest from!

So I know you're wondering, how is it that David doesn't struggle with sin. Well, I do what He asked, for one. I rest. What does rest look like in it's ultimate sense? Could it be sleep perhaps? Maybe, dead weight? What was Jesus telling us? By fulfilling the law (for the Jews) He removed the struggle for all man! He made it easy. He did all the work so that we don't have to!

Hebrews tells us "For the one who enters God's rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from His own works." That's not only talking about physical labor. Could it be that the writer here is speaking to our spirit as well? What is rest? Rest here is to make quiet, to cause to be at rest, to grant rest, to lead to a quiet abode; to still, restrain, to cause (one striving to do something) to desist, to rest, take rest. We just chill. Relax. When He cried "IT IS FINISHED!" You think maybe He meant more than His life? What if He meant our struggle is finished? Could it be?

He wants His kids to relax. "Daddy's got this, don't worry" I am so glad I don't have to fight anymore. Does this mean I no longer mess up? Nope. Unfortunately I am still on this imperfect earth and still trapped in this broken body. But I know when I mess up, I don't gotta worry about it! Daddy's there to pick me back up and wipe off the dirt and muck, kiss me, tell me who I am and that He loves me no matter what. I encourage you, just rest! Rest in what God already did for you!

Thanks for reading

The Other Guy