I came across the following
quote from Dennis Jernigan, an author and songwriter I respect:
“Temptation does not equal identity. Feelings do not equal
identity. Jesus was tempted in every manner - EVERY MANNER - just as we are, yet
without sinning! That tells me temptation does not define me. Temptation
compels me toward Jesus! It has been through seeking Jesus and finding out Who
He says He is that I have discovered who He says I am. In other words, I simply
put off the lies of who I thought I was and put on the truth of who Father God
says I am. …In the process, I changed the way I thought. As my thoughts
changed, so did my attitude. As my attitude changed, so did the way I feel. As
my feelings and attitudes and thoughts changed, so did my behavior! Why?
Because I act according to who I think I am! God changed my identity, making me
a new creation!”
I’ve found that he echoes some
of the same thoughts the Apostle Paul shared in Colossians:
“These [outward
rules] have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and
asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the
indulgence of the flesh. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the
things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set
your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (2:23-3:2
ESV).
Too often we approach the
Christian life as if it is all about sin management. We make rules to try to
protect ourselves from temptation, but we never get to the level of heart
change. While it’s great to have accountability and to avoid places and things
that might lead to temptation, that can only go so far in managing “the
indulgence of the flesh.”
Although we’re told that God
will “provide the way of escape” from temptation, that is not His primary method
of enabling us to change. God works from the inside out. He starts by making us
new creations, and as we come to believe what He has said is true, then our
thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors begin to change to align with that truth.
Christianity isn’t about behavior modification, but heart transformation. As
God said through Ezekiel, “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and
give you a heart of flesh” (36:26).
Theologian Dallas Willard
contends that managing sin is only one small part of the work of God:
“History has brought us to the point where the Christian message is
thought to be essentially concerned
only with how we deal with sin: with wrongdoing or
wrong-being and its effects. Life, our actual existence, is not included in
what is now presented as the heart of the Christian message, or it is included
only marginally” (The Divine Conspiracy, 41).
He goes on to say:
“The issue… is
whether we are alive to God or dead to him. Do we walk in an interactive
relationship with him that constitutes a new kind of life, life ‘from above’?
As the apostle John says in his first letter, ‘God has given undying life to
us, and that life is in his Son, Those who have the Son have life’ (1 John
5:11-12).
“What must be emphasized in all of this is the difference between
trusting Christ, the real person Jesus, with all that that naturally involves,
versus trusting some arrangement for sin-remission set up through him—trusting only
his role as guilt remover. To trust the real person Jesus is to have confidence
in him in every dimension of our real life, to believe that he is right about
and adequate to everything” (48-49).
Although sin is a hindrance to
our relationship with God and is often the thing we are most conscious of, that
may not be our greatest need as we learn to walk in our new identity in Christ.
He has already dealt with sin and its consequences on the cross for us. Now we
are being conformed to His image day by day. That will result in growing freedom
from sin and temptation, but that’s not the main emphasis. That should be
encouraging news. Our struggle is not with combating sin and the flesh so much
as it is recognizing Christ’s work for us and in us. It’s not about the
negatives, but the positives. It’s not just turning from sin, but it is
pursuing God and taking hold of every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus.
“Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true
righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).
