I lay awake last night due to one
of my boys being sick. At 03:30 I got him to sleep and I went back
to my bed. I tried to fall asleep and right before I did I heard a
car coming down the street. The car had a very loud engine, louder
than normal cars. This car stopped somewhere in the street
(probably dropping someone at home) and I could hear the engine
idling. Now this idling sound started to bother me. I tried to
sleep but I couldn't. It was truly irritating! But luckily about
ten minutes later the car's engine roared into life again and I
heard the car speeding away. My husband next to me slept soundly
through it all. He is normally very aware of all sounds around him,
but because he was sleeping he didn't hear a thing.
Now this whole situation made me
realize something. I heard the noise and it irritated me because I
was awake. If I was sleeping I wouldn't have heard it at all. And
so it is the same with our spiritual life. Before we become
believers our spirit are 'sleeping'. Things of this world don't
bother us. We 'sleep' right through them. But the moment we became
believers, the Spirit of God took hold of us and woke us up out of
our deep slumber and things that didn't bother us before starts
bothering us. For example swearing could have been a way of life
for us, but now that we become believers, it starts to bother us.
Or we used to be the party animal at work and now it bothers us
when people get drunk and lose all their inhibitions. We watched
crude movies and now when they swear using the Name of Jesus it
bothers us. Why is this so?
It is actually simple really. When
you were born again, your old sin nature died and your spirit
became alive with the power of the Holy Spirit. We actually become
a new species, we are no longer 'homo sapiens', but 'homo novos',
not in Adam anymore, but in Christ. And because of this, the Holy
Spirit lives within you and He is holy and cannot tolerate sin. Sin
is an abomination to Him. So now you have Him inside of you and
every time you encounter sin, it will bother you.
I am sure that you have heard the
saying: "Christians are in the world, but not of it." When you
become a Christian you are really born again into the Kingdom of
God and therefore sinful practices will not feel at home anymore.
Our flesh is at war with our spirit. And we need to choose who we
should listen to. Which one will you feed the most?
James is quite adamant about this
when he says:
"Don't you realize that friendship
with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if
your aim is to enjoy this world, you can't be a friend of God. What
do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit
whom God has placed within us jealously longs for us to be
faithful? He gives us more and more strength to be faithful." James
4:4-6
Know that when you become a
Christian that it won't be easy. It was easier to be an unbeliever,
as nothing bothered you. You followed your old sin nature and you
were 'happy', you could do what you want. But now you are at war
with your fleshly desires and it is a difficult process. But
remember this before you give up, the Kingdom of God awaits you and
there is no better prospect that any of us can ever have. And God
is also by your side, helping and encouraging you. He wants you to
succeed and He wants to honor you.
"When you bow down before the Lord
and admit your dependence on Him, He will lift you up and give you
honor." James 4:10
Lord, please help us to draw closer
to You every day. We want more of You and we want to feed the
Spirit inside of us. Please help us when we are weak. Thank you
Jesus. Amen