If these things are true:
- Sin is the result of the corrupt flesh nature being allowed to express itself.
- We are either walking in the Spirit, or we are walking according to the flesh, it's one or the other.
- We stand in grace, God's power in us, by trusting in Jesus.
- As we continue to stand in grace, we continue to walk in the Spirit.
- Walking in the Spirit has no sin, and looks like a life of love, and joy, and peace, and self-control, and the rest.
If these are true, and I believe they are, myself, then by trusting in Jesus right now, He keeps me full with His life, and I do not sin. It's when we get distracted and are failing to trust right now that we have trouble.
So the question I like to ask is this. Can we live in continuing faith, and therefore without any intentional wrong doing, and without any consciousness of sin? Do we believe that to be possible?
I would answer that the proof is in the doing, and we can each of us focus our minds on Christ and on our favorite Scriptures or a faith building song, and for those 5 minutes remain in the joy of unity with Jesus. And that having done this for 5 minutes, we can repeat, and do another 5. Then repeat that for another 10. And so on, does it have to end?
I know God gives that faith to some, because He did so for me, for a time. It was about to be an amazingly difficult part of my recovery, and God seemed to have wanted me to know this truth, that this was the prize, so He gave it to me for long enough to convince me, and convince me He did.
There was a starting point and a stopping point, and I remember both vividly. The best I could describe it was that God put my ruined and corrupted flesh to sleep. Complete rest in every way.
The only thing I didn't like about my life during that time was the recognition that all I could tell anyone was that "God did it for me, and I hope He does it for you too!"
But in the time since, I've come to see that while I needed that touch from God to show me it was real, just the same, this is something He's given to all of us purely through trusting Jesus. We look to Him, here with us right now, to live His life in us, transform our lives, transform this moment into what pleases Him.
I feel confident that just as God gave that to me for a time, the faith to live continuously unto Him, He can just the same give that to others, maybe shorter, maybe longer, maybe the remainder of their lives, I don't know. For some maybe not like that. He's God, and He does what He knows is best for each of us.
The thing that I've learned is that we can believe the Scriptures for the exact words they say, and, for instance, when it tells me that in Christ, I'm dead to sin, a once for all time death, and alive unto God, I know that this is exactly true, and in knowing that it's true, I enjoy its reality.
The problem of the flesh is that it wants to assert itself. And sometimes we allow that for any number of reasons. And having allowed it, or even just realized it, if we feel separated from God, this results in continued walk "
according to the flesh". Not, "
in the Spirit". We walk
in the Spirit, that is, we live the new man, or we live "
according to the flesh", that is,
patterned after what we were.
So then if at any time we realize we are walking according to the flesh, we can return to trusting in Jesus to provide His eternal life to us, for us to live our lives in fellowship with Him. If we feel tainted by sin, we hold back from intimacy. In Jesus all guilt for sin is removed. Not because I've conquered every evil work in me, but because Jesus overcame sin and death, and in Him I live.
Much love!
