Why is it so hard for us to accept Christ's gift (of salvation)?
We live in a world that shuns you if you don’t do enough. There are written and unwritten rules of this world that capture our time; if you’re not doing something, it’s considered ‘laziness’. If you’re doing everything while neglecting yourself, family, friends, and other relationships, you’re considered ‘gifted’, ‘selfless’, and ‘worthy of promotion’. This world has little, if no, grace for those who try their best and then fail. If you fail at your job, you’re fired. If you fail in your marriage, you're forced into a divorce.
Whereas when we know and proclaim that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior; that He died for us and that we are called to live for Him, we feel like our relationship with Him has the same so-called rules as the ones we have here on earth.
Wrong. The relationship Christ offers is full of forgiveness. Forgivefull. We live in this world, and therefore are easily conformed to the ways of it. Our senses are overwhelmed. However, Paul tells us to fix our eyes not on what is seen (or otherwise, “sensed” by our 5 senses by what is in the world) but to fix our eyes on what is unseen [2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV] (or otherwise, we shall focus on everything that is, and of, Christ--our focus should be heavenward).
Is this a struggle for [me]?
Since I am of this world, yes, I do feel it is a struggle for me to continually and momentously accept Christ’s gift of salvation through the cross. This world tells and shows us that if we fail in this world, we gain nothing. Christ tells us that if we fail in this world, we gain everything; if we lose our lives for Him, we will find our lives in Him alone.
Christ calls us to lose ourselves in His sacrifice; that we learn to love as He loved us. Our lives are to be a constant sacrifice to Him. In every activity we do, we are called to honor Him. “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial…” and therefore we need to honor Him only in actions, words, and events that are holistically pleasing to Him.
However, this world does not always approve of actions, words, and events that would be pleasing to Christ. But that shouldn’t matter. Christ is our treasure. HE. DIED. FOR. US. ALL. “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him Who died for them and was raised again” [2 Corinthians 5:14-15].
How do we make it a non-struggle?
My desire is to keep a constant relationship with Christ. By praying to Him; thanking Him for His sacrifice. “Pray without ceasing” [1 Thess. 5:17].
I desire to ask Him to reveal His Truth to His people. And “in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:” [Ph. 2:5 NIV].
I desire to “[g]ive thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” [1 Thess. 5:18 NIV].
And remember, Christ doesn’t look down on you if you fail. YOU. ARE. FORGIVEN. Our relationship with Christ is forgivefull; it is full of forgiveness. It is important to not become prideful of His grace, but to accept it as a gift; one that you never expected, but are overtly grateful to receive. For it is in Christ that we are saved. It is in Him through His sacrifice of love that we have the opportunity to be reconciled to God.
Now all glory to God, Who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into His glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to Him Who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are His before all time, and in the present and beyond all time! Amen.-Jude 1:24-25
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