Devotionals

The Struggle To Do Right

by Precieux Orhue
07/11/15
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“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.” – Philippians 2:13 (NLT).

One of the wrong notions about being a Christian is that it has a lot of demands from God and requires a lot of personal effort to remain on the right track. It is easy to fall for this falsehood. As a result of this, people see Christianity as cumbersome and would rather not go on board because of the fear of failure, and there are those who consider it a big burden to keep up.

The bible tells us that being a Christian is not about following a set of stringent and impossible rules or doctrines. Once we receive Christ, we become a whole new creation with a new life and new identity. This is the most important transformation that occurs and God seals us with His Holy Spirit. God does not entirely take away our flesh, but the promptings of His spirit in us subdues the flesh (Romans 8:10-11). We are no longer controlled by the flesh but by God’s spirit living in us. This spirit that is at work within us causes us to outwardly manifest that which God desires of us. If we then place confidence on the flesh to be able to do what is right before God, the result is failure. The scriptures say that only God’s spirit searches (knows and reveals) the deepest things of God, not the flesh (1 Corinthians 2:10). Apostle Paul clearly describes this in his lament over the weakness, unreliability and tendency of the flesh to go against what is right.

“¹⁸ I know that good does not live in me – that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it. I don’t do the good I want to do; instead I do the evil that I do not want to do …²⁴what an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? Thanks be to God who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ!” – Romans 7:18-25(GNB).

Paul further tells us that the ability to do good and justification does not come from human effort or sheer willpower, but from God alone. He talks about this in the next chapter (Romans 8:1-3).

Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and death. (AMP).

The desire and the power to do good comes only from the Holy Spirit who is at work in us (Philippians 2:13). This is why the manifestation of the works of the spirit in us are referred to as “the fruit of the spirit” and not “the fruit of our effort” (Galatians 5:22). The Holy Spirit is freely given to all believers. The key is to consult, rely and acknowledge Him in all our ways and He will definitely lead us in the right path. We must live with this consciousness daily in order to have a happy and fulfilled Christian life.

But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the Holy Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God). – Galatians 5:16 (AMP).

Further reading: Mark 10:17-27