Being list and detail oriented is a blessing…and a curse. God has gifted me administratively and by His grace I use this gift to minister to others.
I have a PHD in details. PHD as in Piled Higher and Deeper. Occasionally, the details could swamp me if I let them. When I find myself being overtaken by all life brings my way my emotions threaten to take over and throw me about. I want to give up, I want to run away, and I do not believe I can handle another thing.
These are times when I realize (hindsight) I am trusting in myself and in my own power and ability to make it, and that is a deadly mistake! Jesus Christ is the “power source” of the believer’s sufficiency and perseverance. Because of Him I will persevere and I will grow in my faith because I have received all that it is necessary to sustain me through these trials and to eternal life through the power of Christ.
To experience the reality of my position, I must closely identify myself with Christ. It is in Him that I “…might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:1-4) This means I must put on in practice who I am In Christ…
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)
This means that the part of me that had to sin is dead and gone and lives no more! That verse means that I am no longer under the obligation to sin- ever.
Before I was saved, before I was crucified with Christ I was under obligation to the flesh, I literally had no choice but to sin! (Non posse non peccare Lat. Means: It is not possible to not sin) But now I have the ability to refuse to sin (posse non peccare Lat. ability not to sin)
I pray this brings you incredible hope today! You have the ability to refuse to sin, even in the midst of trials, discomfort, pain, misery, sorrow, disaster, and anything else you can think of. You and I have been thoroughly equipped to say “no” to the flesh when we are tempted to sin because we are “in Christ!”
I pray earnestly that you will grasp what I am saying here! I am showing you the freedom you have to live life above the discouragement and sorrow of this world. Not that you will be sorrow free, none of us will ever be that but in Christ we can face these worldly difficulties with a godly perspective.
Christianity offers more than “just Christ” – it offers life, freedom from performance driven living, freedom from condemnation, freedom from shame and guilt of sin.
“Without Christ you have nothing. With Christ you have everything.”