One of my favorite hobbies is weightlifting. I enjoy setting and breaking goals in the different lifts that I perform. For instance, I may set a goal for benching a certain weight once. Other times, I might see how many times I can squat a certain weight. Although my goals vary in some ways, one thing remains the same. These moments in which I test my strength always require maximum effort. That’s why these types of exercises are sometimes called “max effort lifts”.
We often set out to do a Max Effort Lift in religious behavior.
We can approach our relationship with God the same way someone approaches a bench press or deadlift. We can set goals for ourselves and strive hard to attain them. We might say we will make a point to be nicer to someone that gets on our nerves. Cursing less might be at the top of our list, along with only one glass of wine instead of three. Perhaps we will strive to be more productive at church by joining a committee or volunteering for a fundraiser event. As parents, we might tell ourselves we will pray more as a family, do a devotional every morning before work to set a good example for the kids, and not raise our voices with our children.
Our flesh has its limitations.
All of the goals mentioned above have some things in common. For one, they are all something we can possibly get good at. Like weightlifting, we might actually meet some of our goals. These goals are all behavioral. In other words, they all have something to do with what we do or don’t do. If we train hard, set reminders, and push each other enough…we just might be successful. But there is a significant problem. Behaviors that we choose or do not choose are directly related to what Paul refers to many times in Scripture as our “flesh”. We all have “flesh”, and it has its limitations.
What is done in the spirit far surpasses anything we could ever do with our flesh.
Before knowing Christ, we were “in the flesh”, completely controlled by it with no other way to operate. After being saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ, we are no longer “in the flesh” but “in the spirit”. Through Jesus, our old selves are put to death. We are made in a new creation, reborn as righteous and holy. However, we still have flesh, and can be “of the flesh” (relying on it for our strength and allowing it to control us). The best we can do when we rely on our own strength (flesh) is meet our human potential, just like in the weight room. Eventually, we will fail. The sin we try to avoid becomes the thing we cannot avoid. When we tap into our new identity by trusting who God says we are in Christ, the Holy Spirit in us guides our decision making with God’s strength, wisdom, and power. Instead of being limited by our human potential, our God-given destiny can be realized. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13, ESV). The sin we could not control with our flesh (our max effort) becomes something God handles in us as we trust Him.
More than anything God desires for us to trust Him, and there is a part of the gospel we often fail to see which hinders this trust.
This new identity is something often missed in our understanding of the gospel. We are adopted children of God, His beloved, and Saints. The Holy Spirit resides in us because in Christ we are made holy and righteous like He is holy and righteous. Instead of living as if this is true of us now, many of us often cling to the flesh. We believe we were saved, but now falsely believe we must work really hard to make ourselves better. We think we need to do more good things and less bad things to please God. Because of this focus on behavior, we fail to trust Him and receive the love He has for us. This religious striving with our flesh leads to burnout, depression, anxiety, and anger. The truth is, He is already pleased with us because we are in Christ. There’s no need to burden ourselves with working on our flesh. Instead, we have a deep need to trust Him to handle our flesh. We need to trust that we are new creatures so we can embrace His love. He is pleased with the “new me” that He has created and wants me to trust Him to handle what I cannot do myself. What pleases Him is when we trust Him (Hebrews 11:6), and also trust in this new identity He has given us (Ephesians 4:24). Trusting Him and trusting who He says we are is crucial to experiencing His love and sharing it with others (Ephesians 5:2). Striving to please Him never allows us to receive this great love, nor share it. This sharing of love is what He wants to see because it is evidence that we are trusting Him. The max effort of Christ in us is for us to be loved and to love more.
-Neil
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