"'But,' you will ask, 'does not the Bible speak about soldiers, and warfare, and a fight
"'But,' you will ask, 'does not the Bible speak about soldiers, and warfare, and a fight?" Yes, it certainly does. 'Are we not told that we must strive to enter in?' We surely are. 'Well, what then? Only this, that we should be sure for what we are fighting, and for what we are to strive,"--which is to abide in the Vine.!
We are not to worry about the fruit, which is receiving God's character. When God's people perfectly reflect His character, Jesus will come to claim them as His own. There is only one thing God is waiting for, and that is for the perfection of the fruit which He imparts to the human body, the human mind, and the human person, through, the process of sanctification--which is simply imparting His character to us. Sanctification is His gift, just as justification is His gift, both are gifts from first to last.
We need to also recognize that hindering factors can prevent us from enjoying these gifts. Did you ever try to give someone something but were deterred due to some hindering factor? It
is the same for God. He can impute His character in the process of justification regardless of your past life as long as you simply say, "Lord I am sorry; please forgive me." He responds, "That's all right," and credits to you His character. But from that moment, He begins literally imparting to us His own character, which isn't an easy thing, and takes a lifetime to complete. Any time I object because the purging/imparting process is too painful, and therefore desire to take the driver's seat, He lets me take over and I soon find myself in the ditch. "Oops, I goofed again Lord, please take over," and He takes over and drives away. But it isn't long before I say, "I think I will take over again--it seems like easy sailing--and I do and soon we find ourselves in the ditch, again! This is the ongoing process which God pursues in His anxious desire to impart to us His character. This process is only possible as we remove the hindrances. God doesn't send trials and temptations, but He permits them. Nevertheless, our challenge isn't with the trial or temptation, but with what the Word says about the problem--any trial, any temptation, any hardship--the devil confronts us with, to point us to the solution, which is always Jesus in way or the other. But we prefer other answers. In my studies with people I've heard them say, "Don't you have any other answers? No, the answer is Jesus." "Don't you know of any other solution?" No, the solution is Jesus."It is so much easier to accept human solutions to our problems. If I can do something to solve the problem on my own, I will certainly take that route first--which is why the religions of the world are so much more attractive to the human mind.
Is it hard to say, "I'm sorry, please forgive me". Of course we must mean it when we say it. I guess it is hard for some people, but I find it hard to keep going in my own sinful way and saying, "I'm sorry is not hard when you learn to hate sin and love righteousness. It's easy to goof because we have been so long living a life of wrong doing, but when we see the love of God that He has for us, it does make a difference. God is real and Christ is real and both are waiting for us to abide with them day by day and hour by hour and sometimes minute by minute. Can we surrender to Him our lives and give up on our selfish way of life? It's not easy but Christ will do it for us if we just give in to Him and abide with Him all the time. If we fall, we get up and repent and go on as if we had never sinned. I believe ti will get easier and time goes on. Because we will be forming a new character and new habits that will be a blessing to us and to others, so hang on and give in to His loving pleading for you and for me. Grandma Joan
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