Christianity Oasis Forum

[Netchaplain]

Was the outcome wrong? Did you intend it to be right? Thankfully the latter is more is significant than the prior, because it demonstrated that—regardless the outcome—you wanted to please God (Phl 2:13). What we do is not as important as why we do it; and of course there will still be times of doing the wrong thing intentionally out of anger or ignorance, but that will continue on the decrease with maturity!

Why we often overrate what is done is due to somehow relating it to retaining our salvation, and this is where all is revealed. Believers in the Lord Jesus know and see within themselves that the most important issue in their lives is always that of pleasing God; and this is what sustains encouragement the greatest—knowing that He knows pleasing Him is most important to us.

He is the One that keeps working in us to please Him, so His awareness here is greater than our own. It’s understood that believers still unintentionally sin because of the indwelling “old man.” “Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned (Pro 6:27)? Likewise, can one be sinless with a sin nature! It is in us, but thankfully God has separated us from it, so we are not in it (Ro 8:9). This means we do not desire after it in our heart, but instead we desire displease God; and if, no, when we sin, we can know it is just part of how He is still teaching us, as all that occurs in the lives of those reborn are used in His school of learning.

God wants our heart, so He will be our “treasure;” “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Mat 6:21)! If there are times of discouragement due to the fact of the continued indwelling of the “old man,” somewhere along the line self has been given too much attention; and misunderstanding in Chris’s expiation for our sin has again arisen for distraction. But no problem, nothing can change concerning the position of His forgiveness (1Jn 1:9).

It’s only the old man again doing its part—which ever strengthens our faith through the continuous use of exercising the fact of being snuggled in our Fathers mighty hands (Jhn 10:29). We know that He knows we know, that it’s our old man and not us (Rom 7:17, 20)!