This weekend I picked up my kids from the home of some friends, and was told that they had been very good and that they were welcome back anytime. On the way home I asked them if they realized that when they behave well, they are given more opportunities to do fun things. The five year-old, who had done well that day, looked sad and told me that he can’t be good. I acknowledged that it is hard, and that we have to pray and be helped by God. The next day at church, as he and his little brother were leaving to go to their class, I reminded them to listen, obey, and not to run (still have to do that). Again, he told me that he can’t be good (even though he did).
While it makes me sad to see him struggling with the reality that he has a sinful human nature, it made me so happy to realize that he is recognizing the truth. I have often seen teenagers and even adults struggle with the same principle. What I now need to pray for and guide him to realize is that the Lord knows his nature, loves him anyway, and has provided for his salvation, renewal, and sanctification.
Paul rebuked one church of Christians who had forgotten how they had overcome the flesh. Galatians 3:2-3 reads: “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit from the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Now, even though my five year-old has not yet entrusted himself to the Lord for salvation, he is beginning to realize his need for more than his own ability. We all have to start there. And, many of us who have followed Jesus for a long time, may need to be reminded that it is God who began a good work in us, and it is He who will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. We have to be trained by the Spirit of the Lord, through His Word, to live by faith, and no longer according to the flesh. It’s not in a man to live as Jesus did. That’s why the fruit of the Spirit is just that, the fruit of the Spirit. Do we have a job to do? Yes. But, it won’t be accomplished by our flawed ability. “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).