The struggles with self can make the life of total dependence upon Christ seem oh-so-far away
Certainly, I know–and I would imagine that you do too–the wonders of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross. We HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED. It’s happened and we need to accept it. That is my position. However . . . .if we are honest, we know that we do not live the crucified life totally (to say the least).
I think that complacency is the greatest threat to lack of growth. I think it is okay to be bothered by the dissonance between position and practice. Like the sand that bothers the oyster into producing a pearl, the pokings of the self in our lives (hopefully) move us to turn toward Christ and die to self.
. . . and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal. 2:20 HCSB
Why do we have these imperfections? “Why? For this reason: because our hearts, perhaps, have not been fully prepared by a complete discovery of sin. There may be pride, or self-consciousness, or forwardness (offensive boldness or assertiveness), or other qualities of this nature which we have never noticed. We have limited the work of the Holy Spirit. When we squarely face these imperfections, these sins in our lives, we can turn to Christ, knowing the power of His death, and continually say, ‘Lord Jesus, let the power of Thy death work through, let it penetrate my whole being'”. (Paraphrased from Andrew Murray, my new favorite Christian author.)
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