Hi,
Welcome to the Ask Burb Blog. This blog exists for you to ask anonymous questions that you may have pertaining to Faith, God, Life or whatever. Please be patient, each question will be given the attention that it deserves. Also, feel free to e-mail me directly with questions if you so desire. Please feel free to send your friends here as an outlet to reason or to ask questions as well. The only bad question, is the one that isn't asked.
-Derrick Harris (askburb@gmail.com)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
What Am I?
I'm confused. I believe that God is there watching over me, and I pray to him a lot, but sometimes I'll do bad things on purpose, and I feel that sometimes I don't care. It's like...sometimes I'm a Christian and sometimes I'm not. What am I?
Great question. You are expressing exactly what Paul was expressing when he wrote the following in Romans:
Rom. 7:15 For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want—instead, I do what I hate.
Rom. 7:16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good.
Rom. 7:17 But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.
Rom. 7:18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.
Rom. 7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!
Rom. 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.
Rom. 7:21 So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.
Rom. 7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.
Rom. 7:23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.
Rom. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Rom. 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Rom. 8:1 ¶ There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Rom. 8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Rom. 8:3 For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
Rom. 8:4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Rom. 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.
Rom. 8:6 For the outlook6 of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace,
Rom. 8:7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.
Rom. 8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom. 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.
Rom. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness.
Rom. 8:11 Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.
So, in brief. Your "feeling" is quite normal. What you're feeling is the Holy Spirit within you warring against the sin that still remains in you. This will not go away until we are in heaven. The reason that you notice a difference, is because you have the Spirit in you..showing you the difference. Remember, Faith is not a feeling, it is a commitment.
Heb. 11:1 ¶ Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.
Remember your commitment to Jesus and not only that...remember Jesus commitment to save you if you have TRUE faith in Him. Be encouraged, doubt your doubts, and believe your beliefs.
1 comment:
Great question. You are expressing exactly what Paul was expressing when he wrote the following in Romans:
Rom. 7:15 For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want—instead, I do what I hate.
Rom. 7:16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good.
Rom. 7:17 But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.
Rom. 7:18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.
Rom. 7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!
Rom. 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.
Rom. 7:21 So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.
Rom. 7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.
Rom. 7:23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.
Rom. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Rom. 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Rom. 8:1 ¶ There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Rom. 8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Rom. 8:3 For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
Rom. 8:4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Rom. 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.
Rom. 8:6 For the outlook6 of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace,
Rom. 8:7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.
Rom. 8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom. 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.
Rom. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness.
Rom. 8:11 Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.
So, in brief. Your "feeling" is quite normal. What you're feeling is the Holy Spirit within you warring against the sin that still remains in you. This will not go away until we are in heaven. The reason that you notice a difference, is because you have the Spirit in you..showing you the difference. Remember, Faith is not a feeling, it is a commitment.
Heb. 11:1 ¶ Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.
Remember your commitment to Jesus and not only that...remember Jesus commitment to save you if you have TRUE faith in Him. Be encouraged, doubt your doubts, and believe your beliefs.
Thanks,
Derrick
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