The Epic Battle

It would be so much harder to understand the teachings on theology of the apostle Paul if he did not give us such a clear picture of his own weakness. But, because of his own experience as a follower of Christ living in a fallen world, Paul is able to describe for us the epic battle that goes on in each of us while we live in this world working out our salvation.

The battle is between our sin nature and our new identity in Christ. They are in conflict with each other, each desiring what is contrary to the other. One of the lies that we believe is that if you feel the dissonance of this struggle, you are somehow following Christ wrongly, or God has turned away from you, or our faith is not real, or worse yet, that we were not really saved in the first place.

There is no promise that this battle goes away before we see Christ face to face. Jesus himself promised that this battle would rage for us when he declared that following Him would require that we deny ourselves - the false self - every day as we take up our cross and follow him. He promised trials of many kinds as our new identity presses in against the broken systems of this world.

But the pill that we try to get ourselves and others to swallow is that Jesus added to your life makes everything work out. When it doesn't, rather than working though our doubts or allowing God to mold our faith in the face of trials, we head right for disallussionment. Feeling like we were promised a quick fix rather than a slow, epic battle.

So my false self and my self in Christ battle about performance. Evaluating quality of follow-ship by results. Poor performance leading to shame and a wondering how I can be loved if I fail so miserably. Placing more stock in our own performance (that's the sinful nature talking) than on what has been done for us in Christ.

Or the battle is over circumstance. If I'm loved, then my life's circumstances will show it. When things are good, God is for me and when things are down, then God must have run away. That's a spiritual life on a sine wave, always looking for something outside to validate how tight I am with God.

Fortunately God declares to us that He is faithful. That He doesn't play favorites. While the two natures battle within us, Christ promises never to leave nor forsake, but to bear the burden of the battle with us. That's why Christ invites us to follow Him into weakness. It's not our effort that defines the relationship, as the false self teaches, but being cloaked in Christ.

As we participate in this epic battle, it is necessary to be prepared to shine light on the sinful nature. Denying ourselves means knowing what we are denying. Darkness flees the light. We must be able to dispel the darkness with truth - a reminder of who we are in Christ - the Gospel that we preach to ourselves.

The battle will rage every moment of every day, yet it is a battle that is already won in Christ; success is in how we fight.