Authentically Christian

 

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Philippians 1:6(NLT)

by Alexandra Copeland 

In Romans 12:1-2(NLT), through the Apostle Paul, God has laid out our principal duties as Christians. It says, “1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Those that do not know Christ, or know but deny him, walk by their own permission to do whatever is in their hearts to do. This is not the Christian way. Our way is to recognize that God has bestowed upon us the greatest privilege imaginable, and with this privilege comes the responsibility to hold it firmly in place with honor and obedience.

Heavenly Father lovingly begs us in Romans 12:1 to present before Him our entire beings, our bodies and everything housed within them. This action on our parts is very infinitesimal when compared to all that God has done for us, but it is what He requires of us, and it demonstrates His ginormous level of grace and mercy. It would be totally unlike God to tell us to do something, and then not let us in on how it is to be done. So not only does He tell us to give our bodies to Him, but He also tells us to let them be a living and holy sacrifice.

In the Old Testament, during the time when priests would offer sacrifices to God for the sins of the people, it was truly a representation of their surrender. The best was offered and everything it symbolized was transferred to God to do as He appointed to do. Because the sacrifice was the very best that they could offer, it was dedicated to God with the expectation of receiving His blessing in return. It is so awesomely important to note that the people who offered the sacrifice could not make it holy. It was not within their capability to do so. God honored their intent to present the best, and He made it holy in the way that only He can.

We are to yield our bodies to God. He knows them through and through. He knows our thoughts, behaviors, attitudes, and intentions. He knows our struggles with sin, the thing that we have prayed over and over to get beyond. The thing that we know is wrong, yet we indulge it anyway and have given ourselves over to temptation in the past. Even this, yes, we are to yield over to God. He knows how to fix it.  

There are those who expect perfection from us at all times, and many of us feel the burden of this weight, and condemn ourselves when we cannot stand strong amidst it. We at times feel so inadequate, and even go so far as to question the authenticity of our own personal walk with Christ. The thing that makes us authentically Christian is a recognition of our human frame and the limitations of it. In and of ourselves we are not able to do what the Spirit was given to us to do. He is our helper, guidance, teacher, comforter, and friend. Our responsibility is to yield to him.

We are not perfect, but we are being perfected through Jesus Christ by the indwelling Holy Spirit. He is a good and perfect gift from God, and within him there are no flaws. To know that he abides within is beyond a great comfort, because we have access to him 24/7. He sees our thoughts. He knows the intents of our hearts, and if we put our trust in the help that Heavenly Father has provided, we can do more than what is possible. Through Christ we can do the impossible.

God would not have told us to present our bodies before Him as a living and holy sacrifice if we lacked the ability to get it done. He, the Spirit, helps us to do this. He helps us to abstain from sin and resist temptation. It is because we have such able and powerful help that we cannot go before God with any excuses. It is because of the holiness of the Holy Spirit that indwells us that we are acceptable and able to present ourselves to God.

Romans 12:2 admonishes us to separate ourselves from the behaviors and customs of the world. This is a volitional act on our behalves. We make this choice, and making the choice doesn’t mean that God isn’t going to help us to do what we intend. We can be assured that our desire to please Him is proof positive of our partnership with Him. As we allow, He will transform us into a new person as we change the way we think. God will not change our thoughts, for He will never over step our free-will choice, but as we willingly honor Him with our minds, bodies, and souls, the Spirit inside us will be at work; helping us supernaturally with the full force of his power. God reminds us of this through the Apostle in Philippians 1:6, where it says, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

Lining up our thoughts—the way we speak, the way we behave and feel—with God’s Word causes something wonderful to happen. God’s good, pleasing, and perfect Will for us is revealed. The thing that has been hidden from us for so long all of a sudden appears, and it is because walking on God’s Word removes the blockers from our way. As the Psalmist said in Psalm 119:105, God’s Word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light for our paths. The Word is alive, and we see this as we become activated by it through trusting that every Word that God speaks to His people is true. It will withstand any test.

Trusting God, being fully persuaded that He is able and willing to perform that which He has said, is everything. This is the thing that makes us authentically Christian. It’s not about how many bibles we carry or own, how much we go to church, or how perfect or imperfect we may appear to be in the eyes of others. It’s about trusting Heavenly Father with everything that is within us. It’s knowing that we can give Him all that we are, and having the full Confidence that He will do the rest. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.