THIRD QUARTER 2022
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #6
AUGUST 6, 2022
“STRUGGLING WITH ALL ENERGY”

 

 

We all know the passage in Romans 3:23 that states, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” None can escape this all-inclusive statement. Yes, this passage is uncomfortable, unsettling and even frightening to think about. But if we choose to deny this truth, we are denying the reality that God points out to us in Revelation 13 concerning our Laodicean condition. As individuals, and as a church, we are called to face an uncomfortable reality. However, recognizing our true condition is vital if we want to take a different course than previous generations.

 

Let’s say we realize our condition. We recognize, admit, and accept our true condition as presented in Romans and Revelation. The Holy Spirit convicts the heart, and a change is decided upon. What happens next? Victory? For some it may seem like God has miraculously taken away self-centered desires. For others it may seem like the request bounced off the ceiling and came back to laugh scornfully at you. So, what is the difference? We serve the same powerful, omnipotent God. Why does victory and overcoming look different from one believer to the next? Is the life we are called to live a hopeless cycle of striving to gain the victory in Christ and failing, asking for forgiveness, and repeating? Thankfully Christ has not left us without help.

 

In John 16:5-15 Christ shares that He needed to go away so that He could send the Comforter. First it is important we recognize that the Holy Spirit seems to be a token, a sign, that Christ is in heaven and that the things He said were and are true. Second it is important to recognize that the Comforter is sent from Christ to us — a precious gift. The purpose for this gift can be found in verse 8 of the same chapter: to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Verses 13 and 14 describe the Comforter as being given to lead us into “all truth” and to glorify and uplift Christ. By receiving of Christ, the Comforter was and is enabled to glorify Christ. So too must we receive of Christ to be able to glorify Him in all we do.

 

The standard is high — the life we are called to live in Christ is of the noblest and loftiest nature. Matthew 5:29 boldly points out that “if your right eye offend thee, pluck it out." The Beatitudes (or the sermon on the mount) is a clear revelation of the high calling we are called to in Christ. The walk we are called to live is not diminished or glossed over, but magnified and elevated. God desires to uplift our fallen sinful souls from the depths of degradation to the deeper revelation of the beautiful, holy, and pure character found in the Bible and displayed in the life of Christ. It is a call to radical transformation. We have all fallen to a level that cannot exist in the presence of God, yet He desires to lift us up — to be closer still in similitude of character with Himself. A manuscript written in 1885 says this:

 

We must get closer to God, and then Christ will be our light, and the light of truth will reflect upon the world. We want to educate ourselves to talk of the truth, talk of heaven and heavenly things; converse of the Saviour’s love; and then we shall be fitting up for a holy heaven. If Christ when He shall come should find us with all the defects of character we have today, there will be no such thing as our getting into the courts of heaven, and there will be no chance for us to reform then. Christ does not promise to transform our characters then, after He shall come. We must seek righteous characters now. But if we have built up ourselves in our own righteousness, He does not change the character. The change must be here. We must wash our robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb in this world, and then we shall have the white linen which is the righteousness of the saints. But if we go on in our sins, Christ can never take such to heaven. It is only those who are holy who can see a holy God.

4LtMs, MS 4, 1885, par. 15

 

The lesson asks the question, “What is the role of our wills, and our willpower, in the battle with self and sin?” How do we or can we even end the cycle of sin, repent, repeat? Like the young ruler in Matthew 19, the jailer in Acts 16, or Nicodemus in John 3 you might find yourself asking, “What must I do to be saved? Where is my part?” How are we to fashion characters in the life that are fit for the life to come? Peter 1:13 says “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” We are not called to try harder and do more. We are called to simply be sober, be awake to our condition, and then we are invited to hope in Christ and make Him our surety.

 

“Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.” Colossians 1:25-29

 

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1, 2

 

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5

 

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12

 

Christ works in us mightily. Christ authors and finishes our faith. Let the mind of Christ be in us. Let us have the faith of Jesus.

 

What is our work? In Genesis 32 Jacob returned to his homeland at the bidding of God. He clearly saw what lay before, was greatly afraid as he recognized his vulnerability. He wrestled with God and prevailed because he would not let go and simply asked for a blessing. Notice it does not say Jacob prevailed cause he overpowered or convinced God in some way. The result? His name (character) was changed, and his human flesh as permanently altered. He had an experience with God that radically altered all of who he was. Unless we have a similar experience, we will not be able to survive seeing the face of Jesus.

 

And I pray for you, my brethren, that you may make sure work for eternal life. As a messenger of Jesus Christ, I entreat of you to let love come into your hearts. Every soul that shall be saved must be holy and pure in this world. Every soul that falls upon the Rock and is broken, Christ with His everlasting arms gathers him to His bosom. Put your heart into the work. There are many of you grasping the truth with the ends of your fingers, and here is the world looking upon you and witnessing that you are not Christians. If you gather the precious rays of light that God has given you, you can scatter these blessed beams upon the pathway of others. May God wake you up, that you may seek your closets and pray to God and believe that He hears you; for He says, “Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” [Verse 7.] Then come just as you are, and He will help you. He will save to the uttermost all who come unto Him. He wants to wash you from every stain of sin. I love Him because He first loved me; I see in Jesus matchless charms, and I want a part with Him in His heavenly kingdom. And now, my brethren, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call ye upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” [Isaiah 55:6, 7.] May God help us to seek Him and to realize that He will do just as He has said He would. This is the victory, even your faith.

4LtMs, MS 4, 1885, par. 16-

 

~Anya Kinsley