Unshackled Moments ~ April 24 ~ Staying Clean

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 

Psalm 51:10

We come to that point when we are ready, or mostly ready to be rid of sin. We want to be the people that God has called us to be. We want right relationship with God. We want to deny self and follow Him. We've decided to surrender, no turning back and no compromise. We get closer to our Creator, and as we do so the more we realize our distance from Him. The more right our hearts become the more wrongness we see and can no longer deny.

With renewed determination and a desire to be the person we want to be, the person we were created to be, the person God wants to transform us into, we strive to rid ourselves of those character defects, those sins, that get in the way of our relationship with Good and interfere with us living rightly. Those habits and sins that we feel guilty about, that have kept us from whole heartedly serving God, that shame us...we're not going to do that anymore. Nope. From this point on we're going to do what's right in this particular area. Excited and encouraged we sprint out on the right road for a time, then we cramp up and run out of breath. We find ourselves fallen on the side of the road, temporarily out of the race. We've done it again. Whatever it was we weren't going to do, that's what we did. Why?

Because doing the wrong thing for the right reason doesn't make it right, nor does it make it work. The entire reason we need grace, why Jesus went to the cross for us, is because we can never do it for ourselves or on our own. Our desire to do what's right is good.  Our longing for closeness and intimacy with the Father is a just cause. But we can't get there on any road other than Grace Ave. While, My Efforts Dr. may look parallel and only be one street over, it's the wrong road. We'll never get to the Father that way. It's doomed to destruction, and when we take it, no matter how great the determination, no matter our motive, we will find ourselves failing.

It's not, "Hey God, watch me clean myself up!" or even "Father, I will clean myself up and do what's right for You." It's "Daddy, create in me for me a clean heart and help me to walk the way You want me to because I can't do it." It may not seem like there's a lot of difference. Both are an attempt to do the right thing, to walk with God. But one is life and the other is death. Choose life. Let God do the work and stop trying to beat sin by your own power. You can't. I can't. No one can.

Abba, forgive me for trying to walk with You on my own steam. Forgive me for my failure. Help me to remember that the battle is already won when I let You do the fighting. Help me to stay surrendered to You. Amen.