Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

The Reality Of The Christian Life

PSALM 119:5 – Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!

THEME OF THE DAY. THE REALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. Take some time and meditate on the heart of the Psalmist in today’s scripture. Do we see the yearning in his heart for a life of consistent obedience to God’s Word? One can feel the longing within him to be a lover of God whose steps are always in line with His will. But there is also the implication of the opposite. The very cry for a life of obedience reveals the reality of the struggle for a life of obedience. It is like us saying of something we would enjoy, “Oh, I wish I could, but I can’t.”

The reality of the Christian life is this tension. We live in a longing for, but not the fulfilment of, when it comes to a perfect walk with the Lord. And if we are going to enjoy the Christian life, then we need a thorough understanding of the Christian life. The Christian life is a battle, a fight, a race, and a difficult course to run. It will never be easy nor contain one single day of being conflict-free. Our foes are great and relentless with the devil, the world, and flesh constantly seeking our destruction. And the Christian who knows these truths and is striving daily against these foes is the believer understanding the Christian life this side of heaven. Conversely, the Christian rarely thinking of these realities in the Christian living as a defeated Christian, even a spiritual infant, not aware of what life for the Christian truly is this side of heaven. Let’s face it. I must face it. You must face it. I, we, must face the truth that we are creatures looking for comfort, ease, and a relatively pain-free existence in the world. And that not just in the physical realm. I want it in my spiritual life too. I really do want a life honoring the Lord Jesus, enjoying Him, and making a difference for Him. But . . . I am afraid I subtly want it to be without suffering, convenient, with minimal self-denial, and always walking in the felt awareness of His Presence. When those temptations to have this type of Christian life come into my thinking, unless I immediately fight them off with the Biblical realities of the Christian life, I will become a complaining and complacent Christian who distorts what the Bible says is the true Christian life. And what is the true Christian life? The life Christ lived on the earth. Let the following words from John Newton, the author of the great hymn, Amazing Grace, help us to understand that the Christian life is lived by way of the Master.

JOHN NEWTON, “What! The Master always a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, and the servant always happy and full of comfort! Jesus despised, reproached, neglected, opposed, and betrayed; and His people admired and caressed: He living in the want of things, and they filled with abundance: He sweating blood for anguish, and they strangers to distress: how unsuitable would these things be! How much better to be called to the honor of filling up the measure of His sufferings! How much more He endured for us than He will ever call us to endure for Him. Again, how could we without sufferings manifest the nature and truth of Gospel grace? What place should we then have for patience, submission, meekness, forbearance, and a readiness to forgive, if we had nothing to try us either from the hand of the Lord or from the hand of men? A Christian without trials would be like a mill without wind or water.”

The reality of the Christian is we fight daily for more and more obedience to the Lord; an obedience that is manifested by walking as He walked which includes many trials and tribulations on the journey home.

PRAYER: “Lord, help me to daily see the spiritual fight I am in, not outside of me, but inside me.”

QUOTE: “The Christian life is always a battle, a fight, a race, and full of difficulties.”