Here’s another kernel of truth from Bob Hoekstra at Day by Day Grace:
Jesus taught these truths when He was here upon earth. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). It is absolutely certain that the world will bring to us all many troubles and trials. Our fully sufficient hope is the Lord Jesus Christ. The world came against Jesus with all of its plots and ploys. Our Lord and Savior never succumbed at any point. He is the one we are to rely upon, in order to walk in victory ourselves. “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Trusting in the victor allows us to walk in His victory.(emphasis added)
Isn’t it easy to look at ourselves in disappointment when we have fallen short of God’s holy standards (or have actually gone beyond and done what is out-and-out wrong), and think, “I really have to do better than this.” It’s as if we don’t really believe that we are sinful, fallen people who need the Lord to regenerate us and sustain us. We really think, “I can do better next time.” What this amounts to, practically speaking, is a rejection of God’s testimony about who we are, and what our true condition is.
What to do? The best course of action is the Biblical course of action. When I fail, when I do what is wrong, I need to confess that to God, and I need to admit to Him what it is I have done: I have sinned.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. – I John 1:8 – 10.
I love God’s promise to His Old Testament people who looked forward in faith to their comming Messiah:
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28b . . . Ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
29a I will also save you from all your uncleannesses . . . – Ezekiel 36:26 – 29
That’s what I desire: That the Lord would save me from myself, and especially from deceiving myself with the thought that “I’m not all that bad.” I need the Lord to save me, and to sustain me.
