'Resting' needs advice

[Tron4JC]

where while I do hold to one can through total unbelief and unrepentant heart fall from the faith and be lost in the end, I also hold to the Lutheran belief that if one is struggling with sin, and one continues to focus on the cross of Christ, one is saved. As long as the law reminds us of our sinfulness and as long as we are contrite and constantly keeping our eyes on Christ crucified, there is no condemnation. We cannot obey the law fully. But the law reminds us even in sanctification of our sins and weaknesses. We are given new desires to obey the law, to be sure, and the fact we are struggling is indicative of that.

Those who are lost, whether never saved or saved but fell away, are those who are not struggling at all with their sins and have no repentance in them.

I think this is where Luther's comments about Christ's sacrifice being for real sins is relevent:



"If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. "

I hope that helps.

[Widowsmyte]

Resting:

There have been alot of thoughtful posts here... for all of us.

I might also make a couple of other IMHO type comments here --- not that I am an expert in any way shape or manner...

When you have the "rush" of becoming a Christian it WILL tend to initially dim over time. Part of that is from the fact we need to get a brother who is a mentor to help us on "what-to-do-next". Kinda like being given the driver's license and then no one taught you how to drive... what you know you picked up on the "back roads".

As you diligently study, learn and grow in Christ many things you have struggled with will be sifted out on their own (God is also VERY good at getting your attention from time-to-time). The "islands of resistence" will be there and you can bet Satan is WELL aware of them. (I might add, read C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters --- puts a different light on this thing called Battle Against Principalities. Also please read C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity... another way to "see" what is being thrown at you in life as a Christian).

Now... also start thinking to yourself continuously about focusing on your love FOR the Father. Through His amazing selfless Son and the guidence of the Holy Spirit now SEALED within you... YOU... YES YOU now have a relationship with the Ones who created everything about you... and guess what? YOU ARE WORTH IT!!! He loves you THAT much that He made all of this possible... and you did it on your OWN FREE WILL.

With that said, we get confused between "being in love" with "love". The latter is emotional and get "spent" (ie the rush of lust)... reality always sets in quickly thereafter. You LOVE the Father, His Son and the Spirit. Start focusing on how you live & what you do... doing these things BECAUSE you LOVE THEM NOT... to 'get them to love you'. They already do!

[Phew!] --- You will need all the prayer mentoring and guidance, but also keep in front of your nose... you are doing this BECAUSE you love them...it is what defines us in character. Also remember, Satan won't take this lying down... he is into the "numbers" game and he always deals in deception. He will always UP the ante when he thinks you have put everything (and I DO mean everything) at the foot-of-the-Cross.

I have developed a phrase that I had put on my baseball caps...

"Christianity" --- It's NOT for wimps!

You will be told your faith is a "crutch"... it is NOT. You will come under fire from everywhere the stronger you become. That is why you must be in the Body of Christ as well. We are all under siege and it "ain't gettin' better".

Be strong and rely on Him.

[Big Daddy]

Resting:

There have been alot of thoughtful posts here... for all of us.

I might also make a couple of other IMHO type comments here --- not that I am an expert in any way shape or manner...

When you have the "rush" of becoming a Christian it WILL tend to initially dim over time. Part of that is from the fact we need to get a brother who is a mentor to help us on "what-to-do-next". Kinda like being given the driver's license and then no one taught you how to drive... what you know you picked up on the "back roads".

As you diligently study, learn and grow in Christ many things you have struggled with will be sifted out on their own (God is also VERY good at getting your attention from time-to-time). The "islands of resistence" will be there and you can bet Satan is WELL aware of them. (I might add, read C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters --- puts a different light on this thing called Battle Against Principalities. Also please read C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity... another way to "see" what is being thrown at you in life as a Christian).

Now... also start thinking to yourself continuously about focusing on your love FOR the Father. Through His amazing selfless Son and the guidence of the Holy Spirit now SEALED within you... YOU... YES YOU now have a relationship with the Ones who created everything about you... and guess what? YOU ARE WORTH IT!!! He loves you THAT much that He made all of this possible... and you did it on your OWN FREE WILL.

With that said, we get confused between "being in love" with "love". The latter is emotional and get "spent" (ie the rush of lust)... reality always sets in quickly thereafter. You LOVE the Father, His Son and the Spirit. Start focusing on how you live & what you do... doing these things BECAUSE you LOVE THEM NOT... to 'get them to love you'. They already do!

[Phew!] --- You will need all the prayer mentoring and guidance, but also keep in front of your nose... you are doing this BECAUSE you love them...it is what defines us in character. Also remember, Satan won't take this lying down... he is into the "numbers" game and he always deals in deception. He will always UP the ante when he thinks you have put everything (and I DO mean everything) at the foot-of-the-Cross.

I have developed a phrase that I had put on my baseball caps...

"Christianity" --- It's NOT for wimps!

You will be told your faith is a "crutch"... it is NOT. You will come under fire from everywhere the stronger you become. That is why you must be in the Body of Christ as well. We are all under siege and it "ain't gettin' better".

Be strong and rely on Him.
Great post, full of Wisdom. :thumbup

[romans224]

There is alot of good advice and guidance here. Which I agree with some, however I do know first hand about temptation of lust and just like any addiction porn. can also enslave the individual. If I were to say not to look at it and if you do you are not truly repenting I would be wrong. Just as it is an addiction to smoke or drink or even games or TV. When we recognize we have this addiction this is God showing us so He can help us. We will never break free from our faults however the Spirit can guide us to push closer to God and Christ lives in us. When we try to do what is right and good we fall short of it no matter what we may really think. However when we push towards God and say we can not do it on our own, He then does our life for us. Admitting weakness is the hardest thing anyone can do. The Father knows this and in His eyes it is the greatest thing we can do. When I learned to depend more on God NO MATTER WHAT I am basically saying "I seek your kingdom and you will provide all I need." Is it easy, NO will the enemy push you down, YES. When we focus on the Law we again put ourselves into bondage, but when we focus on faith we become dead to the law. I am not saying to sin and just keep doing it, rather when your focus is on God you will be unable to sin because you absorb his character more and your character dies with the law. Stay close to God and He will stay close to you!

[blitzkreig]

Unless someone can provide scripture otherwise, once you are saved then that's it. You can't become "unsaved".

Your entrance into heaven is based upon your acceptance of Christ and not upon your continued sin.

Your entrance into hell is based upon your rejection of Christ and not upon your continued sin.

Sin - yours, mine, and even the pope's - will continue.

The guilt, the feeling of being ashamed, the sense of disgust....these are because you ARE holy. Unholy people don't have these feelings. We are aware of them because of Jesus. Because we accept Him. Without Him there is nothing....no pain, no guilt, no disgust, no shame.

Forgive yourself. God forgives you.Well stated.

Paul cried "O wreched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" By a gruesome figure the Apostle likens his fallen nature to a corpse lashed to him which he will carry wherever he goes.

The answer to the problem is twofold: we will be delivered through the saving work of the Lord Jesus (Rom 7:25) and by the personal intervention of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:2). Such a deliverance is made possible only through that which Christ has wrought in His death as a judgement of sin nature.

Not by some sort of common human effort.

You must turn it all over to God.

Sanctification is of the Lord.

You got two choices. Keep on keeping on ... but if that ain't workin' for ya ... turn it over to the Lord and He has promised He will deal with it.

Not a lot different than Salvation really ... you can try to save yourself ... or not.

[frankDH]

Repentance isn't just a matter of regret and request for forgiveness until the next moment of weakness occurs. It's going in a new direction. I used to chain smoke. I prayed about it a lot, but without thinking I would find myself lighting up. Then I noticed I didn't smoke as much when I was at work. So when I realized I had just lit another cigarette, I would put it out and get busy doing something.

God is forgiving of our weaknesses but wants an effort on our part to bring our bodies into subjection. It's part of the process of perfection. Sometimes He wants you to take an action He can bless. Plan ahead. Replace what you want to lose with something positive. If you catch yourself looking at internet porn, shut it down, pray to get right with God and go play ball with your kids, or study that last verse that caused you to think about God's will. Get involved in something that will bring joy instead of guilt. God forgives sin but He also honors intent. Access all the help He can offer.

[KnightErrant]

Repent; from the Latin repentio (-ire, -ivi, -itum) 4th conjugation verb.

re-pent = re (do again) + pentio (to think) or in other words "to think again,"

as in "Young man, if you think you are going to get away with violating curfew, you better think again."

Also from the Greek metanoia, Meta (to change) + noia (the mind).
:scripture
Repent means to change your mind and agree with God that Sin is Sin. And to involve the will in resolving to change as God gives you the Grace to change. As someone else pointed out above, Sanctification is of God, not of us.
:yeah
My catechism instructor used a pen light and a chess board to illustrate this;
:candle
The penlight, source of light, represented God, and the chess pieces represented all of us; you had pawns scattered over the board, a knight errant galloping all over the place, bishops distributed here and there, (one bishop, the kind who writes books on keeping the Bible away from people who might believe it, perched on the edge of the board staring into the abyss,) and all the pieces facing in different directions, away from the light. Then, without moving any of them closer to the light, he turned them all around to face the light.
:shocked
All were still facing in different directions, depending on where they were, but still all faced the same way, toward the light. This is repentance, chosing to turn toward the light, toward our Father.
:heythere
You might not move any closer to the light any time soon, but sometimes the first lesson we have to learn is to simply persevere in the struggle and remember that Father loves us, just as we are, right where we are. And that the light is now inside us, drawing us to the source.
:yeah

There are actually two words use for repent in the Bible, the first, used above, means to repent with your mind, your understanding. The second means to repent with tears, and is not the word Jesus used. Judas repented with tears, for all the good it did him. Repentance is not an emotional experience, though emotions may accompany it. It is a mental and volitional experience, performed in Faith.