Although I can't claim to be an individual highly informed on world or national events, I have watched or read enough of the news lately to be troubled. The headlines typically proclaim happenings that are disturbing, alarming, or downright heartbreaking. Like me, you may wonder what the world is coming to, draw closer to loved ones to protect them from the harsh realities, and suit up in armor to leave the house for our daily lives hoping that our contributions will bring light to the darkness. And yet, I have found that there is a war perhaps far more perilous looming at my door from which I cannot escape. I must face the fight at home right on the battlefield of my heart where either sin will reign victorious or a grace more than amazing will conquer all.
Although I grew up in a Christian home, knew about God, and loved Jesus from a young age, it has taken me many bumps, turns, and years into adulthood to truly understand what it means to make Jesus Christ the center of my life and the treasure of my heart. The One who stepped down from his rightful place in heaven, hung on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, and rose again from the grave to defeat death is not interested in staying on the sidelines of my life giving Him a little piece here or another chunk there when it's convenient or helpful. The heart is a funny thing. We think we can compartmentalize it letting God have most of it and saving a little piece from ourselves. But like an ugly cancer, the sin that is left will run rampant slowly devouring its surroundings. Similarly, to use the words of the apostle Paul,
a little leaven leavens the whole lump (Galatians 5:9). The Puritan theologian John Owen also recognized this well and cautioned fellow believers to "be killing sin or sin will be killing you."
If it's a life and death situation, how then should we respond? How can the ugliest of sinners like me ever hope to be victorious? I believe we must first begin by recognizing the hopelessness of the situation. Although it seems counter-intuitive to have an attitude of defeat, the only way we can hope to win the battle of our hearts is by coming to the end of ourselves and seeing ourselves as we truly are. Scripture confirms that we have all failed royally.
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Perhaps you can identify with me as I peer into my own heart and life and see the ugliness and destruction that sin has left in its wake. In 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul claimed to be the foremost of sinners, yet I can't help but feel that Paul had just never met me. Coming to the end of my pride and self-sufficiency in this realization however, I then must cling to the other part of this verse in which Paul says that
the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. This is where the heart victory can happen! There is simply no way that a broken being such as myself can win the battle, but I have a Captain who has already fought the good fight and claimed victory on my behalf. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus has already made it possible to break the chains of bondage that sin would hope to have over my heart and which steal my joy. I haven't earned this, for it is purely a gift of grace from God, and oh what an amazing grace it truly is. By placing my faith in Jesus Christ and the work he has done on my behalf, my filthy rags are removed and I am dressed in His perfect righteousness. Now by the power of the Holy Spirit, I can now daily take up the battle and fight sin by continually surrendering to Christ and placing Him back on His rightful place in the throne room of my heart.
For as many days as God will grant me to walk on this earth, I must take part in the battle that is not outside my doors but which lies right on the homefront of my heart. What I once was I can confidently claim that I no longer am because my Savior Jesus Christ calls me His. Today I proclaim that
by the grace of God I am what I am (1 Corinthians 15:10)
, a sinner saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Reader, would you join me in fighting the fight and claiming a life of joy and beautiful surrender to Christ, the great Victor and King? I pray that you would for the battle rages on. In Him and only Him, there is precious victory!
