Walk In Him
It wasn’t difficult to receive Christ as my Savior as I think about it today. I was brought to a point in my life where I knew I’d messed up and couldn’t fix things or go back and change the choices I had already made that had brought me down this road. I needed help and, more than that, I needed forgiveness. I didn’t need a theologian to tell me I’d offended the Creator. What little I knew about God was enough to tell me I’d blown it. That’s when someone found me and told me about Jesus. I was amazed to hear that my past could be forgiven, and that I could have a clean slate to write my life on. It wasn’t difficult – I simply believed it. As a gift from heaven, I just accepted it and discovered the joy of salvation.
It was sometime later, after I’d settled in to this thing called Christianity, that I began to struggle. Things that I suddenly felt guilty about doing, I had trouble doing without. I would want to do the right thing in my heart, but my body would fight against me and sometimes win. My life was a series of peaks and valleys – one moment on top of the world, and the next moment discouraged and ashamed. I wasn’t content to go through the “sin and repent” cycle that many Christians practiced – I wanted to overcome! I found that to receive Christ was one thing, but to walk in Him was another thing all together.
That’s when I found these words in the 2nd chapter of Colossians: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” I discovered that it was a simple matter of believing that Christ had already secured not only my redemption, but my victory also. I found that faith was the victory that overcomes all things. I learned that walking in Christ can be as easy as receiving Him in the first place; and, instead of trying to exert my willpower over temptations, I could affirm my belief that I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. I also found that God gives me power over those things that used to defeat me. It isn’t a power that comes from me, however, but from the power of the Spirit working in me.
The Chinese teacher Watchman Nee once explained it by holding his Bible at arms length to show that his natural strength was sufficient to accomplish this task easily. After five minutes however, his strength began to wane and the book became heavier until, as light as the book was, he was unable to support its weight. The reason, he said, was because the law of gravity was exerting a constant force against him that never weakened and never ceased until it overcame his will. He had some strength to resist this law for a time; but ultimately, he was doomed to give in. The same is true of the relationship between our natural willpower and the law of sin and death. In order to overcome one law, a greater law must be applied. That’s why Paul says in Romans that, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”.
Are you struggling with something in your life that you can’t seem to completely overcome? Trust the Savior today that He has given you the power to walk in Him just as surely as He has granted you redemption. Don’t let fear and defeat govern your life – believe Christ for the victory!
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”
- Colossians 2:6,7
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