Life is full of problems.
Have you been looking for the solution to the problem in your life? You have known that something is missing, right? You may have even figured out that you are the problem. Are you ready to tackle the solution to the problem in your life?
We must live in God’s truth.
From the very beginning of humanity’s fall into sin, we have been in bondage to the lie that we can live independently of God and thrive by depending on our own abilities and resources. This distorted view of reality perverts everything true and righteous into a culture of lies. We will not accept anything we do not believe is true, but what we believe is not really true. With our skewed perception of God, our reality views Him as one who is not invested in our best interests and who deprives us of our rightful pleasures. Or we may even believe God is okay with whatever we want to pursue because He ultimately wants us to be happy, right? To be free from the perversion that results in our bondage, we must live in God’s truth.
Adjust your attitude toward truth.
A friend called, stating, “I feel so lost, so much in a hole, so disconnected from God. I feel I am completely alone in a void. How do I find Jesus relevant to this? Do I just believe the truth?” Despite his sarcasm, he knew the right answer. His wrong attitude prevented him from being empowered by the freedom that comes from recognizing God’s truth as capable of resolving each life situation.
Revelation 3 elaborates on God’s perspective concerning our lack of commitment and self-deception.
I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, “I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!” And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
Revelation 3:15–17 NLT
Commit to living in the truth.
As a solution to the problem of our lives, God invites us to choose commitment and share in a relationship with Him as we walk in His truth.
Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
Revelation 3:20 NLT
Unfortunately, we must still contend with the nature of sin resident in our lives. But, gratefully, we are blessed with a new set of options at the point of salvation. No longer are we bound by the power of sin in our lives. We may now choose from His abundant resources and allow His divine enablement to personally empower our lives.
What is truth anyway?
Truth comprises principles, precepts, and promises of God that empower life with the strength of God. Although God’s law is written in our hearts, we must choose to believe God’s truth by accepting His reality as fact. Yet, just knowing God’s truth as fact will not change our lives until we believe by faith and appropriate God’s truth in the course of our living. It is not until truth shapes our choices and molds our behavior, sculpting us into the image of Jesus, that we may say we believe. Do we really believe what we say we believe about God so that it permeates our lives and defines our actions?
For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.
Romans 2:13–15 NLT
Perversion keeps us trapped in the problems.
Perversion, the enemy of truth, is how Satan distorts and deceives to blind and to bind. Individuals are bound to lies, constituting the spiritual war between perversion and truth. This is the battleground upon which the Holy Spirit fights for our souls.
But we are not puppets; we are willing participants who choose to either walk in truth or perversion. At any given moment, we are either moving away from perversion to the truth, or we are moving from truth to perversion. Too often, we are torn between Satan’s perversions and the truth of God that states we are complete in Christ. The restraining force of the Holy Spirit in our lives reminds us that God is sufficient, while Satan whispers in our ear that self-gratification can fill the emptiness: “I believe my flesh can make me happy, but God won’t let me have what I want!”
Habitually we choose to dwell in the comfort zone of believing the lie that we can be complete without God. But this self-sufficient delusion only reinforces our bondage of living in servitude to our flesh. Oppression erodes our emotional fortitude and leads to death in all areas of life because death results from living independently of Christ.
Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path? . . .
Jeremiah 8:5 NLT
They cling tightly to their lies and will not turn around.
Perversion traps the unrepentant in the pathology of the sin nature. Regrettably, the deluded self-righteous soul chooses empowerment apart from Christ’s redemptive process and becomes ensnared by legalism or is lulled into leniency. Neither excessive adherence to the law nor subscribing only to the permissive, merciful, and tolerant attributes of God encompasses God’s design for a relationship with His children.
God offers the solution for the problem of your life.
God does hold us accountable for deviance from His divine standard so we may have fellowship with His holiness. He also offers merciful forgiveness to the repentant that authentically chooses Christ’s way instead of continuing to follow their own desires.
God’s design places Him at the center of our existence and makes Him responsible for our physical life, quality of life, and eternal life. However, man’s desire places him at the center of his own existence, and he expects God to revolve around him. At the same time, he pursues his own inclinations for physical life, quality of life, and eternal life.
One deluded soul was so convinced of his deception that he stated, “I don’t believe God is okay with what I am doing; but when I die and stand before God, I do believe I can explain it to Him, and He will be okay with it.”
Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?
Romans 6:1–2 NLT
But I think I have a better solution for the problem of my life.
The self-sufficient soul seeks empowerment through God substitutes. Every attempt to find empowerment through any means other than Christ’s redemptive process through Christ’s redemptive work results in self-delusion and destruction. It is only through finding Christ relevant to every aspect of our lives that we can be freed from the power of sin.
At the point of salvation, we accept Christ’s full payment of our sin debt that resulted from living in perversion. But only through Christ’s redemptive process can the pathology of the sin nature be defeated through truth. Please notice it is a process! We must continuously choose God’s truth and deny Satan’s lies and perversion. By embracing Christ’s empowering redemptive process, we choose Christ-centeredness that results in freedom and abundant life. The nature of God’s truth moves all to encounter Christ as centrally relevant to their lives.
Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10 NKJV
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 NIV
Break the power of perversion by embracing truth.
We need to break the power of perversion by embracing truth until it permeates every aspect of our being and we attain Christlikeness. This is accomplished by responding to the movement of the Holy Spirit—the call of truth.
Wisdom shouts in the streets.
Proverbs 1:20–23 NLT
She cries out in the public square.
She calls to the crowds along the main street,
to those gathered in front of the city gate:
“How long, you simpletons,
will you insist on being simpleminded?
How long will you mockers relish your mocking?
How long will you fools hate knowledge?
Come and listen to my counsel.
I’ll share my heart with you
and make you wise.”
So what’s the solution to the problem of my life?
As the God who created you, He has every solution for every problem in your life. Although we may believe we have a better solution for the problem of our lives, only when we break that perversion will we be able to live in the truth. Living in God’s truth leads us to His perfect solutions. If you are wondering what is keeping you from living in the truth, read Why don’t you want to know the truth?
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Excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis.
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