As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. ~Colossians 2:6
"How may I grow in grace and in CHRIST?" Col. 2:6 offers us an answer to this question, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." We will grow as Christians as we follow the same steps which led us to receive CHRIST as SAVIOUR. Let us consider what steps we need to take in order to grow:
A. Acceptance of our own sinfulness and weakness
Before a person will accept CHRIST as SAVIOUR, GOD must convict and convince him that he is sinful, weak, and cannot help himself. This is true also of the Christian life. Paul discovered this truth. He says, "For I know that in me, (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7:18).
Paul had tried to live the Christian life using his own strength and will. He found when he did this that sin kept coming into his life. Finally he saw that this was not an occasional or accidental thing, but a principle which always affected his life. He wrote. "For to will is present with me (I want to do good); but how to perform that which is good I find not" (Rom. 7:18 b). Out of his experience of frustration and defeat he saw that in himself he could do nothing. Based on this truth, Paul found the answer to Christian maturity in CHRIST (Rom. 7:25). In ourselves we still are sinners. We are saved sinners, but nevertheless our old nature is still present. This nature is a weak and sinful one. As long as we try to live the Christian life we will fail. Only CHRIST in us can live the Christian life. We must come to see this before we will be willing to live by faith in Him.
B. Faith in Christ
"As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." When we trusted or had faith in JESUS, He was enabled or allowed to enter our lives as SAVIOUR. Our faith gave him freedom to save us by His power. The same kind of faith is needed in our present lives as Christians. In Gal. 2:20, Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Only CHRIST can live the Christian life in you, and CHRIST can only live His life in and through us as we live by faith in Him. After we see that we still have the old sinful nature we need to see that CHRIST is sufficient for our living the Christian life and trust Him. In all our ways we are to "acknowledge Him" and "lean not unto our own understanding." (Prov. 3:5-6). We should commit our way to the LORD that He might bring it to pass (Psa. 37:5).
C. Yielding our members to God
As we trust CHRIST we thereby surrender our right to direct our lives. However we must do more; we must consciously yield (turn over) ourselves to God to obey Him in everything. We are commanded in Rom. 12:1 : "I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." We present our bodies - and then they are available for CHRIST to use. Yielding ourselves so CHRIST can use us is a necessary part of Christian maturity.
D. Obedience
Yielding means complete submission so we are willing to obey whatever the command of CHRIST may be. A person has not yielded himself to CHRIST if he is unwilling to follow simply and completely all CHRIST's commands to him.
by Bill Wakefield
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