I Can Do Nothing!

Stop wondering, there is nothing there

Many times as Christian we feel that we have to do something in order to make us different from the world. Perhaps we wanted to be a little bit "holier" than others just to show that we are more "special". Yet in many attempts, we have failed more than we actually succeed. The thought of doing so is right, I don't doubt that people who are trying to be a better person is doing a good thing. But the way they wanted to achieve this "holier than thou status" is very wrong. We had a feeling of doing something, yet there is so little strength in us and so little that we can do.


The work of the Lord is perfect. It begins where we are and asks nothing of us for its completion. When the good Samaritan saw the traveler lying wounded and half dead, he did not tell him to rise and come to him, ride the donkey and go to the inn to heal. No, he "came where he was" (Luke 10:33) and helped him.


If you had earlier read my accounts we have seen that God justifies the ungodly and that He justifies them through faith in the precious blood of Jesus. We now have to see the condition these ungodly ones are in when Jesus work on their salvation. Many people, even Christians are not only troubled about their sin but about their moral weakness. They have no strength with which to escape from the mire which they have fallen, nor to keep out of it in the days to come. They not only lament over what they have done, but over what they cannot do. They feel powerless, helpless and spiritually lifeless. "Christian" is just a DOG TAG they wear.


"When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6) The one thing that the poor strengthless sinner has to fix his mind on is the divine assurance that "in due time Christ died for the ungodly". Believe this and all inability will disappear. You need not, therefore, despair. That which is necessary to salvation is not continuous thought and toil and effort but a simple reliance upon Jesus.


Maybe you have heard these words 100 times, and yet you have never before perceived their meaning. Jesus did not die for our righteousness, but He died for our sins. He did not come to save us because we were worth saving, but because we were utterly worthless, ruined and undone. He did not come to earth out reasons that was in us, but solely and only because of reasons which He took from the depths of His own love. SO THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO!


Repentance will not make you see Christ, but to see Christ will give you repentance. You may not make a Christ out of your repentance, but you must look for repentance in Christ. The Holy Spirit, by turning us to Christ, turns us from sin. Look away then from your own repenting, your own sins, to the Lord Jesus. Do not focus on your sickness for it does not help, focus on the remedy.


Which is why I never focus on sin, by all means I don't condone sin. I strongly condemn them. I don't even enjoy people smoking in front of me. Although smoking is more of a bad habit then actual sinning. I would tell my peers and my friends that I don't want them to smoke in front of me when we're hanging out. They are embarrassing me and I don't like to inhale their smoke. The very VIRTUE (not so much) of me is that I never see anyone higher than myself. It doesn't matter how rich or poor or how many business degrees you have. None is righteous. There is nothing in us that is worthy of thought. But there is everything in Christ.


Nevertheless there is a possibility that you have been trying to believe too much. Do not aim at great things. Be satisfied to have faith that can hold in its hand this one truth. "While we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly." If you will trust your soul to Jesus who died for the ungodly, even though you cannot believe all things or move mountains or do any other wonderful works, yet you are saved. But of course, there are teachings concerning "the increase of faith" but that I would share next week.


Now, if I may I would only pray that the Holy Spirit would help us to come thus far by faith in the Lord Jesus, and it will be well!