Sinning less is NOT our goal. The rate at which we do or don't sin is still an expression of self, and directly relates to most world religions. The overriding principle of all major religions is to sin less.
God's Law was NOT given to us as a pathway to pursue sinning less... Yet we look at ourselves and those around us in the terms of how faithfully one observes or how blatantly one ignores that very pursuit... which is NOT the race before us.
The RACE to wholesome is a great benefit to SELF, as we continue to pursue security, pleasures, and comfort while being less affected by the consequences overt sin.
But the RACE to Holy is a great threat to SELF, as we actually deny self, love sacrificially, and live by FAITH in God's provision and in OBEDIENCE to His greatest decree... just as Jesus displayed.
The RACE set before each of us is not to SIN less but instead to SELF less.
Why do we do much better (more) at "Love your wife like Christ loved" and do much worse (less) at "Love one another like Christ loved"?
Although BOTH call for the exact same expression of selfless love, i dare to point out that our SELF greatly benefits from the first, and meeting greeds is much more enjoyable than meeting a stranger's need.
Wholesome needs little faith in God's provision, because self does quite well behind the white picket fences as we structure our personal lives according to Biblical principles instead of actually imitating Christ. Wholesome displays a TYPE of sacrificial love with spouse, children, family, and friends; but Jesus says to, "Love in the same way as I loved you."
We are to LOVE our wives with a completely sacrificial and selfless love, AND we are to also LOVE one another (siblings within our eternal family) and our neighbors (those in need) with the very same LOVE... just as Jesus (the Christ) Loved.
This flaw in our understanding, where SELF moderates its expressions of love, accounts for why Churches are full of cordial and wholesome people, not people who resemble our Lord and Savior.
Sinning less is still an inward focus (looking into a mirror) and an expression of SELF.
Jesus was completely outward focused (looking through His eyes) expressing Love for OTHERS.
Paul says, "I don't even judge myself" (inward), because "to live is Christ" (outward).
In contrast to loving as the world loves...
When someone notified Jesus that His mother and family had come to speak with Him, Jesus replied, "Look around, here are My mother and brothers! Whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother." - Matthew 12:46-50, Mark 3:31-35
"My mother and My brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it." - Luke 8:19-21
'Running the race that is set before us..."
Our race is not to see who can sin less, read the Bible the most, memorize the most, preach or proclaim the most, or to get the most people to say the words, "Jesus is my Lord". There are NO other people on your track or my track to compete against... the world grades on a curve, God does not.
We may comfort ourselves by comparison to those around us, according to self's subjective standards... but our comparison is to Christ alone.
The RACE is away from Loving SELF towards Loving GOD, away from Loving "me, my, mine" to Loving our neighbors, who (as Jesus explained) are those in need.
When our "love" is meeting a greed to the neglect of another's need... we are loving as the world loves.
SEEKING HIS KINGDOM is the race, and His Kingdom is enveloped with this Greatest and Pure other-focused Love... a BRILLIANCE beyond measure of God's Radiant GLORY.
"Rid ourselves of every hinderance (obstacle and sin) that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance..." - Hebrews 12:1
Our race is to flee from SELF.
Our goal is to be like the Savior.
Sanctification is cleansing SOUL of SELF.
And as SELF becomes less and He more within our soul, love for self (me, my, mine) is replaced by love for others. Sin is eliminated as self-love is replaced by Christ-like Love.
Are we to run away from family, as portrayed in the book Pilgrim's Progress?
Paul clearly states, "I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband." - 1 Corinthians 7:32-34
Notice how "the things of the Lord" and "pleasing wife/husband" are juxtaposed in the Apostles teaching? Pleasing wife or husband is worldly and not the things of the Lord.
Precisely because pleasing spouse is saturated in SELF, while the things of the Lord are based on OTHERS. A married person is much more likely to meet their spouse's greed (catering to and nurturing SELF) at the expense of meeting another's need.
Precisely why Jesus proclaimed this truth... "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." - Luke 14:26
It is the love for "SELF" contained within family which hinders, prevents, or denies Christ-like (others focused) transformation. Natural selfishness must be hated... Family, as with Church congregation, must be always moving towards sacrificially loving others, focused on meeting needs and eliminating greeds.
Does the vagrant need a meal? Discern need from greed, because feeding a slothful man may merely be feeding a greed... "A lazy man shall not eat." - 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
Whereas meeting a genuine need is in actuality... "loving Christ." - Matthew 25:40.
SELF may respond with apathy, distain, or disinterest; either turning attention away, or paying a pittance so they'll go away. We simply pay taxes and tithes so that "others" provide for the needy while we live our lives.
James tells of another hindrance to our race... sometimes SELF works hard at doing BOTH. Attempting to appease conscience... we continue to work hard for self yet now we add a component of generosity and sacrifice. But this form of benevolence is not Christ-like devotion to God, it is what James calls being, "Double minded" and our Lord refers to as, "Lukewarm." -James 1:8, Revelation 3:16
Jesus explains a parable hoping we see the Big Picture,
"The farmer sows the word...
Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop - some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what is sown." - Mark 4:13-20
Question: What does a branch do with the vine's sustenance if not outwardly producing fruit?
Jesus tells us that every branch will be pruned in order to produce more fruit, and that any branch which does not produce fruit will be pruned away by the Father and cast into the fire.
"Having a form of godliness, but denying the true power within"
Why did Israel fall over and over again until finally being drug into captivity? Why did all the once prominent Christian nations in Europe fall into obscurity? And why is America imploding after once being the most benevolent Christian based civilization in human history?
Because SELF, like a cancer, if not eliminated will eventually spread and destroy.
Pride, greed, arrogance, anger, all emanate from SELF.
Just as every Righteous and Obedient act can be traced back to sacrificial LOVE, everything we can name as SIN can be traced back to loving SELF. Creation displays this very curse... Why do we battle weeds, fight off insects, get entangled in thorns and thistles, fear ferocious animals, become infected with viruses and bacteria? These all display a strong attribute for SELF to the cost of the weaker which surrounds them. All of creation groans under the effect of sin.
Every "Form of Godliness" is based upon SELF trying to LOVE. Self decides, and our love ebb and flows based upon emotions. We sing praise, we blindly give, we devote time to reading and listening, and teach others to do likewise.
Instead of pursuing Christlikeness and training our children to do likewise, we pursue wholesome success and train our children to do likewise. Yet as we neglect our neighbors, the cancer which has infected all human hearts spreads relentlessly throughout society until inevitably our "Enemies rule over us." - Leviticus 26:17
If the RACE is merely going from SELF "Sinning a lot" to SELF "Sinning very little", then our faith is based upon SELF, which is not the Christ-like pilgrimage that disciples are called to.
The temptations of this world, our flesh, and the father of lies, continue to appeal to our self.
"You deserve...", "Just do it", "We got this", "God wants me happy", "The American dream", continue to cater to me, my, mine and THEN look to others. ALL appeal to SELF and keep us off the racetrack of sanctification.
"I can have this if I don't do that," is NOT how Jesus displayed the Christian life to us.
God sacrificially (from Him for us) loves every person on this world, He gave each one life and sustenance, He surrounded them with diversity and beauty. Exalting and prioritizing SELF accounts for why it looks like God loves some more than others.
If everyone Loved as Christ loved this world would look extremely different.
If being like Christ seems too unattainable of goal to even attempt... then Paul says, "Imitate me, as i imitate Christ." - 1 Corinthians 1:11
Yet in the modern Evangelical Church we talk more about and emphasize being Elect rather than becoming more and more like Christ. Our faith is not in God providing our daily needs... because, quite frankly, I have enough bread (401K) to last for many days. OUR faith is in God making us "Christ-like" in one fell swoop immediately after our death, if indeed we are counted among the elect, and (as us being the rich) we did achieve "threading the needle" and finding His narrow path.
Or have we mistakenly labeled our wholesome pursuit of security and comfort "Christianity" and called the world's rewards "God's approval"?
"Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? -- unless indeed you fail to meet the test." -
2 Corinthians 13:52
Checking to see if we're in the faith or not is NOT an examination of Sovereignty but of Sincerity.
James says, "Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." - James 2:18
A horse is spurred by its rider to overcome the natural inclination to SELF, and to achieve the Authority's desires. As the horse yields it serves a greater purpose and accomplishes much more in its lifespan than tending to itself and herd.
"Teaming" horses or oxen exponentially increases their effectiveness and productivity.
"And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds." - Hebrews 10:24
A GREATER PURPOSE:
The RACE is from Loving self 100% to Loving God through others 100% (being like Christ).
From meeting our GREEDS to meeting their NEEDS.
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