Broken People Exhibit Characteristics of Control

People often mask their insecurities and weaknesses with trying to control things, people, situations as to appear to have it together. Control is one of the worst manifestations of the broken. 

Those who walk in control; have to learn to relinquish the things they are trying to control over to the Lord. They have to become humble enough to ask God for wisdom and then humble enough to apply that wisdom.

And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” Numbers 14:4

Now, Israel already had leaders, but in the spirit of control, they wanted to circumvent the leaders God had set up to find other leaders who would pursue their broken agenda. This is a very dangerous characteristic of the broken because their control, stubbornness, and rebellion actual work against them to keep them from moving forward. It sets them backward every time. We don’t want to be in cycles of moving backward instead of forward.

Rude & Prideful
Those that operate from a broken perspective often set up walls of pride to protect themselves, their opinions, and the way that they see things. The Bible says that Korah and Dathan, two leaders in Israel became insolent: 

​Insolent: showing a rude and arrogant lack of respect (Google Dictionary).

Those that operate from a broken perspective have in many cases already exalted their opinions above everyone else—even leadership. They’ve become rude and prideful. If you start to notice this type of behavior in your own life, you my want to do a heart check asking the Lord to reveal where these patterns are coming from, and to give you the grace to deal with it so that it is resolved and no more.

Those that are whole recognize these patterns and begin to humble themselves; while those that are of broken perspectives simply accept this behavior as if this is the way it is. God calls us up higher. He does not allow us to stay the same.

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Perfectionism is a trap. It causes us to depend on our works for salvation and acceptance with God when Jesus already made the way for salvation, and Jesus already accepted us into the beloved.

To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in His Beloved. –  Ephesians 1:6

He has already committed to perfecting the things that concern us. We have to genuinely look to Him and trust in him to do what he said.

Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. – Philippians 1:6

Resting in our acceptance from Christ also lightens the burden to appear perfect or acceptable to men. When we make a mistake, we can more easily own our mistake because it doesn’t affect our acceptance with God. At that point, we are free from the fear of humiliation. Mistakes cannot be held over our heads in the same way; when we know who we are in Christ.

It provides a natural humility as we look to the Lord and not to ourselves. This does not mean that we can willfully sin or take for granted God’s grace expecting him to overlook it. God knows the intents of our hearts, and he will judge us by them.

“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” – Jeremiah 17:10

What the Lord has done for us as far as salvation, justification, and acceptance in Christ is so deep that it can be easily misunderstood or taken in the wrong way. If you ever feel yourself drifting into taking Christ’s work for you for granted and seeking your own way; reading, meditating on, and listening to scriptures from the old testament will help with providing sobriety reminding you to fear the Lord. The fear and wrath of God are clearly seen in the old testament.

The old testament increases my fear of God. That’s one of the main reasons I like reading the old testament. God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. His wrath is being halted only through Jesus Christ the spotless lamb and sacrifice for our sins. Anything outside of Christ will guarantee God’s wrath. 

This is why we cannot be prideful and look to our own works, or to holding up an image of perfectionism based on works. There is only one who is perfect and spotless and that is Jesus Christ the one who is worthy to open the book of life and judge the world. Let’s not discount his work for us by trusting our own works outside of him.

Perfectionism is a Trap That Keeps Us in a Works-Based Gospel

The Bible says to be holy as I (God) am holy (1 Peter 1:16).  It also says to be perfect as I am  Perfect (Matthew 5:48). These scriptures point to us abiding in Christ.  He is the one who is holy not us. This is why Christ imputed his righteousness to us meaning he added righteousness to our account. We are only righteous through him. You see it is all about leaning on him because without him we can do nothing. We can only be holy or perfect through abiding in Christ.

See the below scripture:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. – John 15:4

The above scriptures about perfectionism and holiness have been taught in such a way as to attempt to accomplish the goal of holiness and perfectionism on our own by works, and that is simply pride and lack of understanding. We cannot accomplish this by works, but by abiding in Christ.

When we focus on perfectionism, we focus on trying to become good enough to reach perfection through works. That’s the old way. That’s the law. The law was too much of a burden for man to fulfill. This is why Jesus Christ fulfilled the law and through abiding in Christ we fulfill the law.

This makes enjoying the benefits of the gospel attainable to every man. This is why Isaiah prophesied saying to come and buy bread with no money.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” – Isaiah 55:1

This not having to work for perfection, but resting into perfection through abiding in Christ removes the burden of perfection and the burden of condemnation when we do not attain to perfection in our weak fleshy attempts.

It doesn’t matter how hard we try, we have to humble ourselves and realize our own righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We cannot attain to God’s standard outside of Him. This is why God points us to himself when he requires holiness and perfection of us.

Be careful not to enter back into bondage through a spirit of religion. Remember at the core of a religious spirit is to take the focus and glory off of Jesus Christ and to place it on the self-righteous who gloat in their own works.

Jesus spoke about such people who love to add false burdens on others:

They pile heavy burdens on people’s shoulders and won’t lift a finger to help. – Matt 23:4 Contemporary Version

They could help men and remove the burdens through teaching and operating out of the revelation from God’s word instead of leaning to the wisdom of their own minds.

The wisdom of God looks like the below:

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. – James 3:17

Pure meaning no hidden motive, unadulterated, unmixed. It just is so. It’s just the truth.

Peaceable, not causing strife. 

Gentle and easily entreated: There is a grace in enacted this that makes it plausible to attain. Not a heavy burden or an impossible task.

Full of mercy: compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.

Good fruits: This is not a gospel of doing what you want and God will just overlook it. It is a gospel that will always show some fruit that a person has been abiding in Christ. There should be some forward motion in Christ.

Without partiality: This gospel is for everybody not just certain people who can attain a level of work and being successful at the law on their own. No partiality.

Without hypocrisy: Those who do walk in pride and self-righteousness are hypocrites because they cannot keep themselves from all sin on their own. They got some stuff in their closet too.

Those who walk in perfectionism follow wisdom that is the very opposite of the above. They often become successful at what is considered the big sins, and lord it over others to uplift themselves without examining their hearts for other sins like pride. 

They lack mercy and seek to condemn others while lifting themselves. Perfectionism is a form of self-worship when one is doing well, and a form of self-condemnation when one notices he or she isn’t doing well. It’s a works-based salvation and acceptance system. This isn’t how the kingdom of God operates. See part II next week when we discuss perfectionism as a trap.

Don’t get me wrong! God does send men into the lives of women who are still single and waiting on him to act as brothers. Brothers encourage, protect, and affirm similar to what a father does except the brothers are more on our level because we are from the same generation.

However, when God sends a brother, there will not be a pull toward intimate desires that should be reserved for marriage. There will automatically be boundaries in place to seek to please God because of the nature of the brother and sister relationship. Our commitment to the Lord in the area of purity should not be consistently confronted in a friendship.

If by chance the relationship with a friend matures into more than a brother/sister friendly relationship; there should be clear boundaries and intentions set in place to provide direction on how the relationship will proceed forward. Grey area when it comes to this type of a scenario will lead to confusion and more often than not compromise.

As women, we have those desires where we want to nurture, touch, and playfully flirt. That is a natural part of being an adult woman, but it should be reserved for our husbands. If we give those things to every man that we feel a pull toward, we will be confused in what we want or what God wants for us. We can easily fall for the idea of being intimate with whoever is present rather than being choosy about being intimate specifically with our husbands.

The mindset of holding out for our husbands when it comes to relationship stuff such as flirting or playful touching feels awkward as an adult woman to hold out on, but if we look at it as an investment for our future, we’ll be more willing to hold out. Truthfully, it’s an investment in our present as well because it teaches us discipline. It also prevents distraction that would take us away from pursuing God and what he wants.

Guarding those natural affections for intimacy that we have are a part of guarding our hearts. One day we will be able to be intimate with the right person, and now we will continue to be preserved from the wrong ones.

The below scripture speaks to a young man sharing how he should view women older than him, and women similar in age to him:

Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters. 1 Timothy 5:2

If we take a lesson from 1 Timothy, we can treat our brothers in the Lord the same as brothers. If it goes further than that we should allow the man to lead that, but make sure ladies that you seek the Lord and discern the brother’s consecration to the Lord. If his consecration isn’t right, he will lead you straight into sin. We have a responsibility as women to guard our hearts.

Being a believer is a process where the believer goes from glory to glory. We go from one place of maturity to a greater place of maturity, one place of knowledge to a greater place of knowledge and wisdom. We are cleansed and made more into the image of Christ through Christ’s word.Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. – John 17:17Everyone doesn’t like it when we grow. Some people like us more when we stay in the same place. To some, acceptance is contingent upon if all parties are at the same level. When one party decides to grow and embrace even more of their identity in Christ, a separation due to competition is often produced. This is what Jesus dealt with in John 5. He was stopped by the religious people who confronted Jesus due to him healing a man on the Sabbath day. Let’s look at how Jesus held fast to his identity when others were offended by it.

We can be bold in who we are as long as we depend on the Lord

Jesus Christ did not fall back from his identity one bit. As a matter of fact, when he was confronted by the religious people; he gave them a greater lesson on who he was. He said, yes, both I and my father work on the Sabbath. This was Jesus’ way of letting them know that he was equal with God, and because he is equal with God he is not going to back down. He was bold in who he was because his identity came from his heavenly father.

We should be well acquainted with our purpose and walk in it boldly
Jesus was well aware of his purpose. He laid out that he had some specific tasks given to him by the Father. Some of these tasks included judgment, raising the dead, and healing on the Sabbath day and any day he otherwise pleased. Jesus was making a bold statement that his identity did not come from acceptance with men, but from the Father himself. Just as Jesus, our head and example, our identity also doesn’t come from acceptance with men, but from the Father.

We should not seek the praise of men but from God
There are many who are insecure, who seek to identify with someone greater than them. They seek to gain the praise of someone greater than them. The religious, who confronted Jesus compared themselves to Jesus. Seeking to belittle Jesus, they wanted Jesus to seek their acceptance and their praise. This is something that they also practiced with one another, but Jesus would not take part.

“I do not accept glory from human beings,  but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. – John 5:41-42

Just as Jesus would not modify his identity and purpose for the praise of men, we ought not to modify our identity and purpose for the praise of men. We ought to allow pleasing God to be our motivation for who we are and what we do. This doesn’t mean that God will not use people after his heart to affirm our reputations before others and to ourselves.

God will always have someone else who has his heart to affirm us
Even though Jesus is equal with God, he pointed out also that he does not testify of himself, but John the Baptist was sent before him to testify of him. There is an authenticity displayed when other reputable people affirm who we are. It provides a safe place where we can be affirmed by those who aren’t comparing themselves to us but instead love us for who we are because they also get their identity from God and not others.

How interesting that all of this testing of Jesus’ identity took place on the Sabbath day. I do believe that God wants us to rest in our identities in Christ just as Jesus rested. Those who opposed Jesus did so because they were insecure within themselves. Often times when people are insecure within themselves; they latch on to a religious spirit. They extract their identity from self-righteousness and policing others according to the standard that they set for themselves.

This is what they sought to do with Jesus. They compared Jesus to themselves, declared him guilty or unworthy to do what he was doing, and thus sought to control him by convincing him he was in the wrong.

Yes, the commandment of resting on the Sabbath day was valid for men, but God was not under that rule because he is God. Jesus was actually giving the religious leaders insight to how God works—when we rest, God works.

“When We Rest God Works.”

Those who are insecure are ruled by a spirit of fear. They consistently modify themselves to feel accepted even to the point of trying to do what God is supposed to do. Those religious men should have been at rest. What they were telling Jesus to do; they should have been doing. Instead, they became busybodies meddling in what did not concern them.

We all can be tempted with an insecure spirit. We all can be tempted to grasp our identity from people, religious self-righteousness, or comparing ourselves to others, but that only introduces a cycle of confusion and control. Let’s take a lesson from Jesus, and find our identity in that intimate place of seeking the Lord and resting in what God gives us.

Is it to compete with your neighbor and go further than they have? Is it to prove to the naysayers that they are indeed just naysayers? I’ve found that there is a perversion of motivation that as believers, we need to guard ourselves against. That is the motivation to do things for the wrong reason.

Many are holding ideas of doing big things and establishing a name for themselves, and that’s all good when we are in our lane getting what God ordained for us and doing what God ordained for us.

It is my prayer the motivation for myself would be to maintain the mindset of doing what I do out of obedience for the Lord and for the glory of the Lord. I believe that when this is the motivation that we are unstoppable. One, because God will be behind us, and if God is for us nothing and no one can stand against us.

Two, we will stay connected to God in an undistracted way and be in a position to receive and heed his wisdom as he directs us through the path he has ordained for us. Yes, that is correct, each person has a path that includes their very own individual purpose just like the prophet Jeremiah had a path preordained for him to be a prophet to the nation. It’s only when we allow ourselves to be distracted, that we lose sight of that path and allow a perversion of what God has called us to do.

Please, don’t fall into the trap of doing things for the wrong reason. Please, don’t fall into the trap of doing things for social media likes, sales alone, the admiration of man, or to keep up with your neighbors, when God has given you your own path to walk for his glory.

If you have to get off of social media, or unfollow people, do what you have to do to maintain the integrity of doing what you are called to do for the right reason. The Bible discusses three manifestations of the spirit of the world. They are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which the scripture goes on to say that these things are not from the Father in heaven, but from this world (1 John 2:16).

Some will disagree with me, but I believe that some of the women empowerment ideas that are held to are manifestations of the pride of life. An example of such an idea is, “Bougie.” Bougie people live outside of their means to appear to be in a class that they are not.

Bougie people normally aren’t secure in their identity in Christ, and thus use status to cover that up. Many single women are finding identity in their accomplishments alone, and not in their identity in Christ.

While there is nothing wrong with aspiring to be in an upper class, to boast in these things, I feel is wrong and leads to vanity.

It is a dangerous thing to gather our worth from what we have accomplished. Yes, there is a general respect that comes with accomplishments, but I feel that our culture has gone into prideful boasting about its accomplishments. The Bible warns against vain boasting sharing what we should boast in if we are to boast and that is in the Lord.

But let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord. – Jeremiah 9:24

When we boast in ourselves, we take the attention off of Jesus, and the work that God is doing in our lives, and we place it on ourselves. Those who get caught up in trying to keep up an image of perfection, flawlessness, and always winning do not usually fail well. Failure in many aspects is a normal part of life. Without failure at something, many solutions would not have been discovered.

Humility plays an important role in keeping our motivation in check. There was a dispute between the followers of John and the followers of Jesus. The followers of John were sharing with John the Baptiste that Jesus was also baptizing and many of John’s followers were going over to follow Jesus and leaving off following John.

John the Baptiste was cool with that because he understood his calling. His calling was to be a forerunner for Christ. He responded to his disciples by saying the below:

When we have the right perspective of ourselves, and our purpose within God’s plan, we will more easily walk at a steady pace where we are sensitive to what God wants above what people want.

People are fickle. They often rally behind what appears will succeed. They may even go as far as to ignore, not take seriously, or put down what looks unique and unsuccessful. That’s why pleasing people cannot be our motivation, but pleasing God should be.

But Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them because he knew human nature. John 2:24

Even Jesus, being aware of the nature of man, did not entrust his value, identity, or worth over to a man. We are to do the same allowing God to be our motivation.

Those who really know me know that my intimate relationship with God is the most important thing that I have. I emphasize intimate meaning close. This is important because there are believers in Christ who are far from God, and believers in Christ who are close to God. I want to be one who is close.
 
Closeness with God is a form of worship. Worship is an essential part of our walk with God as believers. Metaphorically, worship can be compared to sex within the union of marriage. Sex releases a hormone called Oxytocin that bond both the man and the woman together. It re-enforces feelings of closeness, warmth, and trust.
 
Similarly, worship and prayer does the same thing with believers. It re-enforces feelings of trust with God. Biblically speaking, there are two factors needed in order to have true worship.
 
But the time is coming–indeed it’s here now–when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. – John 4:23

Worshipping in Spirit is God’s established covenant. We know that those who are born of the Spirit of God according to scripture by grace & through faith in Jesus Christ are in covenant with God.

Worshipping in truth means in God’s established truth, not false interpretations, or false doctrine, or man’s opinion, but the pure Word of God.

These two things are what the enemy attempts to attack when he wants to attack out intimacy with God. For example, I was having a conversation with a former church member, who is studying some false doctrine at this time. He is actually starting to believe the false doctrine, and he was sharing it with me.
 
Of course, I immediately wanted to seek the Lord about it and so I did. God brought back to my remembrance a warning prophecy about a spirit of perversion. I was attending a prophetic class at Cornerstone Christian Center maybe a couple of years ago, and a lady prophesied saying there would be a spirit of perversion trying to get in so watch out for that.
 
At the time, I was thinking, “perversion, isn’t that same-sex stuff? Well, I’m as straight as they come. So, that isn’t going to work” However, after speaking with a former member of a church I used to attend, I had a dream that night:
 
In the dream, I was sitting in a chair dazed as if I was sleepy and could hardly move. I was in a stupor. A woman came in the room and began to rub my arm inappropriately as to invite me into perversion. At that point, I rebuked her in the name of Jesus, and the stupor that I was in broke off of me.
 
In short, perversion means to draw away or to remove out of the way. What does it draw away from? It draws us away from the truth. 

​To be drawn away from the truth is to be in perversion.

To be drawn away from the truth is to be in perversion. This is not limited to sexual perversion, but it could also mean to be drawn away from any Biblical truth. Perversion, similar to the dream I had, places one into a stupor where a person becomes stuck. They cannot move forward in life, but they become trapped in deception. That is what God was showing me the enemy wanted to do with me. He wanted to get me stuck in perversion so far from the truth where I could hardly function.

It is no coincidence that back during ancient times much of the idol worship practices were sexually motivated. Because sex is a natural metaphor for the spiritual act of worship. So, it should be no coincidence that God often equates idolatry in the Bible with sexual perversion or harlotry. When we entertain perversion instead of closing the door on it; it can disturb the oneness of our covenant with God causing doubt instead of faith and trust. Similar to how adultery in a marriage disturbs the oneness of a marriage and produces distrust and separation.

This is why it is so important to abide in the Spirit and the truth of God’s word. When we abide in the Spirit and truth of God’s word, we can walk out true worship. In true worship, we are reinforced that Jesus Christ is the way, truth, and the life and that there is no other way but him. In true worship, things are produced by God and we grow and develop—similar to sex—the natural metaphor for worship. The union of husband and wife during sex produces fruit as well.

Our intimate relationship with God makes us become even more useful in God’s hands and we are able to properly intercede for those who may have gone out of the way. Will you purpose to guard your intimate relationship with God through remaining in him, and embracing his word?

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you. – Isaiah 26:3

There is a steadfastness that God desires to get us to. God improves our steadfastness by allowing us to go through trials and tribulations that force us to a place of seeking God that requires us to grow. In that process, we begin to keep our minds steadfast on Jesus through keeping our minds steadfast on his word. I’d like to share some of the scriptures that I like to meditate on when I am faced with things such as worry and fear concerning my future.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delights in his way. – Psalms 37:23

Sometimes, I think we go over the scriptures to quickly, and only receive the word as a formality instead of what it is actually saying. In order for our footsteps to be ordered of the Lord, that would have to mean that our footsteps have been set up by the Lord. This means that our future is already set. Our future is already sure, firm, and stable. God has everything already planned out. Because this is the case, Satan seeks to distract us from God’s way for us and to cause us to distrust the Lord, and his plans for us.

“Our future is already sure, firm, and stable.”

The more that we trust the Lord, the surer our future will be to us. We will at that point simply walk into the way that has been set up for us. The second half of the scripture even goes as far as to say that God delights in our way.

God takes delight in the way that we take. God takes delight in setting things up on our behalf and watching us rest into his path for us. His delight is so great toward us that his mercy endures forever on our behalf to gently guide us back into the way of trusting him and his path for us when we get off. Perhaps this is why the follow-up scripture to the above talks about how a righteous man falls yet he will not be utterly cast down.

“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholds him with his hand. – Psalms 37:24”

Another scripture that encourages me when I feel a little wavering about my future is:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. – Psalms 32:8

We are not alone in this life. Don’t ever believe the lies of the enemy that seek to make us believe that God is too distant or that he is dis-interested in our lives. God watches over us carefully to guide us in the right path. The covering of the Lord is actually the greatest covering to be under. Don’t allow fear, mistrust, and doubt to make you push away, or disregard the covering of the Lord. He is trustworthy and our futures are secure in him. Just take some time to sit back and think meditating on how God has been orchestrating things in your life in the past to work together for your good. He has not stopped constructing things for your good.

Believe him. Believe his word, Trust him, and watch all of his promises, providence, and purposes come to pass in your life.

Truths to Combat the Religious Spirit of Pride as it Relates to Salvation:

If anyone knows me, they know that I love to have a good conversation with others who share similar interests. Over the weekend, I was blessed to hang with some of my sisters in Christ. We attended a conference and went to lunch afterward. We sparked up a conversation about God’s grace which put me in the mind of some of the below tenants of the gospel that we must know if we are to be firmly rooted in Jesus Christ.

The nature of man-kind outside of Christ is sin:
In the beginning, God made the different creatures in creation with the command that every living thing was to produce after its own kind. That means that birds produce birds, cats produce cats, fish produce fish, and man-kind produces man-kind. We cannot deviate from the nature of our own kind.

However, because of the sin of Adam; the nature of man-kind has been subjected to sin. Thus, those born in the blood-line of Adam must die. Die to what? We are required to die to our sinful nature from the bloodline of Adam, and take on a new nature in Christ Jesus, who is called the last Adam.

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 6:11

This reckoning is a mindset or way of thinking. It is no longer depending on the old way of doing things which is the natural sinful way, but on Jesus Christ whom we have been awakened unto. Again, coinciding with the sinful nature of man is the carnal mind which the Bible says is not subject to the laws of God neither can it be (Romans 8:7 ).

Other scriptures speak of the wickedness of the heart of man:

For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them. – Matthew 15:19-20

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? – Jeremiah 17:9

We cannot escape the above sin nature outside of Christ. We cannot wholly according to the standard of God do good works outside of Christ. All of this is done in Christ. We renew our minds in Christ by the washing of the water of God’s word (Ephesians 5:26).

The spirit of religion seeks to eliminate the need for Christ:
The only way to avoid fulfilling the works of the flesh is for us to walk in the Spirit of Christ, also known as the Holy Spirit. This is a daily process. It’s a process of consistent surrender to Christ and his word. We have to daily die to old ways of thinking to live unto Christ and to manifest the life of Christ to others. We do this again by renewing our minds with the Word of God in music, preaching, teaching, personal reading and study of God’s word.

For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. – 2 Corinthians 4:11

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. – Galatians 5:16

However, the spirit of religion which is rooted in pride and self-righteousness does not acknowledge Christ in that way. The spirit of religion seeks to eliminate the need for Christ. This is what the Pharisees and Sadducees did when Jesus walked the earth with them. They accused Jesus and his authority because they felt that their good works made them more qualified. They felt that they did not need Christ.

We know that we are being tempted to walk in a spirit of religion when we focus more on our works and our track record than Jesus Christ and his word.

This spirit of religion often operates in a spirit of pride and self-righteousness
It is easy to walk in pride after we have been saved for a while. We can easily forget that our righteousness is not of ourselves, but of Christ. At that point, we can begin to dishonor God’s grace.

We can dishonor God’s grace by rejecting it as our keeping power as if we keep ourselves from sin or we can choose to dishonor God’s grace by practicing sin expecting God to simply turn a blind eye toward our sin.

As Christians, we do have to make a choice to follow and obey God, but the opportunity to do so along with the empowerment to do so does not come aside from Jesus Christ.

God’s word says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. – John 1:12

Jesus extends his grace to us so that we can believe in him. Once, we believe he empowers us to become his sons. This son-ship is a position from which we see ourselves as his. We no longer walk in fear of having to be perfect or of making honest mistakes, but we trust God’s word when it says if we sin we have an advocate with the father and he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 2:1).  We trust that God is for us and we submit our wills to him in obedience knowing that he will empower us to do what we naturally cannot do.

This follows the same pattern that Ephesians speaks of when it says that salvation is through faith by grace so that no one would be able to boast. Because of this, there should be no boasting regarding salvation outside of giving glory to God. This salvation thing is through no goodness of our own. If we look at the Jews in the old testament, they got this part wrong after a while too. Many Jewish people thought that God chose them because they were somehow better than others, but the Bible clearly states that God chose Israel because they were small and needed to depend on him. In doing so, God would use the Jews to reveal himself to all man-kind. He also chose them because he loved them. 

This is much like how God saved us because he loves us. You know John 3:16. Whenever we forget that we are saved because of God’s goodness and grace; God is faithful enough to remind us by allowing circumstances that humble us and bring us to dependence on Christ. God uses everything to work together for our good.
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We as believers are faced with the challenge of holding the right perspective and heart posture regarding this: The correct heart posture, I believe, would be the posture of thankfulness and humility knowing that without Jesus Christ we are nothing. To God be the glory!

[1] For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:22
[1] Because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s Law, nor can it do so. – Romans 8:7
[1] The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” – Romans 8:15
[1] The Lord did not love you and choose you because you were greater in number than any of the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed (bought) you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. – Deuteronomy 7:7-8