Halloween was last Sunday and here is the conversation that I have with myself when it comes to buying candy. I don’t want to buy too much because I don’t want a lot left over because I will eat it all. But I don’t want to run out and have to turn my lights out before 8:00 PM. I think about getting candy that I don’t like so I won’t eat what is left over, but I want to give out “the good stuff” which to me is always something with chocolate. In the end, I buy too much of the candy I like so when 8:00 PM comes and the lights go out I have a bowl full of chocolate fun sized candy bars left over.
When I walk by the bowl of extra candy the first few times I am able to say, no, I’m not going to eat the kit kat bar. About the third time I pass the bowl I tell myself, they are just little candy bars. They are even called “fun” sized so eating one won’t hurt, it will be fun. It’s not that much sugar, and it won’t be that bad, so I eat one. Now one fun sized kit-kat bar is what, 1⁄3 of a real kit kat bar? So I justify that it's ok to eat one more before it would be a real candy bar. So it’s one more kit kat , and then the third, and then in a day or two, the entire bowl of extra candy is gone.
I didn’t start out to have left over candy or to eat the leftover candy. I wanted to be disciplined and healthy, but one small step at a time I gave in and ended up feeling like a failure. The very thing I didn’t want to have happen - happened. What I didn’t want to do - I did. None of us start out to fail. No one gets married hoping that the relationship will end in divorce. No one starts out to ruin their health or become an alcoholic. No one sets out to be a drug addict or plans to go bankrupt or drown in debt. But desire alone doesn’t determine who we become. Just hoping for a better life won’t lead us to a better life. Here is the harsh truth, desire and discipline will only take us so far because we know that at some point in time our willpower and self-discipline will let us down. At some point I dig into the Halloween candy and end up eating it all.
Now our failure does not have to be final. We can start eating healthy again. We can stop drinking. We can dig out of debt and get our finances under control. We might even be able to save our marriage and family. We can learn from our failure and try harder and we should, but if you are at all like me, the problem with just trying harder is that at some point in time, we fail again, and again, and then we start telling ourselves we can’t change, we will always be this way, we will never rise above our weakness and sin.
What we need to experience freedom and fullness in life isn’t more willpower, what we need is a new identity. Identity really can make all the difference. When we identify ourselves as a failure, we find ourselves trapped in a cycle that looks something like this:
And the cycle goes on and on. When this is all there is, we might want to just give in and give up. But this is not all there is, as a follower of Jesus, there can be so much more.
One of the most powerful and faithful followers of Jesus that the world has known was the Apostle Paul. Paul wrote ⅓ of the New Testament, he started churches throughout the Roman Empire, and Paul himself experienced first hand the risen Jesus. We might think that Paul’s faith was so strong that he never struggled with sin and never saw himself as a failure, but here is what Paul said...
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. Romans 7:15, 18-19
The Apostle Paul, God’s chosen leader, this powerful man of God said it well, the desire to do the right thing doesn’t work and even the discipline to do the right thing will only get us so far. Paul went on to say…
I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Romans 7:21-24a
Paul understood this cycle of sin and guilt and failure. I want to do what is good, I try hard to do what is good, but I fail. Desire and discipline alone don’t change me. There is not the power within me to turn my life around. I always end up failing. I’m miserable. Another translation says, What a wretched person I am.
Once again, if this was the end of the story, we would all end up being miserable, because we would be caught up in a cycle of failure, but this is not the end of the story. Paul goes on to say that what we need to experience the true power of life and faith is not behavior modification but spiritual transformation. What’s needed isn’t to try harder but to tap into the power of someone who is greater than we are AND someone who doesn’t see us as a failure but as a child of God. Paul says...
Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 7:24b-25a
Notice that the answer to our failure isn’t to try harder, it’s not to be more disciplined, it’s not even to get the help of all our family and friends, it’s to look to Jesus and draw upon the power of the risen Christ to change us from the inside out. What sets us free to experience all the fullness of life isn’t behavior modification, it is spiritual transformation. Paul understood that the key to real change isn’t more willpower but a new identity. It’s not trying harder but knowing that when we belong to Jesus, we truly are a new creation and can step into new ways of thinking and new ways of living. Paul said...
Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2Corinthians 5:17
We are not the sum total of past failures. We are not just brokenness and shame. We are not even who others think we are or say we are, we are who God says we are in Christ, and in Christ we are forgiven. In Christ we are set free. In Christ we are not just called by God but we are chosen by God and we are chosen to be part of God’s family. We are children who have been made holy by the blood of Jesus. In Christ we are not condemned but more than conquerors. In Christ we are victorious because in Christ we can do all things and we can overcome all things because the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us.
The key to a better life isn’t to work for a better version of you, it’s to see the new you that you are in Christ Jesus. The old is gone and all things are being made new. We are who God says we are and God says that we belong to Him. We Belong To God.
When we understand and take to heart our new identity, we step into a new cycle of living. Instead of seeing ourselves as a failure, we begin to see ourselves as forgiven and set free. When we know we belong to Christ we start living by the Spirit of God and we step into a new cycle that looks like this:
And then this cycle goes on and on.
Our identity can change everything. Knowing that we are forgiven and loved, and knowing that we are children of God can set us free to live a new way, and choose new paths, and find the strength of the risen Jesus to do what we never thought we could do. A new identity helps us live a new life and Paul tells us one way to do this.
Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16 (NIV)
The verb walk here is in the present tense, which means it is a continuous walking. It is a daily walk. It’s forming habits where we allow God into our hearts and lives on a regular basis so that God can shape us and form us on the inside and it is this new identity that leads us into the right paths of living. These can be simple habits like reading a few verses of the Bible every day, keeping a gratitude journal of what we are thanking God for every day, or simple prayers every day. Any and every spiritual practice that we incorporate into our daily lives helps us walk in the Spirit of God and see ourselves as children who belong to God.
A new identity can help us live a new life and experience a greater reward. The more we walk by the Spirit of God, the more we will be able to choose what we want most over what we want now. And when we make that choice, when we choose what we want most over what we want now, we find a better life and a greater reward.
As we enter into a season of thanksgiving, as we prepare for the hectic, and at times difficult season of Christmas, don’t trust in your own desire and determination to see you through. Don’t lean on your own willpower and discipline to live the way you want to live, see yourself as a new creation. Tell yourself every day that you are a child of God. Tell yourself every day that you belong to God and therefore the power of the risen Christ is in you to make you who you want to be.
Next Steps
Greater Reward - A New Identity
When have you gotten caught up in this cycle of failure?
What is it like to change your life through discipline and willpower alone? How does this shape your identity?
In what ways does the Apostle Paul tell our story in Romans 7:15-25.
Choosing what we want most over what we want now calls for spiritual transformation not behavior modification.
Knowing we belong to Jesus, helps us step into a new cycle of living:
What are some ways you can find your identity in Jesus?
Spiritual transformation and a new identity can be found by walking daily with Jesus. Galatians 5:16
What is one way you can grow closer to Jesus or walk with God’s spirit this week?
How can both praise and thanksgiving help shape a new identity? How can giving thanks daily or a gratitude journal draw you closer to Jesus?
