Declaration of Dependence, Part 1

Several months ago, I convinced myself that I needed my very own power tools. Seriously. ;) 

The first power tool I intended to buy was a drill. I had all these visions of me being able to quickly fix some of the broken furniture I acquire for resale without too much hassle. 

Finally the day came that Kevin and I went to Harbor Freight to buy that power drill that I had so long dreamed about. It was an exciting day when I first put it to use!

However, the very first thing I had to do when I got the tool out was charge the battery, because it arrived home powerless. 

I could push that trigger all day, but nothing would happen until that was done. Once it was charged, I could use it. But I could only use it so long before the battery died again. That’s the case with all battery-powered tools, or battery-powered anything. (Disclaimer: I am not- repeat, NOT- and expert with tools! lol) 

When I was looking around at all the options, I noticed that there were also power drills that needed to be plugged in in order to be used as well as the battery ones that need to be charged after so many hours of usage. Of course, I could think of pros and cons to both, but an obvious pro to the one you plug in is that once plugged in, your power never has the chance of running out.

There is a verse I read this morning that got me thinking about tools and I would like to share it with you.

“And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” –Romans 6:13

That word “instruments” actually means “tools” or “weapons of war”. Pretty cool, huh?

Imagine with me that each member of your body and each aspect of your life is a tool laying on a table, or a weapon of war from the bible days stored away somewhere. Does it have any power of its own? No.

A sword is only as powerful as the one swinging it. 

A power tool is only as powerful as the power flowing through it and only as skilled at its work as the skill of the one using it. A sword in the wrong hands could be devastating to a lot of people. A power tool in the wrong hands could create chaos. Or on the flip side, a sword and a tool in the right hands could promote peace and orderliness. You see, it’s not really the sword or the tool that’s doing it, but the hands they are in.

That being said, let’s pick up on my illustration from the previous post.

Having tried to live out righteousness in the flesh, failing, and swinging to the other extreme of pursuing pleasure, I find myself a most miserable person. Both ways, my flesh has dominated my life.

One day, I fall asleep, and in my reverie, I overhear my flesh whispering in conversation to another voice I do not know.

“I have taken her so far away from Jesus,” the flesh chuckles under his breath.

The other voice cackles, “She has no idea, does she? She thinks she’s living for that Jesus, but she’s opened herself up to me.”

“Yes… What do you think you’ll do to her?” The flesh whispers gleefully.

“My aim is to steal, kill and destroy her life in Christ so completely that she never finds out what He really saved her for. We know that if she does find out, you’re dead and I am banished from ever being able to control her. I will not let that happen!”

“How will you do it?”

“Oh, it’s easy… I have already used you to make her useless for Christ, to replace God in her life with many worthless idols, to give her a deep love for worldliness. Now the real Jesus is unattractive to her. She doesn’t even know it is happening!” The voice pauses for a moment to let his words sink in, licks his lips, and resumes talking. 

“I am going to influence her so much that she hates Jesus and will never know about the life He wants her to have. I already have influence over her, so it won’t be hard.”

Suddenly, I awake, startled. Is this what’s been going on all along? I recognize the words spoken as ones Jesus said the devil wanted to do and I shudder. I realize that I took for granted all along the fact that I could be a target of the devil. Now the reality sinks in and hits me like a rock hits the bottom of the sea.

I don’t know what to do. For the first time, I realize that I shouldn’t consult with my flesh. His ideas have all led me to this point. I can’t trust him. Who do I trust?

A voice I haven’t heard in a long time whispers in my agony, “Cry out to Jesus!”

So I call with a voice of urgency, “Jesus! Where are you? Help me! I have fallen prey to my own flesh and the devil! What do I do?”

I look up to find that Jesus is standing so close that it startles me. “I have been here all along,” He whispers gently. 

He reaches out His hand and helps me to my feet. “Come with me.” He takes me to a hill where a cross stands, blood stained all over it. “Let me show you something that happened when I died there.”

Suddenly I see myself on the cross with Jesus. “When you entered into Me, you entered My death.” I do not understand, but a great sadness comes over me. I died with Christ? How could that be good news? “Look again,” Jesus says, knowing my struggle.

Deeper into the picture, I can see something taking place beyond the surface. The moment I die, something leaves me. “What was that?” I ask Jesus.

He smiles. “You just saw your flesh leave you. At your death, your fleshly, sinful nature was separated from you, and you were separated from it.” What could that mean?

Suddenly, we are in the tomb where Jesus’ body had lain. There, I see myself laying, lifeless. There is no flesh there. It is gone. “Watch what happens next!” Jesus says excitedly. A living Jesus breaths His new life into me and my lifeless form now is alive again and animated with a new kind of life!

“The Spirit who raised me to life also raised you to newness of life, Sandie,” He says with a smile.

“What do I do now?” I ask, amazed at the supernatural I just witnessed.

“Give yourself to My control. If you don’t, your flesh will be able to take over again and again even though it has no right to and you will never experience the freedom of the new life I gave you. The good news is, you always have the choice. The devil and the flesh cannot take that away from you.”

I fall to my knees. “Jesus, whatever You want. I give myself to You. Teach me how to live in this newness of life You gave me.”

And so He does. It takes time and my flesh hates it. But as long as I am surrendered to His control, the flesh can do nothing to undo His work. Before long, this newness of life springs up in me a fountain of power that I never knew could exist in me. The supernatural life becomes my life, lived by Christ in me.

That verse mentioned above takes on new meaning if we think of it in this light.

“And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” Romans 6:13

As long as my flesh is in control, my body, my soul and every other aspect of my life is a tool or weapon that the flesh, and ultimately the devil can use for unrighteousness. Remember, it’s not really righteousness if the flesh is “trying” to do good, because the flesh cannot please God.

On the other hand, as long as Jesus is in control through His Spirit He placed in me, my members, my soul, and every aspect of my life is His tool or weapon of righteousness against His enemies.

Romans 6:12 says, “Therefore do not let sin [or your sinful nature/flesh] reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” (Parenthesis added). It’s important to remember that you do have a choice as to who is going to be in control. Unlike tools or weapons, you have a say as to whose hands get to use you.

A lie we often believe is that there is neutral ground between Christ and the enemy, but there isn’t.

Romans 6:16 puts it this way, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”

Our members can be slaves to obedience which leads to righteousness or slaves to sin leading to death. It’s your choice. But there is no third option.

We are like those power tools that need outside power coming in continually in order to function

Christ is an inexhaustible supply of righteousness, and the power we need in order to do righteousness as well. 

We would get burnt out if we treated Christ like a battery charging station and only stopped to recharge our spiritual “batteries” when we have run out of spiritual fuel. We are foolish to think that we can live like that. Since Christ is an inexhaustible supply, we need to stay connected to Him. 

We are more comparable to those power tools that need to be plugged into a power source if they are going to be of any use.

In reality, they are not power tools until they have power from an outside source coming in and flowing through.

That is the same for us. Our Christian life is not meant to be something we live in the flesh, nor is it meant to be lived from one spiritual high to the next. It is meant to be connected to an inexhaustible Source that empowers us to live supernaturally in this world.

And that requires our dependence to be on Christ. Not the flesh, nor anything we might consider "neutral." Just Christ. 

More on this later. J