I find that when athletes are struggling, the first thing they do is blame someone besides themselves for their problems. The second thing they do is reject coaches’ assignments that would help them end the struggle. Only when athletes can take instruction can they overcome their struggles and solve their problems.
We are a lot like these athletes when it comes to our struggles with God.
Our biggest struggle is the alienation from God caused by sin. Like the athletes who blame others, we blame God. Our sinful human nature insists that He is the One who has abandoned us. However, Scripture states that we abandoned God by following the road of rebellion, which led to separation from God.
How does God help us to remedy that struggle? He places the cross of Christ on that road, so we can see that through faith in Jesus we can receive peace and be reconciled to God (Colossians 1:20). Since our perspective has also been warped by sin, we reject Christ’s cross, demanding, instead, that God provide a solution more palatable to our human nature. However, God is not trying to placate our human nature; He is transforming our sinful nature through His Son. Once the righteousness of Christ is shed in our hearts through the Spirit we are no longer alienated from God.
God’s solution to our problem was to send His Son into the world to die on the cross and end the estrangement. Paul makes it plain that God “reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:18). We no longer have to live alienated from God, because God has done all that is necessary to restore the world, and us, to Himself through Jesus Christ. Paul reiterates, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
Struggle over. Problem solved.
Photo by Nathan McBride
Denise Larson Cooper has a passion for Christ and sharing His Word. A wife and mother of two daughters, Denise currently works as a gymnastic coach.
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Godnesia: Keeping God in Mind Each Day http://amzn.to/2GSquOD
Ordinary Days With an Extraordinary Savior – http://amzn.to/2mFGASBLife Is a Metaphor: Recognizing God in the Everyday – http://amzn.to/2De1rU2