The chasm between your legal position and practical experience of the benefits of the cross can be huge, depending on the depth of darkness from which you came. There may be much to lay off, learn and unlearn, and it takes time. Changing habits, attitudes and appetites doesn’t happen by the flipping of a switch. Thank God, He takes some of it away on day one, but others must be put to death, one step at a time.
But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:20-24
Your desire to change becomes the driving force behind your efforts to put off the old sinful man, and put on the new “in true righteousness and holiness,” no matter how long it takes. The spiritually lazy will ask the Lord to do it for them, but it is not how it works. God is not unwilling to help, of course; He is ever ready to provide wisdom and strength where we fall short, but the Word places the responsibility to put on the new man on our shoulders.
Getting started on this journey to narrow the gap between the two sides of redemption, and bringing the legal aspects of the new life into greater reality, begins with the first step.
It is not possible to grow closer to God’s ideal for you without feeding on the Scriptures like a starving person. Reading, memorizing, and meditating establish the truths about life in Christ in your heart and mind. The Word is God’s personal letter to you; read it as such, and confess the truths you find there in a personalized way:
“Thank You Father for qualifying me to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light. You have delivered me from the power of darkness and conveyed me into the kingdom of the Son of Your love, in whom I have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Per Colossians 1:12-14)
Revelation knowledge and spiritual understanding flow naturally from meditating on God’s Word, and making it your own:
Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked [following their advice and example], nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit [down to rest] in the seat of scoffers (ridiculers). But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law [His precepts and teachings] he [habitually] meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted [and fed] by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season; its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers [and comes to maturity]. Psalm 1:1-3 ~ Amplified Bible
While you transition from sin-consciousness to righteous-consciousness, you must focus on memorizing appropriate truths. Renewing the mind takes time and effort, but you will do well by memorizing verses in the Bible that reveal the aspects of life in Christ. Find them, underline them in your Bible, and memorize them. By doing so you take them with you into your day, and keep them readily available:
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:30
Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God…
1 Corinthians 15:34
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7
Doing the above will bring you to discover your identity as a new creation being. The old ways of your life will make room for the new as you begin to find yourself in Christ. The legal benefits that Jesus earned at the cross, become practical realities as you edge ever closer to that goal.
Paul speaks about his own journey from a life that was very special to him, to coming to realize it was, in fact, meaningless, to ultimately pursue the righteousness that can be found by faith in Christ alone:
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:7-11
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-1
The journey may be long and the tests many, but every step you take is progress, leading to greater enjoyment of the benefits of the cross. Christ in us, the hope of glory, spurs you on because you know how it will end. The finishing touches will be made on the last day, when your mortal body will no longer weigh you down with its carnal tendencies:
I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return]. Philippians 3:6 ~ Amplified Bible
But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
Proverbs 4:18
Memorize & Meditate: Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 3:13,14
Confession: One thing I do, and that is forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
