Which Day will You Choose?

A new day.   

A fresh start. 
A new day to start over.

A day to strive and correct yesterday’s mistakes.
A new day to realize you will never get it perfect, but rest in the One who is perfect.

There are days when I can honestly begin with the mindset above. 
But, there are other days when I day begins like this:

• A new day.
• A new day to mess up and disappoint.
• A new day to remind myself of the past and feel the dissatisfaction again.
• A new day to yell at someone.
• A new day to use words as knives intentionally and unintentionally.
• A new day to blame my mood, frustration, anger on "lack of sleep” or “stress” than recognize selfishness.
• A new day to elevate self and leave out God.
• A new day to strive to will it away, stay in bed, and pull the covers over my head.

{sigh}

One of these options is certainly better.  Which one do I choose more often?  My desire is for the former but more often, if I am honest with myself, it is probably more the later.  I know the mindset behind the second day is an attempt by Satan to pull me further away from the voice of God, to rationalize my behavior and not change it.  Sadly, truth be told, I know that day is not God glorifying and yet I continue to live it anyway. 

Shame and guilt come crashing in.
Renewed sense of inadequacy washes over me.
And yet, I still strive to change it on my own.
I can make a change tomorrow.
I can work harder.
I can stuff feelings.
I can…
and I fail.

This cycle can continue to repeat over and over and over.
It creates a sense of utter dissatisfaction and disappointment.
This is NOT the mindset God has granted us with his Spirit.
This is NOT a mindset renewed by the Word.

The passage in Romans 7:15-20

“For I do not understand my own actions.  For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that is good.  So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.  For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.  How if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”

Yikes.  Sin.  Really? 
Not me, I am a Christian. 
I have been made perfect, clean, and holy.
Right? 

It is true that when we surrender our lives to Christ, we are made clean, but we are not made perfect.  We are given the Holy Spirit to continue to conform us, but we’ll never arrive. 

I have fooled myself into believing if I strive to keep my outward behavior in check, than I should be okay and don’t really have a “sin” issue.  However, if what God’s Word says is true, than sin is present and I have ignored it in order to somehow maintain a lie. 

Truth is…I am a very selfish, prideful and sinful person. 
I fool myself because I believe that if my life is absent of the “big sins”, I am good. 
But, if my attitude reflects the second day described above…sinful. 
And the kicker is…I CANNOT FIX IT. 

This realization really frustrates me. 

I pride (again that sin) myself of taking care of things independently. 
I pride myself on being able to take care of myself.
I pride myself on being able to take care of others (helps to distract me from my own issues.)

I find myself face to face with Romans 7:24
“Wretched man {woman} that I am!”

But, a little further, Romans 8:1-11

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.  For God has done what the law, weakened by flesh, could not do.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Relief.  I don’t have to fix it!

Through Christ we have been redeemed. 
The “Spirit is life because of righteousness.” 
The Spirit is there
     to hold me/us to Himself,
     to hold my/our mind steadfast and
     to remind me/us who I/we am in Christ.  

So thankful I am not in this alone. 
Which day will you choose tomorrow?