How many Christians go to church but are living in defeat?

For many of us, victory in Jesus is just a concept—a verse in the Bible. We talk with other people as if the Lord is nowhere near. We get nervous and afraid. We struggle with loneliness. We react when people are rude to us. We are defeated by besetting sins.

Of course, no Christian is perfect. But the salvation God offers us is about more than being forgiven for our past sins and then going back to our same old behaviors.

When I got saved, I was still stuck with Jim Cymbala, my weakness, my selfishness, my bad habits—the products of my environment. I grew up with an alcoholic father who drank for twenty-two years. He lost his job. Our house was hellish. I couldn’t bring friends over. I’m sure that had an effect on me psychologically and emotionally. We all have scarring from the past that has produced present habits that we wish we were free of. So our pasts were cleansed, but what about the present and the future?

When Jesus was on earth, a man named Nicodemus came to Him at night. Nicodemus was a Pharisee—from the opponents of Jesus—but he had apparently heard a ring of truth in what Christ had been teaching and wanted to know more. Jesus told Nicodemus, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3, NIV).

To be “born again” means to be “born from above.” In other words, to enter the kingdom of heaven and enjoy what God has for us, we have to get a new nature.

God has promised, “When you trust Me, you will be born again. I’ll give you a new heart and a new mind. Don’t say it’s impossible! I’ll give you a new desire to live a different way.”

We aren’t meant to live in the same old habits, failing all the time and asking for forgiveness again and again. That’s a yo-yo existence—down and up. No, the salvation God offers is more than that.

I live in New York City, which has the rudest people in the world. So how do we deal with people who are unloving and unkind? Christ wept over people like that. How can we show kindness to unkindness? Through Jesus inside us, who says, “I’ll do it for you.”

This is basic Christianity. This is what Jesus offers us today as a free gift. It’s not about you and me making new promises and saying, “Let me try again.” It’s about giving up and saying, “I’m hopeless. I can’t do this anymore. Christ, live in me through the power of the Holy Spirit so I can be more than an overcomer in life.”

That’s what happened to my dad, by the way. After twenty-two years, he was set free by the power of God—through the new life we’re talking about right now!

What good is formal Christianity if, after church is over, we go right back to our vices? What God offers is not religion. He’s saying, “Have a relationship with Me that will bring My power into your life. It’ll be My Spirit, My heart, My love.”

God offers us new life. And you and I can have that today.

Prayer

God, we come to You like children. Please help us turn from our old ways and accept the gift You offer us—not only forgiveness of past sins but the power to be the new creations You said we could be. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

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