Correct Roles

Sometimes in our war against sin and our war for purity we have swing the pendulum too far to the other side. We go from being ignorant or accepting of sin to searching and analyzing every motive thought and action throughout our day which leads to deep introspection and a constant awareness of sin. What's wrong with being aware of sin? Isn't that a good thing to always be on guard and ready to fight? Yes and no. Yes, the heart is good to want to be pure, but no when you have greater attention on sin than you do on God. Plus, if you're attention is on fighting sin then you probably don't understand the cross where 1) Jesus fought for you when you couldn't(Romans 5:8), 2) Jesus defeated the power of sin and death (1 Cor 15:55-57), 3) He finished the work (John 19:30), 4) because of that you, Christian, are dead to sin (Romans 6:11).

Ok? So...what's the point? Good theology, yeah sure...I agree. Right?
The point your theology is directly manifest by how you think and interact with God in life. Note, "in life" not "in church." For example: If you really believe God is waiting to be gracious to you (Isaiah 30:18) then you will gladly hang out with Him all day and talk to Him about everything that comes up, good and bad without fear of punishment or disappointment. But if we imagine God to be constantly frustrated with us and upset at our inability to get it together, then we'll only approach Him when we think we're being pleasing to Him because everything's going well that day or we're feeling super spiritually on it. The truth of the matter is that we have become one with Christ (Romans 6:5-7; John 17) and He really is actively excited to spend time with you and enjoy you and you enjoy Him.

So how back to the war on sin: if we're the one's who think we will get us clean (which most people will argue with that statement knowing that it's Christ who makes us clean, but still live like it's up to them to do it), then we will find ourselves constantly searching ourselves, our motives, our actions and behaviors to be clean, be pure, get everything out we can. "Yes, it is Christ, but it's still our responsibility..." responsibility to do what? Be a surgund/patient or just a patient?

The problem is when someone becomes ignited by the Holy Spirit's passion for purity, they will take that passion...their marching orders and take off to go work on it. We must allow our whole self to be redeemed at once because if we miss the fact that Christ died for relationship and unity with us, then we'll go take off and do it on our own rather work together with Him. We let Christ do what needs to be done, not what we think needs to be done. Sometimes this is scary because we're afraid if we let go then nothing will happen or that we won't get there fast enough. But really, that's just not trusting God to be God and purify us.  This isn't a new problem in the church. The people in Galatia had the same issue where once they were saved, they thought it was up to them then to keep themselves pure. Paul responds,

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?               - Galatians 3:1-3

We've got to let God make us clean, not run think it's up to us to kill every evil desire in you.

What I'm not saying:
"We don't have to do anything. We just sit in life and la te da. Do whatever and Jesus will do everything for us." No. That's dumb, crazy, and well... boring. But if you look at the way our relationship with Jesus looks, it involves Him initiating - us responding. We love because...He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) He's the groom who pursues, we're the bride who responds. He brings salvation, we receive it. He stirs hearts to himself, we enunciate what He's saying/doing and people get saved. Why do you expect your healing and purity to be any different?

Let me phrase/rephrase it this way, imagine God talking.
"I love you. (cause that's the way He starts talking). I enjoy you. I love spending time with you. Don't worry about sin or dirt in your life. I am strong enough to take care of that. Remember the cross? Took care of it. Remember how I said to abide in me? I really did just mean spend time with me and follow me as we walk together and I'll take care of the rest. Look, your job is to fully enjoy me and to respond as we walk through life together. If there's a problem, a hurt, a sin, an issue, a behavior that's wrong, you don't need to go searching for it. I already  know it's there. I know when you're ready to deal with it, and when that time and situation comes up, I'll bring it up and I'll take care of it. It's  your job just to agree with me and allow me to do my work. You partner with me. I'm the one doing surgery here. You can't operate on yourself. Don't try to fix yourself or go digging inside. I know when it's right and when to deal with it. When it's the right time, I'll bring it up and I'll deal with it and your job is just to not run and hide from me. Don't go separate yourself from me. Spend time with me and I'll bring it up and heal it. IF I DON"T BRING IT UP, then enjoy me. I'm not just your surgen. I'm your friend. I enjoy you. I actually enjoy spending time with you. I'm not just your fix it friend or your fix it Father. I really enjoy hanging out with you. Just spending time with you."

And that's often where our two world's collide. Trying to fix our selves for God, or thinking all of our time with God has to be "purifyingly intense" when really you can just enjoy spending time with Him. I mean, Jesus did a good bit of work on the cross already. Then you died to join Him when you became a believer. So perhaps today, rather than fixing yourself, you let God be God and enjoy Him for all of who He is.