John 5:36-40
36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
Most of us instinctively draw back from dealing with this stubborn commitment to independence from the world, pretending we are all right as we are. It is much easier to pretend we are thirsting after God than it is to face the challenge of giving up our commitment to independence from sin.
Psalm 42:1
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
What is the answer? We must ask God to search our hearts, expose our self-centered motivations, and help us to see just where it is that we stop short of panting after Him.
You see, the more deeply we sense our thirst, the more passionately we will pursue water. But we will never sense that thirst until we are willing to face the fact that we may be drinking more from our own self-constructed wells than from the wells of God.
We cannot continue this way. The days of pretending are over.
Proverbs 14:12
12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Our own reasoning will lead us to destruction. Without God’s counsel we will perish.
1 Corinthians 10:20-21
20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.
We cannot pretend to be one way and be another. There is no middle ground. You are either free from your sins and fighting temptation or you are in bondage and fighting to pretend you are free.
James 3:14
14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
Don’t fight to prove that you are something that you are not. Do not lie against the truth of who you are. It is better to face and fight our demons than it is to try and hide them from the view of others.
Philippians 3:12-14
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
If we forget about something then it is dead to us. Until what leads you into sin is removed from you through the grace and mercy of God then they are not forgotten (or behind you).
Life for us now consists of discarding wrong attitudes and habits accumulated in the past. In modern, psychological terms, we must lose our baggage. For us, the past is dead, buried in the waters of baptism. With that behind us, we must diligently make unwavering progress in putting out the leaven of sin, growing in God’s love, producing the fruit of God’s Spirit, moving toward the Kingdom of God, and putting on Christ’s perfection, His image in us.