tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269573587631126943.post4985456668217862472..comments2023-06-07T08:05:44.732-07:00Comments on The Right Word: Deep Sin, Deeper GraceDr. Michael Baumanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05013245754748702406noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269573587631126943.post-42284171632970297142012-10-29T20:03:56.158-07:002012-10-29T20:03:56.158-07:00Thank you for your response. Though I am swimming...Thank you for your response. Though I am swimming in a hurricane, I am still floating. Jeffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269573587631126943.post-34267661960818949702012-10-24T10:31:17.572-07:002012-10-24T10:31:17.572-07:00Jeff,You are in company with every Christian who e...Jeff,<br>You are in company with every Christian who ever lived. We are unworthy, and we are unable to change it. But God did. He changes it by means of Christ: Christ for us and Christ in us.<br><br>Christ for us is the means of our salvation. He died for us. He lives for us. He intercedes with the Father for us. And if He is for us, nothing can prevail against us, not even ourselves.<br><br>Christ in us is the means of our sanctification, our transformation. He changes us by by means of our relating to Him throughout the moments and events of our lives. As we spend time talking with Him and following Him, we learn more fully what He is like. That is important because we are to be transformed into His image, His character. To know that character requires us to learn about Him carefully in the Gospels and in our own lives. It requires that we think and act like Him.<br><br>I am not very good at thinking, speaking, or acting like Him. I often read the Gospels and find myself thinking that I would not have said or done what He did. It makes me wonder: What's wrong with me? So I try to understand better how He thinks, how He prays, etc. The process is slow, indeed painfully and embarrassingly slow, but it is real.<br><br>It often doesn't feel real because our sense of sin seems sometimes so overwhelming. But that sensitivity to sin is actually part of the progress and evidence of the progress. The closer we get to the Light, the more our blemishes show up. Emerging from our moral and spiritual darkness makes us more aware of the sin that we did not see or feel before, even though it was there all the time.<br><br>To me, then, your comment is good news. It means that the spiritual progress you desire is actually underway. So keep going forward. The way won't be easy; it won't always be plain, but it is real, and you are traveling forward.<br><br>God bless you and your journey, my friend. You are on the soul-shaping pilgrimage to Heaven, and you are not alone.Dr. Michael Baumanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05013245754748702406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269573587631126943.post-47660409869035905382012-10-23T20:22:57.026-07:002012-10-23T20:22:57.026-07:00How? I want to. I really do. But I'm desper...How? I want to. I really do. But I'm desperately wicked... it's disheartening.Jeffnoreply@blogger.com