Why a Christian Can't Be an Alcoholic

It's very easy to beat yourself up.  When you sin or fail in some way, Satan puts self-critical thoughts in our minds which sound like our own thoughts.  Then, we run with them and before you know it, we create a narrative about how dumb we are, how ugly we are, what a big failure we are, what a sinner we are or what a terrible Christian we are.  We default to letting our struggles define us.

 

Yet, I challenge you to pray:  "Daddy God, I pray that You would cause my thinking to line up with Your thinking wherever they are different."  That is what a renewed mind is.  It's the Holy Spirit replacing our stinking thinking with God's astonishing thinking about who He is, who we are and how to live life.  I want to focus today on God's thoughts towards us.

 

Our Daddy says in Isaiah 55:8, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. It's very easy for us to take this as a scathing criticism from Him.  Yet, it actually reveals God's longing for us that His thoughts and His ways become ours.

 

When He looks at you, He's not thinking about your failures or successes for that matter.  He's thinking about what He did for you and to you in Christ.  He sees one of His children who is like Him.  He loves you because He sees you as a new creation who is righteous, a saint (holy), complete, forgiven, loving, patient, kind and so much more!

 

I personally had to remember who I was when two people criticized me last week for inviting you in the last few blogs to our Foundation for Transformation Conference (Romans 5-8).  One said I had gotten away from life giving blogs.  What surprised me is that this person had been transformed by Jesus through GLI.  I thought they would want to use those emails to invite people they love who are not free.  The other stated that they lived too far away from our office so they no longer wanted the emails.  I scratched my head wondering if they had somehow missed that no matter where anyone lives, they can join us via our powerful online system.

 

Sometimes, criticism is valid and we can learn from it.  Other times, it's not.  Either way, I reminded myself that it doesn't change my identity.  I am who Jesus says I am, period.

 

This is why a Christian can't be an alcoholic.  That doesn't mean there aren't Christians addicted to alcohol, opioids, meth or cocaine.  They need to admit they are addicted and need help so they can get help. Jesus and the experience of His deep love for them can free them from their addiction as they learn who they are in Christ.  There's so much more I would like to share with you, like why a Christian can't be a liar, a thief, a pornographic person.  Space doesn't permit here, but you will see below that there is a way I can, soon.

 

I leave you with two take-aways.  1. Line up your thoughts about who you truly are with God's thoughts about you.  2. Accept my invitation to come hear more at our Foundation for Transformation Conference IN OUR OFFICE or ONLINE so God can personally speak to you about what He's done that makes you as righteous as Jesus Christ. I will personally be teaching the first night, Monday, June 6. This is a FREE CLASS. SIGN UP HERE  (If you've attended before, invite someone you care about, remembering how God spoke to you there.)

Warmly in Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

Grace-Onoimics: You Can't "Out-sin" God's Grace!

I was a sophomore in high school who loved competing in basketball for our team.  I had a key to our gym and played almost every day, even during the summer.  However, everyone on the team was also required by the coach to play a second sport; so, I chose to run track.

I was 6'4" and as skinny as a bean pole but for some reason I was fast, that is fast enough to be on the one mile relay team. That meant that all four of us had to run around the track one time and then pass the baton to the next person.  I ran the third perlegon a team of very fast seniors.

One day, we were competing against a rival team and I became nervous when I discovered I was running against the fastest guy in our region.  He was a muscular football player and I wondered how this was going to turn out.  In the race, I received the baton about 30 feet ahead of him.  My plan was to run at 5/6's speed until I reached the final turn, then go as fast as I could. About half way, I heard his steps and he was gaining on me.  Now I had to change my tactics.  I needed to match his speed to keep our distance.  When he ran faster, I ran faster.  When he turned on his final sprint, I turned on my final sprint... and, it worked.  He never did catch me no, matter how fast he ran.  I passed the baton to our last runner and we won the race. It was a great day.

Romans 5:20 gives us the picture of a similar race in our own lives.  It is the race of sin versus God's grace. 

All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. (The Message)

The sins of someone who has not received Christ is never greater than the ability of God's grace to save that person.   In the same way, the sins of someone who is in Christ are never greater than God's grace to keep that person 100% acceptable to God.

Some worry that if we tell Christians this amazing truth of the New Covenant, they will see grace as a license to sin.   However, our identity in Christ tells us that God's law has been written on our hearts according to Hebrews 10:16-17.  This means that God's character is the very core of who we are now.  Though we can sin, our deepest desire is to live a life consistent with who we are in Christ and who He is in us.  When people have a growing understanding from the Holy Spirit of who they are in Christ, they don't live for sin but rather they live for Jesus  - relying on Him to live through them.

I remember one man telling me a few years ago that the more he understood grace, the more he was able to live more faithful to his wife as he overcame pornography.  Another man was delighted to understand that he could now live in the freedom of holiness instead of his bondage to cocaine because of God's strong grace.  God's grace is always stronger and faster than sin!

How about you, do you believe you can't "out-sin" God's grace or do you live in fear that you might?  Let's believe the New Covenant this week according to Romans 5:20 and grow spiritually so we can live free and holy in Christ.  

          

For the Freedom of Others,

Mark Maulding 

President and Founder

                               

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!