Whether you have been a believer your whole life, or whether you are a new convert, there will come a time when the Bible will cut you to the heart.
God still says, “Adam, where are you?” and invites you to come out of hiding and stand before Him.
The Bible has a way of confronting your deepest identity, your deepest held convictions, your deepest secrets and hurts.
It puts the finger right on who you are and who you think you are, because who you are is a child in the image of Adam. And who you are called to be is a child of God in Christ. That means that Adam must go, so that who you were made to be might live.
You can’t get there if you never put to death the old man. That guy has to die.
And that is painful. It cuts to the heart. The scripture reveals your secrets and says, “Nail this to the cross.” It isn’t just those things that you do; it is the things that you are. Sanctification is only finished when we die. Only our death can finally put to death this body of death. But the little deaths, the taking up our crosses, must be daily. Jesus said that.
So the confrontation will come.
It will come in a sermon. It will come in your reading. It will come in your memories.
But it will come. The Holy Spirit will see to that.
What you do when it comes will be a matter of life or death. Unfortunately, mostpeople attack the messenger. Mostpeople won’t go there. Mostpeople will conclude that the “preacher is wicked. The bible has errors. That guy’s a jerk. That isn’t the Jesus I know…”
The alternative is just too hard. I like that old guy. He comforts me if I ignore the voice of all those that I have trampled in my push to be a god.
But if you go through the painful process of taking up the cross and hearing the thundering voice of the Word of God confronting everything you thought was right and normal and good, you will find your life.
If you want to hold on to “your life” – your life, your values, your identity, everything that you believe you are – the only possible result is death. You will think that you gained everything, but in the process you ironically lose yourself.
You must be born again to even see the kingdom of God. And that means that the old man must die.
Not gonna lie. That hurts like hell. Because it is hell, and it has to go. Your pride cannot take you into the kingdom of God.
(Luke 9:23-25) 23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
24 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
25 “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
My Only Comfort 