As a believer, you may have vowed at some point ... 'I resolve to be a good person, to live an honorable life, to forsake sinful habits'. But since your commitment was based on self-will and personal discipline, you failed at every turn.
Only as we fully understand the ineptitude of human effort can that vow of obedience be kept. The "I" component of any sincere pledge must be abandoned. Death to 'self' is how it happens ...
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
If you are indeed a follower of Christ, I urge you to stand beneath the Cross of Calvary and look upon your former self-reliant existence ... it should be nailed there.
Then turn to Jesus as He sits at the right hand of the Father and praise Him for His sufficiency as Lord of your life. Acknowledge that you are weak and helpless outside of His care and surrender daily to His indwelling Spirit.
Faith is not just an intellectual acceptance of a factual event, but a personal trust in the One upon whom the fact is based. You are not saved because you believe that Jesus Christ died on a cross ... but because you've applied that atoning sacrifice to your life and surrendered all that you are to Him.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
Live in its shadow, pilgrim ...
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