IN CHRIST ALONE

              I am sitting in a soft lush chair in the sitting room. My thoughts are strewn all over the place. They’re not lofty thoughts of victory, nobility, virtue, and candor; they’re infamously of failure, of compromise, of always falling short. I am constantly reminded of how I am never getting near where I know I should be.

But I want to prove my worth, that I am stronger than my sin-this constant failure to hit the mark. I always thought that it was about proving myself. So I began to look inward to carve some ‘determination’ to win; to draw from the resource I felt were buried inside. And I got successful, temporarily. I hit the deck no sooner than I had begun. The more I tried to wriggle out of this dirt, the more I get stuck.

Most times, I tucked it all away. They must not see how thoroughly weak I am. But I couldn’t douse the fierce fire of guilt and ineptitude raging inside. I kept them-the people-out, but I couldn’t keep me out. I was locked in with my compromises, and they always win.

           More than anything I’m sure of, more than all the momentary lifts and breakthroughs I seem to record in this journey, one immutable fact remains: Victory is found in no other than the constant and habitual leaning of the whole man on the person of Christ. Nothing else works. Attempting to achieve with human efforts what can only be attained by Christ is futile.

Well, my condition is perfect. I’m exactly what Christ needs to make His excellencies known. The sick and the doctor are not uncommon variables. I admit no shame in my journey to the one who begins a new thing in a life undone by sin.

People say and think that Christianity-our faith-is for losers. Well they’re right; only losers need some sort of redemption. Redemption is not trying so hard to string up some good performances; it is resting in Christ alone. Strength in weakness, hope in despair, and comfort in sorrow; that’s what Christ brings to the fore.