The Biggest Reason Why Your Christian Life Isn't Working

“Why do I keep sinning? I see that Jesus Christ died for my sins and I have chosen to make Him the Lord of my life. So what’s wrong with me now that I‘m a Christian and I still can’t do what is right and avoid what is wrong??” I hear these questions among my fellow Christians so often.

We have been born again as children in God’s Family; however, many of us still have a problem. How do we make this Christian life work out in practice? What is holding us back from really achieving our goal?

The biggest reason is a lack of knowledge and understanding of one big important truth: WHEN WE CHOOSE TO ACCEPT CHRIST AS LORD, HE COMES TO LIVE IN US IN A LIVING UNION - HIS SPIRIT TO OUR HUMAN SPIRIT. The central mystery of all history is the union of the creature and the Creator. Not just the Creator. Certainly not just the creature. But the union. We’ve found the whole meaning of life in time and eternity when we’ve found that.

Ancient mythology and tradition recognized some union of God with man, but it was a union which only degraded the gods and didn’t lift mankind. It still left a great gulf between the earthly and the heavenly. But the truth of the Bible is that God is not only a God who mercifully pardons our guilt and saves us from its consequences, not only a God who gives to us a new nature that loves to do the right which once we hated, not only a God who comes to. our aid in temptation and trial and extends His strength and His providence for our deliverance, BUT ABOVE ALL HE IS A GOD WHO COMES HIMSELF TO INDWELL US AND TO LIVE HIS OWN LIFE IN US.

God takes us into the divine Family, makes us partakers of the divine nature, undertakes our life for us, becomes the Author and Finisher of our faith, and assures us that He will never leave us or forsake us.

It’s probably beyond apprehension by the finite mind, as well as beyond description. But if our minds cannot completely grab onto this infinite glory, thank God that we can have faith in it and experience it in our souls.

The whole concept of a being from another dimension living right inside of this human body seems to many very weird. The idea takes a lot of getting used to. But knowing this, accepting this and staying aware of this is the key to success in the Christian life. The human mind has a hard time staying aware of spiritual things and always wants to revert back to material thinking.

Look at one of the greatest Christians of all time - the apostle Paul. Before his conversion, he had no inkling that he was anything other than a material human being. He believed in God as a being in the spirit realm outside of Paul and this God was to be loved and worshiped to the best of Paul’s human ability. In fact Paul was very zealous that every person should worship this far away God in the way that Paul did. He went so far as to persecute this new band of people who were following Christ rather than the Jewish faith and tradition.

But what happened when Paul himself became a Christian? Not immediately, but in a matter of years, Paul came to see that he was not “just Paul” but had Christ living in him. Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ - nevertheless I live - yet not (just) I - but Christ lives in me. And the life that I live humanly, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). Paul saw the union of the creature and the Creator.

There is such an intimate union that there should never again be a sense of division between the Christian and the living God. We’ve become one united being - part human, part spirit - for “he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Not two, but one. And yet within that mystery there is a unity that allows us to retain our individuality. That’s where a major difficulty comes.

The first point that we need to get clearly in mind is the union - that we’ve become one being or “person”. We’ve gotten so used to the curse of the fall, which is separation, that it’s a long time before we fully realize the fact of our union with God through the indwelling Christ. And we still never entirely attain to a continuous recognition of this union.

Let’s talk about when a human crisis problem hits us, whether as a result of our own human weakness or imposed on us from an outside source. The usual thing we say is, “God permitted it.” That means that God is up there and we are down here dealing with this crisis. But God isn’t up there at all! He is within. Well-meaning Christians who raise their eyes upward when they pray really do so unnecessarily. Why should I try to get a Person to come down when He lives within me? I can see Him where He is, in a common bit of human flesh redeemed in His precious blood and now in a living union with Him.

This makes my whole attitude to life different. Once I recognize that God is joined as one with me, I no longer try to find Him or get Him to come and rescue me.

A crisis come to me. No, no - it doesn’t! It comes to US - Christ/Lou. Not to me, but to US. And Lou is a mighty little part in the us, while Christ is a mighty big part. It comes to Him. And if it comes to Him, He doesn’t just permit it, He means it to come for a reason. And if He means it to come, He’s going to make it turn out for His own purposes. So what makes the Christian life work? What must my attitude be? “Come on Lord, handle it now! Whatever the purpose is, it’s perfect! Carry it out now - AND I‘LL WATCH YOU!” And life becomes a great watching life. We sit on the sidelines and clap when the goals are scored.

You say, “Yeah, sounds good. But I just can’t keep this union idea in my mind. It leaks out in my daily human existence. Since I can’t totally understand it, I can’t totally apply it to work for me.” And you are right. The human mind does leak out what it has learned of spiritual things. It must be constantly recharged by a discipline of connecting or plugging into the WORD. We come to some understanding from the written Word, the Bible. But our understanding and awareness must go farther by connecting with the living WORD, Jesus Christ living in us.

Paul told the Philippians that they should “work” out their own salvation, but that it was God in them who really “worked” out everything. (Phil. 2:12-13). If God “works” in you to both will and to do His purposes, what is the human “work” for the Christian? IT IS JUST THE DISCIPLINE OF RECHARGING OUR AWARENESS BY THE WRITTEN AND LIVING WORD.

I like to emphasize the Bible as an extreme book. It entitles us to live an extreme life and preach an extreme message. It speaks there about the “new man.” It says that when we become this “new man”, Christ is all, and in all of us. If Christ is ALL in me, and ALL in you – what’s left? Is there anything more we can have of God then than we have now if Christ is “all, and in all”? We are complete in union with Him.

Now if a common, created little piece of clay like me can say “Christ is all in me,” it doesn’t leave me with much to bother about myself. I just say, “Alright God, carry on then.” He is in everything that happens in my life; He is totally involved.

If a disease comes to me, it comes to Christ as well as to me. It’s HIS business then. That’s when the burdens go off! You’ll find all our burdens are upon us because we have this separate instinct instead of the united instinct. Every sorrow we carry, every trouble we bear, every tear of self-pity we shed (and there’s an awful lot of self-pity in our tears), comes out of separation ideas instead of union truth.

Every weakness we feel comes out of separation. We all share these human feelings of separation from God. Yes, I feel weak - but it‘s all nonsense. Weak? Of course I‘m humanly weak; but there’s Someone inside me who isn’t!

What we are after in this life-long Christian transformation is a fixed life, a spontaneous life. By God’s grace I am to learn to live spontaneously in a continuous Christ-consciousness, so that it’s “natural” to me to live this way. It’s to be fixed in me. It’s to be fixed in my mind that Christ has taken up a permanent residence in a creature called Lou Hodapp. And He has promised He will never leave Lou or forsake Lou. Lou is being transformed into the best child of God that he can become in this life and has the assurance of eternal life forever in Christ.

The story of the human Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago is the start of the revelation of God’s purpose being plainly revealed to mankind. Hebrews 1:1-3 states that, previously, God had been known in portions; now He was plainly revealed, indwelling the human Jesus. There was to be divinity and humanity combined in a union. Jesus mentioned so many times that His Father lived in Him in a union with Him, and that of His own humanity Jesus could do nothing.

Just as Jesus was a living manifestation of His internal Father, so we manifest God when Christ dwells in us. John tells us that “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). The difference between the human Jesus and us Christians is that He was perfect in His awareness of His union with the Father. Jesus was the perfect example of what this divine/human union relationship was supposed to be. But we are imperfect and, starting with our new birth in Christ, must learn on a daily basis how this divine/human business is meant to work out in practice.

What’s our part? Availability, we simply say, “Well Lord, let’s do it!” and recognize that He is doing it. How do we recognize? Not by outward appearances. We recognize by our spirit controlling our mind. We recognize that as a new creature in union with Christ, our human spirit and the Spirit of Christ are together and are operating as a single unit. There are two, but they are operating as a single unit. That is our starting point.

In the past there were days when I felt I ought to, but I didn’t want to. There were days when I felt I shouldn’t, but I wanted to. How could I stop worrying about the ought-to’s and the shouldn’ts?

I had to learn arithmetic according to Paul. I had to learn that one plus One equals ONE. In I Corinthians 6:17 Paul says, “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Now Paul didn’t say that the “he” was Jesus Christ.; he said that the “he” is joined to the Lord. So there are two persons, a “he” and Jesus. Sometime in the past you, like I, reached out and said, “I’ll take Jesus Christ.” And you got Him.

You have Jesus as your Savior. You know that. I can’t shake you on that. Now let’s go further. How do you come to believe that Christ lives in you? Ask yourself: How did you ever believe that he died for you? One makes as much sense as the other. If He could die for you, He could certainly live in you and through you to His world. That‘s what we‘re talking about - Christ living in every converted, born again person. Not all Christians know this. What is important is that you know it. We are not responsible for other people’s knowledge, but we can open up our own minds to the revelation of this union with Christ.

Paul said in Philippians 1:21, “For me to live is Christ.” For me to live is Christ living through me, that’s what Paul meant. It was Christ living out His life as Paul when Paul went to all those places that God sent him, speaking to people in the marketplace, or to those he stayed with, or sometimes in the synagogue. As long as they would listen to him, it was
Christ making His appeal through Paul.

So it’s not us for Him, but Christ by us. If that’s true, then who’s going to the grocery store tomorrow? Who’s going downtown? Who’s going fishing? Who’s going to relax in the sun? Christ is, if that’s what you’re going to do tomorrow, because He’s vitally in union with you. What’s He interested in? What you’re interested in! What’s He doing? What you’re doing! What‘s He concerned about? What you’re concerned about! Why? Because you and He are ONE!

You may say, “Well, I‘m not always concerned about religious things.” Wonderful! Neither was He! In the Gospels He was seldom concerned about “religious” things. He seemed more interested in being with people. He was down by the lake; people saw Him down there. He was in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus; people heard about Him being there. Every once in a while they’d hear about Him being at church, and that’s when they would ask Him to speak! And what did they hear? Not religion, but a word of life. They responded to life. So, we go about our business - we are life, that’s all. Just carriers of THE LIFE!

How can this be? How can I be so unconcerned, so uncritical, so free of judgment about my own character and my own purposes? Because life is spontaneous. Before you became a Christian, you never got up out of bed and said, “I‘m going to try to be lost today.” Did anybody go around saying, “Where‘s that book on how to be lost? I‘m going to try to be lost today.” No, you just got up and were lost. There wasn’t any difficulty in being lost, because you were born that way.

Now is it difficult being a Christian? I thought it was, because for years I got up and I said, “Now where’s that Book that tells me how to be a Christian?” I‘d look in this Book, and I‘d see something like this:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” and I would think, “That’s what I’ll do. The Bible says it, and I’ll do it!” I would go down the road and fifteen minutes later I would see somebody I just couldn’t stand much less love. Then I‘d read something else about, “You shall not do such and such.” So, I would say, “I won’t do it. You won’t catch me doing that because I’m a Christian. I love God. I won’t do it!” But just give me enough time and before long I‘d do it. So would you.

Christians react in different ways to that frustration. Some want to give up on Christianity altogether because they reach the conclusion, “I can’t do it.” Others keep plowing right along. But those who sincerely love God and want to serve Him usually end up very frustrated. And that’s exactly what is meant to happen. All of us need to come to the recognition that we simply can’t do it on our own.

A while back I discovered that I was just a New Testament Jew. I think most Christians are. You know why? Where was the Jewish God? Their God was “up there”. Where was my God? He was “up there”. How did they try to stay right in God’s eyes? By trying to keep the Law by their own strength and offering sacrifices to be forgiven of their sins. How did I try to stay right in God’s eyes? By trying to keep the New Testament Law by my own strength and offering “sacrifices” for my sin failures - time spent trying to make it up to God by forms of “penance”. Was there any difference? No, I was just a New Testament Jew.

Until the Christian life comes as spontaneously as being lost once did, you don’t know Christ operating as you. Can Christ be trusted in union with you and me to live that life? I can now say yes. I couldn’t always say yes, because I looked like a bad risk. I looked wishy-washy. I looked hot and cold, in and out, up and down. I couldn’t say yes until I wore myself out trying, because I was a God-lover, and I thought that’s what I was supposed to do for God. You probably are a God-lover too.

But we’re God-lovers because God is love, and we contain God by Christ in us, and we love by Him. We’re new persons. We’re, as it were, a new “species” of man. The old person with Satan’s nature has died. But, instantly, a new person in union with Christ has been born.

So now as we love and live and act, we say, “Jesus, you are the one loving and living and acting in my life.” And the bottom line is: we don’t have any real and lasting desire to do what’s wrong. Any burning, zealous drive within us to do what is wrong is gone. Occasionally, we still do, but it’s a surface whim, not a deep-down want. So, we don’t judge ourselves as evil beings because of the occasional lapses.

When we were lost, we occasionally did things that looked like God. It didn’t count for any right standing with God - because our union was wrong. Now that we are converted, occasionally we’re going to do things that don’t look like God is living in us - but they are not sins “unto death” because we are not condemned by these slip-ups. We just confess the sin to God, and acknowledge that it is covered by the blood. It is forgiven, and forgotten, and we go on, very probably in a stronger spiritual state for having seen our error and resolved to “give it all to Jesus”! And acknowledging Christ as our Life will never fail to steer us on God’s way.

God is better able to keep us than we are able to keep ourselves. God is better able to produce what will please Him than we can produce what we think will please Him. The latter is from an illusion of separation and profits nothing. The former is from the truth of one plus One equals ONE and profits infinitely.

So here is the answer. First, as humans we will always walk in the flesh, and always be conscious of the assaults of all forms of temptations. That is our privilege to be real participants in a real world, in order to overcome it and shine as lights in it. We no longer confront our flesh battles as flesh people, as if we humans should conquer them. We admit the flesh doesn’t fight our battles. But if we recognize and are aware of our union with the indwelling Christ, we say with Paul that we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit (Romans 8:9). In this God-given consciousness, it must naturally come to me to transfer my temporary recognition of the outer pull of flesh (mind and body) on me to my true understanding of who I really am - a union of: Christ, the divine Master/Lou, the human child of God.

If I have momentarily followed the flesh, the shed blood of Christ on Calvary removes my wrongs from God’s sight and mine, a forward moving lesson is learned, and my conscience is cleansed. God has forgotten, so I, too, must forget.

Life becomes a spiritual education going from one grade to the next. You take the tests and, when you pass, you move on higher. Sometimes you do so badly that you may have to slip back a grade and take that course over again. But the marvelous thing is that you will make it through to graduate! There will be set-backs, there will be pain from mistakes, but these are only lessons to be learned. When you enroll in this “Christian school” of life, YOUR TEACHER, YOUR TUTOR, COMES TO LIVE RIGHT INSIDE OF YOU WITH ALL THE PERFECT POWERS OF PERSUASION TO GET YOU THROUGH.

THIS IS WHAT MAKES LIFE WORK!

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