Two Roads And Two Lovers
Romans 6:15 -7:6 was my inspiration. From this part of scripture, I
understand there is essentially two ways to live. I can follow the ways
of the world, which leads to death. But, if I choose to follow Christ
and be under the law of righteousness there is life and fullness. As a
believer, we have those two choices. Everyday, I can choose to listen
to God's truth or listen to the lies of the devil. Two roads lay in
front of me – God’s way or World’s way.
The marriage illustration from Romans 7: 1-6 is something I can
completely relate to. Through Christ, the past struggles are dead and I
am given to Christ. I remember my past life of depression and several
struggles. Coming to Christ is leaving the things of the past behind
and coming into His household and His kingdom way of living. According
to 2 Co 5:17 "Therefore, if anybody is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone and the new has come"
When believers struggle with past issues, they forget this important
truth. The enemy (Satan) loves to bring the past up in order to
discourage believers. I remember going to Portland Bible college as a
3-year-old Christian and often thought, “I'll never measure to these
people there." I remember crying alone in my dorm room when my roommate
was away. I thought, "I want to do great things for God but I had such
a bad past." Or, "Look at yourself, you're hopeless and will never
overcome this sin..."
Nothing could be further away from the truth. Don’t let the Word of God
become a cliche like "If Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of
his future."
This is not to dismiss the reality of human struggle. We all have
struggled with sin whether from negative thoughts to drug addiction.
Replacing negative thoughts of shame and sadness from past struggles
with the promises of the Bible and living for God isn't easy. But this
is the way I look at it. I'll illustrate it with a parable.
Take a young girl in her twenties living with her boyfriend. As a
little girl, played with dolls and like most girls dreamed about
getting married and living happily ever after. As a teenager, she faced
family problems and her parents divorce. She starts believing that
maybe the idea of being happily married and living a satisfying life is
overrated.
At first year of college, she meets a guy. He convinces her that
marriage is not necessary and offers a cheaper substitute of
cohabitation, (which is when a guy and girl live together as if married
without the commitment). First, she resists. He tells her about his job
situation and can't afford a wedding at this time and other excuses. It
sounds like a good idea. She's been living with him for years. She
hasn't finished school, dropped out halfway. And the guy who she
thought loved her is controlling, abusive and extremely possessive. She
realizes that he's been using her.
With a broken heart and negative distortion of love, she has no hope
and feels doomed in this relationship that's going no where. One day,
she runs into another man. She doesn't know him. He is another guy but
he's known her longer and loved her. He is gentle and caring. He sees a
scar on her right arm caused by her abusive boyfriend. He is concerned
and sad about it. Later, she realizes the depths of this man's love for
her. He loves her so much to the point that he wants to rescue her from
this bad relationship. A year later, she breaks up with the abusive
boyfriend and marries her new lover. He is not there to use her. He
loves her to the point of willing to die for her and restore her.
The main point of the story is the literary symbolism behind it. To me,
in a modern parable, that's how I would describe my salvation
experience. The abusive boyfriend in the above parable represents my
old life of struggles put together. My struggles controlled me and did
not allow me to live a full, complete life. There was a point in my
life, I lost hope and thought life was meaningless. Then, when I met
the truth, I first gazed at Jesus’s teachings with suspicion and doubt.
It did not make sense how can Jesus’ teachings set me free from a
miserable past. But, when I accepted Jesus and took his hand, I found a
new life ahead of me. As I started applying biblical truths and
principles in my daily life, I started to change. My bitterness, anger
and hurts started to heal.
If a person’s beliefs does not affect his or her daily life, it is not
a religion but a hobby. Many people in the world, think religion (or
belief system) is like grocery shopping; you just pick and choose what
you want and what is convenient for you. Christianity is a relationship
with the living God. Let us compare Christianity with using examples of
a human relationship. Relationships are not always easy. A true
relationship with a person requires commitment, sacrifice, and giving
up for the other person. That is not convenient but is more fulfilling.
Today, people want to use another person as a commodity to please
themselves. Using another person to primarily satisfy own carnal
desires such as lust is not love but selfishness. This ultimately leads
to feeling less fulfilled which is temporary. I used to be heavily into
New Age. Once I thought that it is better to pick and choose and
customize your own belief system. The reason for being drawn to that
was because I don’t have to give my life for something higher. I am
basically doing what pleases myself. If I find one idea incovenient, I
can simply pick another. If I do that, I am just using spirituality to
satisfy myself.
When I became a Christian, I fell in love with Jesus and willingly
decided to give my life to him. I had such a amazing revelation of
Jesus Christ saving my life. I wanted to give back to Jesus. I wanted
to be a faithful believer to say “Thank you” to God. As I continued to
grow in God, I came across the scriptures about reflecting Jesus’s
sacrificial love to others. So, I decided to get into ministry. And
when you are in love (with Christ) you do crazy things. I willingly
chose a career of teaching that doesn’t pay well but I saw it was an
avenue to serve God. I like serving others and seeing others succeed.
There is immense joy in seeing others become better, stronger and
getting healed through Christ. I am going to say that Christ has
influenced every aspect of my life. Being a Christian is giving and
sacrificing your life to Jesus. Life may not always be easy and I am
not at all close to being perfect. Even through struggles and mishaps
of life, with Jesus, I know that life has purpose.
To reiterate, the thought that there are two ways to live, a believer
can choose the way of Christ or be seduced by the wordly ways. For
example, take a person who once struggled with alcoholism and found
freedom in Christ. Say one day, he has a bad day and decides to start
drinking again. It starts with a few drinks. He neglects prayer and
Bible. Instead of serving the church he starts going to parties and
then it consumes his life. I have known people who had marriage
problems and lost jobs because of alcoholism.
Or take a 15-year old-boy, who loves God and wants to save himself for
marriage and commits to purity. Later, the enemy tempts him. He chooses
to let hormones and peer pressure get in the way. He starts flirting
with girls not because he is really interested but just wants attention
and approval from his upto-no-good friends. Think of those two
situations.
That is like the woman of my parable who is flirting with her
ex-boyfriend after she's married. How do you think her husband would
feel if he found out? If we are living according to the flesh, it is
like flirting with the old boyfriend. In the context of Christ and the
Church, how will Jesus feel if you pursue the sinful desires of your
flesh?
Every believer will be tempted at some point. Taking the parable again,
let's say, maybe the old boyfriend for some unknown reason tries to be
friends with the girl, leaving notes, flowers and he calls the girl and
says with deceptive flattery and lines "I miss you so much. Your
husband is at work. Come escape with me. No one will ever find out."
Ever been there? I mean, not literally. Have you ever been in a
compromising situation? Tempted in anyway to do something that you know
is not right? Temptation alone is not wrong because the devil tried to
tempt Jesus. It is what you do that matters.
Now, the girl of the parable could do two things 1, either run off with
her old lover and be quiet and let an affair get into the way of her
marriage. Sin does get into the way of relationship with Christ.
2, Tell her ex-boyfriend to get lost. There's a verse: Resist the devil
and he will flee from you. And call on the name of Jesus. Another thing
to remember is God is a jealous God. What does this mean? If a husband
sees another man after his wife, he isn't simply going to sit there. He
would probably grab the other mans collar and with a clenched fist and
say "This is my wife. Leave her alone." Christ is passionately in love
with us. He is like a protective husband who'll fight for us. He died
on the cross and resurrected to rescue us from the dark prison tower of
sin. Remember the fairy tales of the valiant prince going through rough
terrains, climbing up the tower and rescuing the princess. Those fairy
tales are actually based on this.
From my personal experience, when I became a Christian I found freedom
through Christ. As we all know, life is not always easy. I have been
tempted to think negatively about myself. I feel sad when bad things
happen but no longer depressed as I used to be. The reason is because
of the realization of what it means to have Christ in life. The love of
Christ is amazing. Knowing the depths of His love and walking with that
knowledge is what made me a better person and how I was healed from my
past life.
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