"Have I lost my salvation?” I asked, looking down at my hands. Not only did my struggle with lust make me feel far from God, but it also made me feel as though I had lost Him entirely. In my mind, salvation was contingent upon one's ability to obey the law - even after receiving the Holy Spirit! One mistake, and I was in hot water. Several mistakes in rapid succession? Oh yeah… I was through. Despite all my praying and fasting for freedom from demonic oppression, I couldn't help but question whether God was with me.
In those days, Galatians 3:10 was lost on me. It reads as follows:
'But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.'
By hinging my salvation upon my inability to keep clean hands, I completely neglected God’s grace, giving in to the shame and condemnation the enemy so desperately tried to impose upon me.
Today, I am not only free from lust and perversion, but from shame as well. As it’s written in Galatians 3:11, ‘no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life."'
When I was in the midst of that battle with lust, I was no less a child of God.
'The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.' (Proverbs 24:16).
Therefore, as we continue to get up again and again, let's remember these scriptures and refuse to get tied up in slavery to the law.
Jesus loves you!
Until next time,
Ugo