“By the grace of God I am what I am.”
1 Corinthians 15:101CO 15:10
As Christians, we learn that not only are our sins put away, but we, ourselves, are put away. Some say, "I am not what I should be." If you are a believer, you are what you should be. It would be better to say, you don't do as you should—your ways, your acts are not as they should be. You are a temple of the Holy Spirit, a child of God, a member of Christ. You cannot improve the old nature, but God has shown how to keep it in its proper place—the place of death. Let me tell you, dear child of God, you cannot improve it. If God could not find any good in it, you cannot. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:11. Now what is your occupation? Self? Oh, no! Christ. You need Him as the object for your heart, and you should learn the application of the truth; you are not going to be the servant of sin any longer, but hold sin as a judged thing. Seek the things of the Lord; set your mind on things above. If you could get satisfaction in your own life, you would only be pleased with yourself, and this God does not want; He wants us to find our pleasure in Christ. Paul says, "By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10)—not, I do what I should. A man in Christ should look at himself as brought into that new place, and we do that, if faith takes in that blessed truth.
“Set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth.
for ye are dead, and your life is
hid with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:2, 3