Why some Christians struggle with their salvation

Why some Christians struggle with their salvation

There is a clear message in scripture that some Christians haven’t yet been in the Word long enough to grasp or have such strongholds built up that it takes a while to break old mindsets.  Paul struggled.  But it was what he realized, the revelation we all need to receive, that kept him from feeling the condemnation many feel. 

Romans 7:¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

Paul didn’t understand why he couldn’t do those things he wanted to do and did the things he didn’t want to do.  Sometimes we get angry, or people might irritate us.  Those who have the revelation Paul received aren’t condemned by this but they, as Paul did, realize that they have the mind of Christ while still living in sinful flesh.

Romans 7:²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

In Romans 8, Paul says: 

¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.

In Romans 6, Paul makes clear that we don’t continue in sin.  But his words there state that offering ourselves as slaves to righteousness (Christ is righteousness) leads to holiness. 

And 1 John 2 says:

¹² I am writing to you, dear children,
    because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
¹³ I am writing to you, fathers,
    because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
    because you have overcome the evil one.

So it’s clear that it’s a growth process. 

John 3:¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

When we are born into this world, we enter as babes, knowing nothing.  As we grow into young men, our minds are trained by what we see and hear.  You may grow up in a Christian home and be trained up in the way you should go.  Or you may grow up in a home filled with strife and worldly things.  We’re trained by our parents, teachers, peers, television, and billboards.  This is why Jesus is saying we must be born again. 

2 Corinthians 5:¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

We’re starting over again as babes.  This time our minds are being filled with the Word and we grow up into young men and then old men (ladies don’t get hung up on the term men). 

When we’re born again, the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us.  But just as faith the grain of a mustard seed, the Holy Spirit is a seed planted in us.  And how does a seed grow?  By watering it.  Water the seed of the Holy Spirit with the Word. 

John 15: ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Who is Christ? 

John 1:¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 15:¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

To abide in Christ is to abide in the Word.  It is imperative that we remain in the Word whatever it takes. 

As Christ told the Pharisees in Matthew 23:26:

First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

We will be healed from the inside out by remaining in the Word.  We cannot change ourselves.  As Paul said:

Romans 7: ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!