I'm the Problem

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. (Romans 8:1-7 ESV). Just the other day I received a call from a distraught parent. I had seen his son once. We were scheduled to meet again for more counseling, but in the interim his son had left him a cryptic message that sounded ominous. He wouldn’t answer any of the calls the father had made in an effort to talk to him. After calling me, I immediately called the young man. Talking to him I found him to be in a rough spot. He was not suicidal, but despondent and hopeless. At one point in the conversation he said, “I am the problem. I have been the problem for thirty years. No one can fix me!” Well, I wish that I could have said he was wrong and I could fix him, but that’s not the truth. We did talk extensively about his hurts and disappointments. I told him I could help him shoulder that load a bit. In the end he simply said, “You’re not enough.” My reply was to affirm his statement. I’m not even close to enough. In fact, there have been days when I was right where he was; and, there will be days in the future where I will be there again. The answer is not within any of us naturally. The only answer is in the indwelling of Christ within us. Paul explains it simply: For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. I don’t want to have any more “Job experiences.” However, if I do, the same grace that sustained me then will once again strengthen and hold me against the onslaught of the enemy of life. That’s really what the cross was all about. So often I hear preachers who talk about the atoning work of Christ as if it were only the paying of our debt. It is so much more than that. The cross is the singular sacrifice that God made on our behalf that gives us unalterably a life that can never be rescinded or lost. Jesus substituted himself for us that we may never fear anything in this world. I am the problem; but Jesus fixed it! I wonder if that’s the solution you have arrived at in your life. If so, pray for others. There are countless millions who have yet to discover the grace of God in Christ Jesus. They are still slaves of their own sin and death. Pray they might be set free indeed!