How can we help God help us make that journey? Sounds funny doesn’t it? Yet, as much as God wants to help us, He is bound by His own words. If we transgress them, He must allow us to face the consequences until we confess and repent.
Let’s start with the foundation of what we are. In the book City of God, St. Augustine described it like this:
For nonentity is the contrary of that which is. And thus there is no being contrary to God, the supreme Being, and Author of all beings whatsoever.
God saw that everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good and He validated it completely. Gn. 1:31 AMP
What does that mean? It means Satan and the angels who followed him were created perfectly, and Adam and Eve were created perfectly. None of these beings had any innate evil within them. Yet they all did evil (sinful) things.
Augustine again: In Scripture they are called God’s enemies who oppose His rule, not by nature…but by their will…
You oppose God by yielding to your free will, in order to languish in the ways of the world that are contrary to God. You make yourself an enemy:
“The hand of God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all who forsake Him.” Ezra 8:22 NASB
Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? Jas. 4:4 NLT
We know that our God is not an angry God as a rule. He is love itself. We encounter His ire when we transgress against Him, because He doesn’t want to be separated from us. He knows that when we are, we are killing ourselves.
St. Augustine illustrates this self-destruction:
…the vice which makes those who are called His enemies resist Him, is an evil not to God, but to themselves. And to them it is an evil, solely because it corrupts their good nature…hurts them by depriving them of integrity, beauty, welfare, virtue…
…when the will abandons what is above itself, and turns to what is lower, it becomes evil – not because that is evil to which it turns, but the turning itself is wicked.
…the defection of the will is evil, because it is contrary to the order of nature…and that makes light of the voice of conscience…nothing else than defection from God…
So, we must work on our faith in God. Why? Because if we believed that God’s ways were the better ways, we would not violate them in the first place. We have to cleave to God, place our faith in that our hearts would be far more satisfied by His treasures, than by the temporal and destructive pleasures of our senses and the hungers of our ego.
Worse, these indulgences ultimately cause suffering; and if they continue without repentance, permanent death will ensue.
When you are chasing after the world, you are in essence going after other ‘gods.’ You’re transgressing God’s first Commandment:
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Ex. 20:3 NKJV
Instead, cling to the guarantees of our Savior, and abandon independence for a godly dependence upon Jesus, so that you may be bearers of His grace. It is within that grace that your healing will begin, and your Christ-produced heavenly wholeness will be reborn.
Be thankful for God’s grace and He will shore you up to resist temptation, so as to keep your slips off of His path to a minimum:
…in every situation [no matter what the circumstances] be thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thess. 5:18 AMP
For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness [to be dedicated, and set apart by behavior that pleases Him, whether in public or private]. So whoever rejects and disregards this is not [merely] rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you [to dwell in you and empower you to overcome temptation]. 1 Thess. 4:7, 8. AMP
Goodnight and God bless.