“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,” – Jude 24
We have to learn not to exalt our ability to fail above Gods own ability to keep us. This is faith and the beginning of sanctification. When we exalt who we are in the flesh and our ability to sin, we are saying that the new creation, the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit is just not enough to keep us from stumbling. And because that is what we believe, that is what we experience. But God has outlined for us a better way.
The bible calls us not to put any confidence in the flesh. In other words, don’t trust in your own ability to do anything for God. Don’t trust in your ability to be holy, to serve Him, to love Him…in the flesh. All of those things are only possible in partnership with the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. When we realize the innate weakness of our flesh, it sets up a platform for the working of God. It’s at the point of understanding our own weakness that we can truly learn to lean not on our own strength, but trust wholly in the Lord’s. We must be careful to make this transition in our faith. It’s not enough just to lose faith in our own ability. We have to lose faith in our own ability and consequently place that faith in His ability. Such a transition is critical!
Once we get our eyes off ourselves we have to look into the eyes of our Saviour. The bible says that we should “run the race…looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”. If we are constantly looking inward at our faults and weakness, how can we ever look up to run? Know that consistent introspection and self-analysis will cause us only to trip and fall. Set your eyes on Jesus and let the Vinedresser (your Father) do the pruning. Trust in His finished work and in His ability to keep you. The promise is that He will keep us from stumbling and present us faultless with exceeding joy. Look unto Jesus and you’ll run with endurance, and the joy of the Lord shall be your strength.