Two Problems
/The following is from the Wednesday Weekly blog by Patrick Collins.
“To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” – Acts 26:18
The above text is found in Acts chapter twenty-six. The Apostle Paul gives his testimony before King Agrippa. In it he leaves an account of God’s call on his life, and the direction God gave him. Direction that would echo through the ages, even to you and to me. Let us examine it.
“To open their eyes.” A man who is born blind, without his natural eyesight is handicapped in this physical world. He cannot move about confidently because of the darkness. He cannot experience this world completely because of the darkness. The world in which he lives is void of beauty because of the darkness.
Spiritually, we are all born blind. We are handicapped, limited, and lacking in understanding of the things which God has done, and is doing. Our blindness leaves us in “darkness” and in this darkness thrives the “power of Satan.” Satan’s power exists only in the absence of God (that is to mean God allows it), just as darkness exists only in the absence of light.
You say: “I am a Christian, I am a born-again believer, I am saved, I am sanctified.” If so, have your eyes been opened? Have you been turned from darkness, from Satan? Is the light of God in you and shining through you? Or does your Bible sit in the same dusty corner of the bookshelf? Your prayer life lay dormant as the Word that you shun to read? A true Christian experience is marked with a turning; real, true, genuine change that will be as dramatic as a blind man that receives his sight.
If you turn, then turn away from your sins; be it gambling, drinking, fornicating, cursing, pornography, pride, lust, covetous, materialism, and much the more. If you turn from your sins, He will work a change in you that you may receive the “forgiveness of sins.” Total pardon for what you have done. Not because of who you are, but because of Christ. He paid the price for your sin and paved the way for your sanctification, he “itnheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”
After you have turned, put your faith in Jesus Christ, repented of your sins and received forgiveness, there is another blessing wrought by grace: the inheritance, the promise of the Father, the blessed Holy Ghost. This Holy Ghost carries with it the power to save, and the power to lead others to salvation. You are brought into fellowship with God and kept by God. It is an immediate blessing that is received subsequent to forgiveness and obtained wholly by faith. The Holy Ghost will keep you from sin.
We are born into this world blind and our blindness is perpetuated by two problems. The first problem is that we sin and the second is what causes us to sin. You are a sinner because you are carnal, your heart is evil, and you do evil things. There is no good in you unless Christ is in you, and there is no good work you can make yourself do that will cover up the evil that exists inside you. The only salvation is in Jesus! Only Jesus can cleanse you of all your sinful transgressions and send the Holy Ghost to fill you and remove the carnal influence. The time is now, do not linger in blindness any long, but lay yourself at the feet of Jesus. Turn from this wickedness and to a life of righteousness.
Read more of Patrick’s writings at http://graycollinsweeklywritings.blogspot.com/