March Onward

DEVOTION
1 TIMOTHY
MARCH ONWARD
1 Tim 6:13-15
13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time — God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
NIV
Not only did I many the good confession in the presence of many witnesses but also in the sight of God. Just thinking about that almost makes me shutter. I confessed my faith in Jesus Christ in the sight of God, the one who gave me life in the first place. That is by far one of the greatest truths every to be contemplated. Here I was but a combining of two tiny elements, one from each of my earthly parents and God began forming me, the person who I am, a sentient being, having a spirit capable of understanding who he is. He formed me in my mother’s womb and caused me to be a living breathing creation of his doing. This is the God in who’s sight I confessed my faith. In his sight I have been charged to keep pursuing those qualities and behaviors of righteous, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. In his sight I have been charged to fight the good fight. In his sight I have been charged to flee from pursing after the things of this world, directly the pursuit after money. I have been charged to keep that command without spot or blame until Jesus comes back for me. This is the rub, to be unblemished and inculpable. How can I do that? How can I have absolutely no blemish at all? Would that mean I would have to live without ever sinning again? That is impossible, only Jesus did that. As for being inculpable or unrebukeable, I could only imagine both of those charges could only be met by Jesus, and thus if I remain in him and he in me I am considered by God without spot or blemish. That is the only way it could be, because I do not think it is possible for any human being to be completely one hundred percent free from all forms of sin their complete life, even a human being who have accepted Christ, a believer, a Christian. As hard as I try, I fail. Maybe I need to try harder. Maybe it is possible; after all I do have the Spirit to help me. Yet I have not achieved that result of perfection yet. I am thankful that in the sight of God, I am spotless and blameless because Jesus stands there making intercession for me. God sees me in Jesus. What a blessing, what a joy, what a peace I have knowing my salvation is not dependent on my being perfect, on my good works, but wholly on my faith in Christ. That surely does not release me from the charge. I certainly must make every effort to live up to the standard set out for me by God and that is my desire. Failures are bound to plague me, but I will not be discouraged or distracted by those failures from pursuing after those standards. I will not allow guilt and shame from keeping me from continuing on. I will not permit Satan to convince me I have lost the fight. I will march toward the mark set out before me. I will march onward.