Editor’s

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The Tyranny of Self

“Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” - Galatians 3:3

We read in John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” Moving down to verse 36, Jesus continues, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” It is possible to have once experienced the freedom that comes from knowing and keeping Jesus’ commandments “in the Spirit” and then find ourselves tempted to revert back to “works” and human effort. This happened to the Galatian church. They had experienced the freedom of Christian living through the power of the Holy Spirit, but then, perhaps unconsciously, slid back into their former human mindset of law and self-reliance. They forgot the futility and failure of trying to keep God’s Law in their own power.

Judaizers in Galatia were trying to convince the Church that a number of ceremonial practices of the Law were still binding on the New Testament church. Paul refuted this in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Israel tried keeping The Law through works of the flesh and found it not only impossible but a bondage. Let us always remember that “Jesus Christ PLUS…” anything else, makes the power of the cross of non-effect!

Why is it, that man is always reluctant to yield their circumstances and lives to God, letting Him take control and guiding them by the power of the Holy Spirit? Control is not an easy thing for the old man to give up. Self is quite comfortable in trying to control things. “Letting go and letting God” is a huge change and one that usually causes a great battle as our human thinking tries to convince the born-again new mind that to give up control to God is simply not reasonable. It refutes common sense, but common sense and human thinking have nothing to do with making a proper spiritual decision. Choosing to live our lives God’s way, even when we do not fully understand His ways, is faith taking a firm hold of the words of Isaiah 55:8-9 and allowing God to have His way with us, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Though we seem to accept this intellectually, it often does not filter down to everyday, practical living.

If we are going to have the ultimate victory, it is essential that we not only know what Paul is telling the Galatians, but that we make choices that are in agreement with his words. Self-reliance and obedience to the will of God are enemies of one another. Obedience must be the winner. We read again the inspired words of Paul in Philippians 2:12-13, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” Verse 12 tells us, “obedience” is the key to how we work out our salvation and is the only way God can work in us His good purpose. Obedience to God’s will is the choice that we must continually make if we would come off “more than conquerors.” This was the choice that Jesus always made, saying, “Not my will, but Yours be done” at every turn of His life on earth. This must be our choice also. God can be trusted to do His part, but only if we let Him by doing our part. If we are obedient, then we can be sure that the words of Philippians 1:6 will be true in our lives: “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

For many, choosing God’s will is often shrouded by misconceptions and they soon become entangled with the thought that they somehow must find the will-power to deny themselves all the things they really want to do, and thus force themselves to conformity to God’s will. This mindset looks on the wonderful gift of choice as a bondage; a lifetime of a kind of bed-of-nails endurance and denial. It is purely negative and unsound when contrasted to the true Christian walk of faith, which inevitably brings joy, peace and freedom. Jesus tells us that to be His disciples we must deny self, take up our cross daily, and follow Him (Luke 9:23). But He also tells us, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Mt. 11:30). From a human standpoint, this does not make sense. Again, it is Paul who gives us the key to harmonize this when He says, “I can do all things through Christ” drawing from His limitless strength (Phil. 4:13). We can also! We can be sure of this because we are told in Romans 8:37-39, “…in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” May we put down this tyrant “Self” and by faith, gain the victory in our Lord, Jesus Christ.

E. Weeks