Responding to the Duality

How we respond to the fact that part of our personality is at the right hand of God and part on the earth will determine our eternal destiny. As we have suggested previously, the older Christians may not be able to respond. They have believed for so long that God plans to save our first personality, and that grace covers our lack of moral transformation, they may not be able to make the leap of faith required for complete victory over the world, the flesh, and self-will. Those who do reach forward in faith will be Joshuas and Calebs who will encourage and guide the younger, giving the benefit of their experience and wisdom.

For two thousand years Christianity has often been regarded as the plan for bringing the human personality to Heaven. Sometimes the plan is presented as including a certain amount of restraint of the earthly personality. There have been calls for holy behavior, in some quarters. There has been some denunciation of sin. There have been groups who professed the eradication of sin, root and branch, from their personalities.

However there has not always been a clear preaching of the need to put our whole earthly nature on the cross with Jesus and to pursue our new life in the heavenlies.

We are in a condition of apostasy in America today. There is not even a denunciation of sin. What we have now is a manmade grace that overlooks all sin. The untransformed believers are waiting for their immediate flight to Paradise. Of course, this is totally unscriptural.

The only correct response to the dividing of our personality is to live our life so our mind is continually in the heavenlies, reading the Scriptures, praying each day, gathering with fervent saints, turning away from the abundance of secular entertainment, serving, giving. We are to view our earthly life as dead because of the sin that dwells in it and we are to keep it on the cross with Jesus.

This point of view makes it possible to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He begins to deal with the worldliness, lust, and self-will in our personality. Instead of our moral transformation being a painful drudgery as we strive to maintain as much of our earthly life as possible, our transformation is a mopping-up operation. The victory already was won when we put our old nature on the cross and decided to sow to our heavenly nature. It is just a case of casting the garbage out of our life so our heavenly nature can be expressed increasingly in our life on the earth.

We now are resting at the right hand of Power. If we choose to do so we can govern our earthly nature from our position in the heavens. Or we can permit our earthly nature to control our behavior. If we permit our earthly nature to control our behavior we eventually will kill the new heavenly life. We will lose our place in Mount Zion in the heavens.

To be continued.