Chuck Larsen

I am forgivable! I am lovable! I am valuable! I am acceptable, and I am capable. Paul tells the Philippians that no matter what his life circumstances are, he can manage. In Chapter 4, verse 13 (The Amplified Bible), he writes, “I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me — I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me, that is, I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency!”

I don’t always feel “sufficient,” do you? I often feel weak, empty, and sick of struggles that overwhelm me time and again. I’m tired of not being what I should be and letting temptations sneak up on me and trip me up and circumstances that get me down. I have to continually remind myself of God’s grace. I am sufficient in Christ whether I feel like it or not. I am what God says I am, whether I believe it at the moment or not. The circumstances and temptations that take me captive have no chance at all if I hang on to God’s truth about myself. Believing what the Bible says sets us free! That’s what the truth does! It sets us free. I’m saying these things out loud as I write them. Join me: I am forgivable! I am lovable! I am valuable! I am acceptable, and I am capable! This is true, not because of any intrinsic goodness in myself, but because God says it’s true.

Let me tell you a biblical truth that will set you free. Better yet, let me quote James M. Boice on the subject. Here is what he writes, “Are you a Christian? If so, you are a saint, and so am I—regardless of our station in life. We are so, not because of what we have done, but because we have been separated unto God in Jesus. An illustration of this truth comes from the life of the late Harry Ironside of Chicago. During the early days of his ministry before there were airplanes, Dr. Ironside used to travel many miles by train. On one of these trips, a four-day ride from the West Coast to his home in Chicago, the Bible teacher found himself in the company of a party of nuns. They liked him because of his kind manner and his interesting reading and exposition of the Bible. One day, Dr. Ironside began a discussion by asking the nuns if any of them had ever seen a saint. They all said that they had never seen one. He then asked if they would like to see one. They all said that they would like to see one. Then he surprised them greatly by saying, ‘I am a saint; I am Saint Harry.’” He took them to verses of the Bible that say it was so. Sixty three times in the New Testament, “all believers” are called saints. When we come to faith in Christ we are not sinners any longer. We are saints. Boice goes on to say, “Your name may sound funny when you preface it with the title “saint.” But you may rest assured that it does not sound funny to God—whether you are a Saint George, a Saint Lucy, or a Saint Harriet. God knows us all by name, and it is he who calls us saints in Christ Jesus.

Living by the flesh is to put my trust and confidence in my own strength. Living by the Spirit is putting my trust and confidence in the Lord. There are many hypnotists in the world today who will put us in a trance and cause us to act in ways contrary to our true identity as saints, the children of a loving God. It’s interesting that the Jews often referred to gentiles as goyim or dogs. In Philippians 3:2, Paul tells the believers to “look out for the dogs…” But his use of the term refers to those who would put you under the slavery of the religious rituals of Judaism. Because circumcision was the rite that identified Jews as the children of God, some insisted that all converts to Christianity had to be circumcised to be acceptable in the family of God. It was the same focus on “doing deeds” to win acceptance. But Paul says, “No, those who insist on such and such a ritual or such and such of a performance in order to be acceptable are the dogs, not those of us who are living by grace through faith.” He says in verse 3, “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”

Max Landers, in his commentary on this passage in Philippians, tells a great story and makes a powerful application. He writes: “A number of years ago, I was in Mexico City, visiting the central square. This huge paved square is surrounded by grand buildings on three sides. On the fourth side is a great cathedral. I saw something on that visit which, I understand, is not all that unusual but which made a deep impression on me. A peasant woman was crawling across the great square, palms, and knees being gouged by the ancient stones which pave the square. After she had crawled a while, she would stop, rise to her knees, pray a while, and then begin crawling a little farther. The slow, painful crawl seemed to take forever as she tried to appease God through her self-inflicted suffering. I saw a similar sight in Guatemala. People brought gifts to the church and lay them on the altar. They knocked on the wood of the altar, trying to get God to notice them. They lit candles and poured wine as an offering, seeking to merit God’s favor.”

Max continues: “These incidents are sad examples of how far people will go to win God’s favor and earn his grace. Yet, we often fall into similar bondages as we try to please God. We fear that if we get irregular in our Bible reading and prayer, God will punish us. Or we feel that if we don’t give money to the church, God will not bless us. Or we get into the performance trap in our efforts to be accepted by God. We volunteer for everything and never say no because we fear that God will not fully love and approve of us. If you have trouble believing that God accepts you, if you have difficulty resting in the fact that God loves you, if you feel you have to do something to earn acceptance in God’s eyes, then you have something in common with the woman in Mexico. You are crawling across the painful, rocky pavement, trying to earn God’s favor. These performances are a terrible burden because you can never know if you have done enough to appease him.” Don’t forget, Jesus paid it all.