Frustrated?

There is a great sense that the Christian life is a frustrated life. What I mean is...a Christian is one who knows God, knows about his great love through Jesus Christ, and knows something of His holiness too... that very purity that the Christian who now has a new heart that is alive to God necessarily strives to imitate for his own joy. But, frankly, he often fails in his striving.

Despite the assertions of some people who are a bit self-deceived, sin in the Christian's life will never be completely erased. There certainly are no people who have ceased sinning (if someone does claim this just ask their spouse if their proud assertion is indeed true). It is true, however, that Christians are no longer the lackeys of their sinful nature, that is, doing whatever it says. Christians can and necessarily do overcome sins in their life over time (and at different rates). Yet...yet...no believer has on this side of death will be completely "conformed to the image of the Son" So...we struggle. We want to do better, but struggle in the doing of it. We fall. We get back up again.

The way that you can tell a Christian is...frankly... that they are a bit frustrated about their life. They want to be more like Jesus but they are having a tough go at it. They can't wait for Jesus to come because they know on that day they "will be made like Him". Non-Christians are not like this at all. They do morality for lots of reasons like... to earn brownie-points with God... to have a better family life... to keep their job... to be a nice decent person. They never do things out of faith and love to God and everyone of them (if you ask them, and I've never met one person who didn't say this...) that "I'm a pretty good person, not perfect now, but deep down I'm pretty good."

Basically, it's not a life of frustration (well, at least not this kind of frustration).

Listen to John Bunyan describe this Christian frustration in an encouraging way, because, hey, sometimes its just good to know that you're not the only one who feels this way...

"He that comes to Christ, it is true, doesn't get on as fast as he would like to. Poor coming soul, you are like the man who would like to ride full gallop but whose horse will hardly trot. Now the desire of his mind is not to be judged by the slow pace of the dull nag that he rides upon, but by the hitching and kicking and spurring as he sits on her back. Your flesh is like this dull nag, it will not gallop after Christ, it will be backward though your soul and heaven lie at stake."