I recently had a friend ask me a very good question. 

“It’s all contradicting and confusing. The church teaches that we’re saved by grace and by faith only…. Saying that we’re perfectly and wonderfully made by God. But then they also say that we need to clean up our lives and change everything about ourselves to be a christian, and make you feel like an outcast if you don’t fit into their mold. Which is it? Do we need to die to ourselves and take up our cross, or do we just need to believe we’re saved and stay the way we are until we get to heaven?”

This is a very valid question. And one that a lot of people probably have after getting involved with any normal, American church….. Unfortunately. 

As I have mentioned in many other posts, I grew up in the church. I drank the kool aid, and the kool aid never made much sense to me either, and left me with lots of questions. 

If you would have asked me these questions years ago, I wouldn’t have known what to think, let alone how to answer. 

Thankfully, God has been leading me more and more into His real truths. And when my friend confronted me with their raw questions, I had an answer!

I want to first start off by saying that just because a pastor in a church said it, doesn’t make it true. Also, just because you don’t like something the pastor said, doesn’t make it NOT true. You can only know THE TRUTH by going to the source of the truth…. The Bible. 

The bible doesn’t say things about conforming to the image that the church makes up. Or that you need to fit in with everyone at church to go to heaven…… 

But, this topic, that is a huge misunderstanding across the whole church, is not easily explained away. Because it’s deep. 

I have taken the time to set a very good foundation to this topic, but it will take time in the Word , and study, to fully start to understand these things. And to be able to explain them to the next person , when they ask YOU!

I had a hard time writing this, because each topic has the opportunity to become a rabbit trail to explain another, deeper truth!

But I think I managed to create a very good foundation and overall picture on the topic…..

LET’S GET STARTED

Saved By Grace, Or Die To Your Flesh? Which one?

In order to understand their correlation between “being made wonderfully by god” and “needing to die to self”, we must first understand them separately.

Obviously, it’s very important to know what the Bible says if you want truth, and not someone’s opinion. Which is, unfortunately, what you often get in a lot of churches. 

Part 1: FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE

I’ve heard this phrase going around a lot: “God made me perfect, just the way I am.” Insinuating there is no need for change. 

The Bible says we are FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY made. (Psalms 139:14). Those words hold a different connotation than the word “perfectly”.

Although, God obviously doesn’t make mistakes, and He said that all His work was “good” when He finished creating everything. I’m not saying we’re not perfectly made, I’m saying it’s important to look at the specific terms the Bible uses.

When I googled that verse , here are a few more explanations about being wonderfully made that I thought were helpful: 

“The Hebrew word “yare” translated as “fearfully” doesn’t necessarily mean being afraid, but rather a sense of reverence and awe in the face of God’s power and design. It suggests that we should be filled with respect and wonder at HOW we were made. The Hebrew word “pala” translated as “wonderfully” implies that we are distinct, separate, and set apart, making each person unique and extraordinary. It highlights the marvelous nature of God’s creation. “

Also, the Bible tells us right in the beginning , in Genesis, that we are created in God’s very image! (Genesis 1:27). So obviously we are wonderfully made. Meaning God did a good job, made a good and beautiful thing that was worthy of admiration. He didn’t fail in his job or make something sub-par.

BUT ….. His original creation has been tainted by sin and death, when it was brought into the world through the sin of Adam and Eve. We are no longer what God intended us to be when He “wonderfully and fearfully made” us.

So …. Here’s an example and point I want to make to help bring understanding….

Let’s say that I make a wonderful, well made, tasteful, and beautiful loaf of sourdough bread…. (Because I have been practicing. Lol).

When I finish making the bread it really is beautiful and all the things I just said above. Those were my intentions on how I wanted the bread to be, and that’s how the bread was when it came out of the oven .

BUT …. 20 minutes later, someone made the choice to come and smear poop all over my bread. It is no longer beautiful, or wonderful, or tasty. Even though it was MADE WELL.

Then, the poop is allowed to sit and fester on the bread for 2 weeks, as the bread rots and the poop does likewise, tainting the bread all the way through.

The bread is now disgusting, ugly, smelly, and not at all beautiful or wonderful. But when it was made it WAS all of those things. So the intention that I had for the bread, and the fact that it came out wonderfully when it was done, is not negated by the fact that it is now disgusting. That truth that it was wonderfully made isn’t any less truthful. I was still a great master bread maker. (As God is still a great master creator Ephesians 2:10). But the bread has just been changed into something different.

This is what sin nature has done to us, God’s creation. And the spirit of death was brought in along with that sin, causing disease, sickness, and physical abnormalities.  Nothing in the world, or with humans is fully what God intended it to be, or how it was originally when it was first created.

His intention, and what He created us to be was wonderful, spiritual, in total connection to Him, beautiful, good, untainted, innocent, pure, spotless, of one spirit and one mind, healthy, safe, prospered, peaceful, joyful, full of faith and trust….. I could probably go on and on .  

I hope that you’re understanding this point clearly. If not, write your questions down so you can comment or email them to me. :)

Now I feel like I can move on to the second part…..

Part 2: MADE PERFECT ONCE AGAIN

This is where God’s WHOLE purpose and intention of bringing Jesus to die on the cross comes in. He had to create this very long and elaborate plan, that had to work in accordance with his own laws that He put in place, in order for Jesus to come into the world and save us and set us free. By doing this, his intention was to restore us not only to our original state that he intended for us when He made us in the garden, originally…… But even better than that! 

(I would have to write a whole different post to explain the HOW and WHY behind Jesus’s sacrifice).

After Jesus died on the cross and rose again, everything completely changed in the spiritual realm. But not in the physical realm, (not until later when He returns for good).

He made a way for us to be completely connected to Him more than ever before….. By putting HIS identical Spirit to literally live inside of us, (when we receive it). This way He can restore us to that long list of good things that I mentioned above, and even more things than that….. Power, authority, adoption into the heavenly kingdom, holiness, healing again, inner strength and control, all the fruits of the spirit, the very mind of Christ through the Holy Spirit speaking to us, His wisdom, and on and on. (1 Corinthians 3:16).

I have so many Bible verses I can show you on all these things, and I’m going to try and reference a percentage of them. But learning about all these things are in the new testament of the Bible, where our New covenant with the Lord is described. That’s why I urge you strongly to read that first, before the Old testament, if you are either 1. new to the Bible, or 2. having the same confusions and questions as my friend. 

Soooo….. IF someone is a born again believer in Christ and His redemption on the cross… and has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit…. They then have God’s very spirit living on the inside of them….. Making them, once again, good, beautiful, righteous, one with the Lord, and on and on …. Like we were created to be…..

BUT…..!! NOT ON THE OUTSIDE!! Not in our flesh!Whenever the Bible says that we are a new creation and everything has changed, (2 Corinthians 5:17-Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the new is here!)……. it is talking about everything in our spirit.

We are 3-part beings, Spirit , soul, and body. Think about it…. if you received Jesus as your savior, and are born again….your flesh did obviously not change afterward. And our soul (mind, will and emotions) has obviously not changed either.

Examples: if someone is ugly before they were saved, they are not magically pretty after they get saved. If someone is unintelligent, they do not magically get intelligent. If someone is unhealthy, they do not magically get healthy. If someone is  filled with fear and anxiety, they don’t magically get set free from all of those things (in most cases).  We still think the same way we used to think. Talk the same way. Know the same amount of knowledge. Have the tendency to act the same way as before we got saved. All things don’t SEEM to be “new” like the Bible is claiming.

Does that make sense?

So if the Bible tells us that we became a new creation, “behold all things have become new and old things have passed away”(2 Corinthians 5:17)….. But nothing looks any different on the outside…..

 God is not a liar….. So then where did the change occur?! 

IN OUR SPIRIT!!

This means then, that by faith…. We can walk around and claim to be righteous and holy as Christ is, all while still being selfish, unhealthy, grumpy, addicted to drugs, all the sins…blah blah. (Ephesians 4:24)

We can now claim to be fearfully and wonderfully made (both God’s original intention for creation…. His fancy workmanship on how intricate our bodies are made, AND now also in our brand new spirit man being made brand new and perfect).(Ephesians 2:10)

Hopefully this is all making sense! It’s a huge deal! Exciting stuff! Lol.

Now …..lastly, to tie everything together and talk about “denying the flesh” or “taking up our cross daily”…..

Part 3: WHY DO WE STILL NEED TO DIE TO SELF?

Now that we are a “new creation” in our spirits ….. We are told to live FROM those spirits, not our flesh. Because when we were born again we are supposed to have been crucified WITH Christ , and to have died to our flesh and sin nature.

-Galatians 2:20 – “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

-Galatians 5:25 “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

There is so much that could be said, I’m having a hard time tying it all into a tidy bow. But do you see the correlation between those two verses? It’s saying…

1. If we’re born again, then 2. We have been crucified with Christ. 3. The spirit of Christ now lives in me and I live OUT OF that spirit. So then….. 4. If I live IN the spirit of God, we need to “walk” in that spirit as well….

“Walk” means your conduct, how you move around and have your being. How you conduct yourself day-to-day. Where you go, what you do etc. 

-Galatians 5:16-25 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh……”

-Romans 8:6 “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

Before Jesus came, the ppl in the old testament didn’t have the spirit of God in them. God was on the outside of them. And therefore they were in bondage (enslaved and in a cage) to the sin nature that had entered the world. And also to all of the sickness and death it brought with it. 

Today, we are still in bondage……

IF WE CHOOSE TO BE. OR, if we’re not aware of what really happened when Jesus died on the cross. We’re all sitting in our “cages” , but the doors have been unlocked and opened. And it’s our choice, and responsibility, to step out by faith in what Christ did for us, and to be free.

BUT How???!

…..By “denying self” and “taking up your cross”. THIS IS HOW YOU GAIN POWER AND AUTHORITY OVER THE OLD SIN NATURE….. So that the spirit inside of you can be the ruler in your life, not the sin nature, (aka….our selfish lusts and desires).

-Luke 9:23-24 – “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” (this is a deep, large topic that I’m barely touching on. But it’s important and related.”

-Romans 6:16 – “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (whoever you listen to will be allowed to be your boss and rule in your life).

-Galatians 5:24 – “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.”

-the Bible also says we cannot serve two different masters

I’m assuming if you are here, and you have read this far, that you are not the person who WANTS sin and death to rule and ruin your life.

How can we be surrendered to the Lord and living out of our spirits if we are listening to and obeying all the urges of our flesh, sin, and the devil?? The flesh is literally fighting against the things of the spirit at all times. If we continued to live as we used to before receiving the Lord, then we will remain in the same bondage and not be able to fully step into the freedom that we have in Christ in this life. Even though, we would still HAVE HIS SPIRIT, and ultimately go to heaven when we die.

-Galatians 5:17 – “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

Therefore, we must deny those things…. BECAUSE WE ARE NO LONGER IN BONDAGE TO THEM. WE HAVE BEEN SET FREE FROM THEM! In a way that mankind never has been since before the fall of Adam and Eve.

-Romans 6:11 – “Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

-Romans chapters 6-8 ish really talk about this whole point and nail it down. I highly encourage you to read it over and over until you get a revelation of the truth contained there. 

– And also Galatians

A lot of people say….. “Grace has come! You are now FREE TO SIN and still be saved!! Let’s party!”

But the TRUE gospel says this: “Grace has come! Jesus loved you so much that he suffered for you, so that you are now able to be FREE FROM SIN….. You don’t have to obey it or be in bondage to it anymore. You have the strength and power now to deny your evil lusts and desires that ruin and destroy your lives. You have God’s strength and righteousness IN you. You have God’s power and authority over all the evil works of the devil. (Luke 10:19). You are FREE to step into eternal life and all of God’s promises right now, while you live on this earth!”

People think their flesh and desires and sin are things that they WANT to be able to do. All the while, not realizing that they are the very things destroying their lives…. making them miserable, depressed, hopeless, sick, lonely, defeated, and unsatisfied. And also keeping them from entering into everything that Jesus provided on the cross for them….. true freedom and abundant life, right now, on earth, before heaven. Not just when they get to heaven.

-Psalms 107:17 – “Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted.”

People say: “If God really loved me, why wouldn’t He just let me be me and do whatever I want….. whatever makes me “happy”?”

God says: “I CREATED YOU. I know what true joy and happiness is, and how you will find it. I know what hurts you and what damages you. How could I REALLY love you and LET YOU stay stuck and miserable in the chains of your flesh and sins?”

PART 4: A STEP FURTHER

While I have mentioned sin a lot here….. I’m not JUST talking about physical sins that are obvious, that we commit with our bodies…..

I’m talking about the inward sins too. The kind that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for. The Pharisees weren’t outwardly sinning…. So what was he rebuking them for???

The whole phrase “deny yourself” isn’t just to be taken for sex and murder, obvious sins, etc …..

But to deny the idea of US. OUR  own logic and understanding, OUR own preferences, OUR selfishness, OUR own CONTROL over OUR own lives and making it however WE want it to be.

We are called to surrender our entire lives to God. Yes, that includes things like outward behaviors sometimes. But outward behavior is all the church wants to focus on. While ignoring all the inward things that they still hold onto and put above God in their lives. The inward things that we don’t allow God to touch, or change, or correct, or have a say-so in. This is, in my opinion, the much bigger and deeper meaning of denying ourselves. It means taking your flesh off of the throne and putting Gods’ Spirit on the throne of your life instead. 

I’m hoping that the contradictions are disappearing and you are getting a much larger picture of this whole concept.

The Bible says that when we get born again, all things have become new, and the old has passed away (which we discussed above).  But it goes on to say that when that happens…. We also die WITH Christ on the cross. We are crucified with Him.

(I quoted the verses above.)

So….. How can we be living from our NEW IDENTITIES IN CHRIST …..from our spirits….. If we still live exactly how we used to, and we haven’t given God any new lee-way into our lives or hearts?

God sent Jesus to restore us (in our spirits) to our original states… And even better…. To make us righteous IN HIM.

We have always been wonderfully made in the sense that we were created in His image and our bodies are intricate and complex works of art….

BUT NOW…. We are also wonderfully and perfectly made in our spirits (when we’re born again), because we have THE spirit of Christ living inside of us. 

-Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

Unfortunately, most people do not understand the things that I just described and explained. I never understood them until recently myself. But yet people know certain verses out of the bible, so you will hear them quoting them all the time. And they seem to contradict themselves because they don’t actually have the full understanding of God’s plan and the Bible, from beginning to end, and what actually happened on the cross.

For some people, when they say the stuff that confuses people and caused my friend to ask the questions that started this whole post….. They ARE Contradicting themselves….. Because they don’t understand and they’re trying to reconcile it themselves. And it’s easy to just fall back on the doctrine of “clean up the outside of the cup so u look holy.” But the truths originate from the Bible and don’t contradict themselves.

 And listen, I’m not trying to put down those people….. I WAS THOSE PEOPLE years ago. So I get where they’re coming from. And I truly wanted the REAL answers. Which is why I’m here, sharing them with you. 

So…… Saved By Grace, Or Die To Your Flesh? Which one?

I hope you can see now that it’s both. And that it doesn’t contradict itself. 

It’s not a HAVE TO. It’s a GET TO. Thanks to Jesus and his finished work! 

Read this as many times as u need to. Read the verses and chapters I referenced. And make notes or write questions if you have any.

Don’t hesitate to drop a comment, or email me privately for more in depth discussion.

Talk to you soon! 

Until next time, take each day one day at a time.

Her Life In Season