"Counterproductive"

"How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan: and had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink." (Psalms 78:43-44) Just in case you missed the point of all of that, it was simply a message about pushing forward, regardless of how things might appear. The message of the cross is amazing to think about, because there are so many different applications found throughout the Scriptures as to how the cross is a sign of both surrender and victory, all in one. Christ could not have victory unless He surrendered His life; neither can we have victory over the flesh unless we surrender our lives over to Lord. Our relationship with God is only as strong as we make our desire to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ; a halfhearted desire to be conformed to the image of Christ, produces a halfhearted relationship with the Father. That's not to say that things can not improve in the relationship, because they can and they do; but there needs to be the desire within us to make it happen. Where might that desire come from? Well, one thing is for sure, it's not found in the flesh! The answer is the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God within us that produces the desire within us to be conformed to the image of the Son; we will never be conformed into His image without yielding to the Holy Spirit within us. He isn't called the Helper for nothing. He is within us to help us! But, in order for Him to help us, we need to want to be helped! Obviously it is easy to see how that works; I mean, if you're falling off a cliff, and there is someone there to help you, you're going to ask for his help; right? If only it were that simple! Most of the time we don't even see the cliff, let alone know that we are falling off of it; because if we are not walking in the Spirit, it's hard to tell what's up and what's down, or which direction we are heading into. But, the beauty of the cross, thank's be to the Lord Jesus Christ, is that of surrender! Just surrender! As simple as that might sound, it is just that! We don't even try to correct ourselves, or look for solutions to our problem, or even seek out the cure for our inability to comply; we simply surrender our life over to the Lord and let Him fix everything. If we continue to look for solutions or cures through worldly means and practices, we are going to continue to fail, every time. Only God's way will work; only God's way keeps pointing upwards...
"Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct. Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them. Don't be misled -you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit." (Galatians 6:1-8) NLT