"Perfect Comfort"

 "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." (John 12:46 KJV)

  "Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, "Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light."" (Ephesians 5:10-14 NLT)

 Have you ever heard, "Practice makes perfect"? Well, it is really a thing, and it takes practice to make our walk perfect! Yes, we are transformed into a new creature from the moment that we accepted Christ; but this transformation must put on new clothes and walk uprightly! We train ourselves to sin, because sin is not part of this new character, the Holy Spirit living inside of us will help us to avoid sinful desires. But He will not force us to do or not do anything. 

 We must, without hesitation, follow the leading and guiding of the Spirit; that is what we practice, again and again, prayerfully looking for every opportunity to get everything right. Chances are, we won't get everything right, because we are still dealing with the desires and passions of our flesh. But, man-O-man, what a comfort there is for us, when we strive to get everything right! 

 This is how it works: The more we practice obeying God's word, the more we see the wrong things we do, because they become more obvious and easier to detect. But the more we do not practice obeying God's word, the less we see the wrong things we do, because we are not practicing doing right! 

 Comfort is no longer what we feel, because we are not at peace with ourselves, nor are we feeling the joy that comes from abiding in Christ's love and Spirit! Wow, this is really something I need to work on, because I feel as though I'm speaking to myself! 

 Perfect Comfort, without question, is found in knowing that we are abiding in Christ! If we have any doubts about our walk, when the pain of this life comes upon us, we feel the pain, not the comfort that is available in Christ, because we feel naked and afraid. This is pretty much how Adam and Eve felt as they hid in the garden. 

 This is not how we should feel! Jesus clearly says, "whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness," because this is something that we should not be dealing with, because we have the Light living in us... 

"Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates. you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father." For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later." (Romans 8:12-18 NLT)