What if I told you that there are two kinds of Christians sitting in every church pew on Sunday mornings and only one of them is actually being changed? Both pray, both read their Bibles, both feel plenty guilty after they sin, but only one has discovered the doorway for real transformation.
Stay with me for the next couple of minutes and by the end of this episode, you’re going to know exactly which path leads to freedom and which one leads to burnout, disappointment, frustration, and failure. And if you haven’t hit the subscribe button yet, please do it now so you don’t miss another devotional that could change your walk with God.
You know what else will change uh your walk every day is Reformed Roasters Coffee. Uh this is our sponsor. It’s coffee that chooses you. And we’re going to get into this more later in the episode, but visit reformedroers.com. Put in the code kirk for 10% off. We all know the feeling. You trip and fall into sin. You fail. You disappoint yourself.
You know you’re disappointing God. The guilt sets in. And so you make a plan. Tomorrow I’m not going to do that again. Tomorrow I’ll do better. Tomorrow I’ll be more disciplined. Tomorrow I’ll try harder. And it and it and it and it feels right. It looks so spiritual. It sounds heroic. Like Vince Lombardi just gave you the pep talk in the locker room.
But at its core, it’s a declaration of selfrescue. This is the person who says, “I messed up, but I got this. I know what I did, and I can fix it. I will conquer this bad habit with enough effort.” They mean well. They’re sincere. But sincerity doesn’t save anyone. Because think about it. If you and I could save ourselves, Jesus would never have needed to come.
When sin exposes us and the desires of our hearts, there are two prayers people pray. The first prayer rises naturally. It it’s it’s almost instinctive. I will do better. That was bad. I’ll do I’ll do good next time. It’s the prayer of self-confidence. I got this. I can fix this. I will climb out of the pit. I’m going to prove that I am stronger than my weakness. And it sounds really noble.
It targets the hands, not the heart. It diagnoses the problem as a lack of effort, not total bondage. It treats sin like poor performance, not spiritual slavery. It’s human pride wearing religious clothing. I’ve worn those outfits often myself. But then there’s a different prayer. It’s a prayer that bends the knee, that lifts the eyes heavenward, beats the chest, and says, “God, I need you. God, help me.
I can’t change myself.” You see, that prayer is not a self-help strategy. It is a surrender. It’s a confession paired with total dependence. It’s so different. Are you Are you hearing the contrast? You see, this prayer I’m talking about abandons self-s salvation and it runs to rescuing grace. The first prayer says, “Give me one more chance to prove that I can do this, that I’m not a failure.
” But the second says, “I will never be good enough. My failure exposes my rebellious heart. And so my only hope is to cling to you. One prayer trusts the mirror. The other prayer trusts the Messiah. One attempts behavior modification. I won’t do the bad thing. I’ll do the good thing. The other invites heart transformation and heart replacement.
