GOD CAME TO END YOU NOT MEND YOU!

God did not come to make our lives better, (but He always does, because He is so good. But ‘better’ may not come in the package or via the means we expect.) He came to give us a totally new life, in Him.

Jesus is very clear that to gain our life, we must lose it. And that as we give we receive. And as we go low, we are exalted. It is all topsy turvy in the kingdom of God, in the best way. 

The quote ‘God came to end you and not to mend you’ may sound harsh, but it is actually deeply freeing. Ultimate healing and freedom isn’t in patching up ‘the old man’ (our old self pre-salvation’) but in fully dying to our old self and being resurrected to NEW life in Christ. 

When I say ‘old you’ I don’t mean all the God-given bits of who you were when you were a wild and free twenty year old. Or your hobbies, or passions. I mean your carnal self - the un-renewed, fleshy, ego self, that is really not worth holding onto! 

“The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.” Romans 8:7-9

The bible says we are dead in our sins until we receive Christ. So when we die to self, or ‘put off the old man’ it is the self that is at enmity with God. The un-renewed mind and the unrepentant heart.

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.” Ephesians 2:1-3

Full immersion baptism symbolises going down into a watery grave - old you dying - and rising to new life, fully cleansed, made new and one with Christ. 

Die quickly and quietly!!! Don’t try and hold on to your rights, your life, who you once where, your agenda. Surrender it all to Jesus and let Him take the reins. If you have received Jesus as you Lord and Saviour, your life is no longer your own! You have been bought at a great price and your life is in the safest hands possible - those of your maker. 

This can seem scary, but when grasped it is incredibly freeing. It can feel scary if you don’t think God is a good father and thus it’s better if you carry on running things. But if you truly know and trust God’s nature, you would give everything faster than I can say ‘Jesus’!

In the West we can often fall into the trap of having God as an addition to our life. An extra on the side, that doesn’t have to disrupt too much of our life, we will give him Sundays and maybe Wednesday evenings, but we decide the rest. 

In countries where believers risk being killed upon professing Jesus as their saviour, they know what it is to let go of their old life and give everything to the Lord. No wonder they are experiencing miracles, revivals, salvations and visions… 

When you give Jesus everything, you get way more in return. But you have to trust Him!!!