Obtaining Victory Over Sin - NetBibleStudy.com

Victory Over Sin 68Jesus knew where He had come from, why He was here, and what He wassupposed to accomplish. He came down from heaven, not to do His ownwill, but the will of the Father. That determination controlled every decisionHe made.As a result, He was not distracted with trivia. He was never in a hurry, for Heknew His Father would not give a task without the time to do it. Christ wasnot driven by crises, feeling He must heal everyone in the land. He could say,“It is finished,” even when many people were still bound by demons andtwisted by disease. What mattered ultimately was not the number of peoplehealed or fed, but whether the Father’s will was being done. His clearlydefined goals simplified His decisions.We too need such a singleness of purpose. Specific goals will motivate us to dothe will of God. Once we know where we are going, it’s much easier to get there;indeed, the journey becomes a pleasure. I have noticed that in spite of adversity, thosewho have been successful in life, have established goals and, (irrespective of obstacles),have sought with all their effort to achieve them. From the moment they have fixed anobjective in their minds and decided to concentrate all their energies on a specific goal,they begin to surmount the most difficult odds.How Do We Set Goals?According to God’s Word, the invisible things in life are more valuable than thevisible (2 Corinthians 4:18). The eternal is more enduring than the temporal. But whatdo these facts have to do with our values – our goals?Our goals are set on the foundation of our larger belief about life and about ourself. Within the framework of our ultimate commitments we formulate our short-rangegoals.Let me suggest three levels of commitment that are appropriate for everyChristian: (1) Commitment to God in Christ Jesus, (2) Commitment to the body ofChrist, and (3) Commitment to the work God has given us to do. These three levels arethe outline in which we can specify what we want to accomplish with our life. It is ourresponsibility to creatively spell out how we plan to fulfill these commitments. Forexample, our commitment to God might mean that we spend a half an hour each daygetting to know the One to whom we have committed our self. (We may want to cutthe time we spend watching television.) And, of course, we will want to specify ourplans to study God’s Word, the Bible.We will want to set goals in other parts of our life, as well. We may want to losea few pounds. A body redeemed by God should not be victimized by gluttony. Oncewe decide how much weight we plan to lose and the diet we will follow --- stay withit! Choose to forego immediate desires. When we are tempted by foods that are not onour diet, we need to remind our self that this immediate pleasure can be postponed.