Rededication.

During my time as a part of the institutional church system, one of the words that kept coming to the forefront to help me as a weak believer was REDEDICATION. When i failed I was taught to rededicate my life to Christ and try harder to be more sincere in my efforts to live for Him. Rededication became a way to regain some resemblance of holiness for awhile...at least until I made another mistake and needed to rededicate myself again.

Since coming to a fuller understanding of the gospel of grace, I have learned that rededication will never bring me to a sustaining meaningful relationship with Christ, for it meant to o try harder and trying harder is not the answer to an intimate sustaining walk with God even though we may rededicate ourselves to Christ with all sincerity. It is the wrong approach to maintain a commitment to Him even though it sounds religiously spiritual.

The problem with our rededication is that it is a self initiated act and is just another name for self-sufficiency of the flesh in order to satisfy the expectations of the group we choose to belong to. This is the way religious flesh tries to live the Christian life but, it is in fact preventing us from living the Christian life and the harder we try the more we fail because the Christian life doesn’t come by TRYING…it comes by TRUSTING!

Self-determination, self-discipline, self-sufficiency, self-trying, self-anything…is a hindrance to a victorious spiritual life. Siding with Jesus in the grace walk is the only assurance of living in victory.

What did Jesus say about following Him; If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me (Matthew 16:24).

What did He say we are to do? Rededicate ourselves to Him? No, He said that we are to deny self.

Rededicating ourselves so as to try harder isn’t the answer. It doesn’t matter how sincere we might be. It simply won’t work. The answer is to trust Him. That’s the only cure for an unstable, up-and-down spiritual existence.

Jesus illustrated our relationship with Him by comparing us to a branch; I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

Think about the relationship between the vine and the branch. Can a branch produce fruit? No. If you need proof, just cut a branch off a vine or fruit tree, and watch awhile to see how much fruit is appears. However, if a branch is attached to the source with a flow of life, it can bear fruit. On its own the branch is not a fruit producer, it is a great “fruit hanger.”

That is a perfect representation of our ability to live the Christian life. It is impossible for us to produce it; no matter how many times we rededicate ourselves and try harder, no matter how “dedicated” we are. We the branch can bare the characteristics of Christ’s life by being dependent on Him and allowing Him to work His work through our humanity by faith.

Is there a place for doing in Christian living? Absolutely! But it is vitally important to have that will and effort to do exercised in an attitude totally dependent on God’s life and power within us. The relationship between them is clearly shown in this passage: “So then, my beloved…work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

That sure sounds like dedicated effort, doesn’t it? Yes, but the next verse, completing the sentence, tells the inner secret, the hidden source of power for the outward effort: “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

In other words, the life God has designed for me can be understood as Him expressing His life through me from the inside until it governs my life on the outside. I depend on Him as my life, my wisdom, and my power as I walk through life.