Why is the Christian life so hard?

Here’s an illustration. I'd been doing my best to resolve the mosquito issues we'd been experiencing at my home for some months. This breed of mosquitoes seemed to laugh off Mortein (a brand of insecticide) when I used it on them. I'd use Baygon, a stronger brand, and see their dead bodies strewn all over the floor afterwards but our relief was always shortlived; they'd be humming all over the place again within hours! They tormented me day and night.

But one day, I remembered Integrated Science or was it Home Economics from secondary school: mosquitoes need stagnant water to breed! I rushed outside: close to our living room windows were two buckets, both of them half-filled with rain/tap water, and with all sorts floating thereon. Mosquitoes everywhere!

My point is no matter how often I sprayed the house with insecticide, our respite from mosquitoes would always be temporary unless their breeding places got destroyed. Plus insecticides have their own harmful effects on humans and the mosquitoes would eventually become resistant to them too. Getting rid of them would only become more difficult. How does this relate to living the Christian life? Romans 5:19 says-

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

From the above verse, we see that committing acts of sin is not what makes people sinners. People are made sinners by Adam's sin. Everyone descended from Adam is born with this sin/old nature. Sinful deeds are the result of having this old nature. The mosquitoes that bothered me and their effect on man represent acts of sin as well as sickness, lack, stress and everything that came to be as a result of Adam's fall. The stagnant water in the buckets represents man having the old nature inherited from Adam. Having this root of sin is what causes the mosquitoes (acts of sin, sickness, lack, etc) to proliferate. We see this in Romans 7:5-

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

Unfortunately in the church today, the focus is on preaching the killing of mosquitoes (acts of sin) by using insecticides (law-keeping) as the path to attaining righteousness, when what is needful is ridding the flock of the old/sin nature that was inherited from Adam (getting rid of the stagnant water.) Christ died to rid us of this old/sin nature. See Colossians 2:11–

“When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.”

In Him, we are a new creation. God made Him to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, as it is written in 2 Cor. 5:21-

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

When you receive God's abundance of grace and believe that you are saved and made righteous by the obedience of Christ (Romans 5:19) and not your own obedience or your self-discipline and law-keeping prowess, you no longer have the old/sin nature. You are dead to the law. Old things have passed away. No more curse. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus, made righteous not by your own obedience to the law but by Christ’s obedience (Romans 5:19.) And this is the result according to Romans 7:4-

"So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the One who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God."

Instead of stagnant water (sin/old nature inherited from Adam) in vessels that can only produce acts of sin and such that lead to death, in Christ, we are a new creation. We have His righteousness nature, so we get to live right and produce righteous works that please our heavenly Father. Just as the inherited sinful nature produces acts of sin, as new creation with Christ as our righteousness, we get to bear fruit to righteousness. We get to produce “a harvest of good deeds for God” (Romans 7:4,) yet not us but Christ in us.

In essence, no matter how many canisters of insecticide one expends in a bid to kill the mosquitoes (trying hard by one's power to be sin-free through obedience to the letter that kills,) without getting rid of the stagnant water (rejecting the old/sinful nature that was inherited from Adam and receiving our Lord Jesus' blood-bought righteousness which is given as a gift to all who believe Him,) he can never be free from mosquitoes (acts of sin.) He has the old (sinner) nature. Sin will multiply and the end is death.

Remember Romans 6:14- “For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace.” Sin has dominion over those who are trying to obey the law in order to be godly (be like God.)

This is why many in the church today are trapped in an endless cycle of committing acts of sin and attending deliverance/curse-breaking sessions all in a bid to be free from one bondage or the other that Christ hung on the cross and died to free us from. Like my Baygon insecticide and mosquitoes experience, any results will be short-lived. The old nature is still intact so no matter how much such do to be free from their "mosquitoes" of acts of sin, sickness, lack, depression, etc, more will come.

The one with the old nature is not yet a new creation in Christ. He rejects God's abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have. He strives to attain righteousness/godliness (be like God) by human effort, just like Eve did. See the forbidden fruit as a picture of the Law that many churchgoers are actively trying to keep in order to be godly in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG version.) Just like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Law, which gives the same knowledge, kills. Like the tree, the letter kills, but the one with the sinful nature feeds on the law (human effort at obedience) in a bid to be righteous before God. He does not believe Romans 5:19–

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

He does not believe Romans 5:9- “And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

The one with the old nature strives to be righteous in God's sight and escape His wrath/punishment by keeping the law and doing things like restitution- like Judas. But Romans 3:20 says :

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."

Also, Galatians 5:4 says "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

Grace is undeserved, unmerited favour. If one iota of our strength is in it, it is no longer Grace (Romans 11:6,) and only by grace through faith are we saved, so we have nothing to boast of in ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9,) not our own self-discipline, giving, morality, evangelism, tithe payment, dedication or right-living prowess. Wonderful as these things are, they cannot save anybody. Doing them in order to gain God's favour and acceptance is rejecting the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have; it is akin to killing mosquitoes (acts of sin) inside your house and treating malaria (death that comes from sin) but ignoring their breeding ground. Only in the Beloved are we accepted. Ephesians 1:6.

With the Lord as our righteousness, the old nature is no more; "all these things shall be added unto you." We get to be transformed to the image of the glory of the Lord, from glory to glory, through no effort of ours but by His Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18.) We get to live in triumph over sin, stress, sickness and every ill. We get to love proclaiming Jesus. We get to live a life of moral excellence that exceeds that which the law demands, yet not us but Christ in us.

Romans 5:17 says: "For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

This death that is as a result of Adam’s offence is not necessarily immediate. It is a process. Fear, stress, worry, silly mistakes, working so hard only to lose it all, sickness, lack, depression, fast-tracked ageing are all "death begun." God said to Adam concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: 

"for in the day of thine eating of it -- dying thou dost die." 

Psalms 90:4 says of God:

"A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by,"; 

Moses wrote this concerning God's view of the life of man (v.3.) Adam did not give up the ghost immediately after his death sentence came into effect; he lived for almost 1,000 years aka one day gone by in the sight of God. Death is a process. Sickness is "death begun." Lack is "death begun" Working so hard and having little or nothing to show for it is "death begun."

Not only is the Christian life hard to live by human effort, it is impossible to live. Only Christ can. This is why we sing “‘tis no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me.”

Only with God's abundance of grace and having Christ as our righteousness do we get to live in triumph over sin and death.

Sinners are made righteous by "one Man's obedience": Christ's; when we believed that God "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:21. Here, we are a new creation in Christ. When you believe that your right-standing with God and His blessings upon you have got nothing to do with what you did or did not do but have ALL to do with what Christ has done, the old (sinner) nature is no more. The stagnant water is gone. In its place we have the living water that Christ promised all who thirst and the result: out of our bellies flow rivers of living water. Mosquitoes cannot breed or survive in flowing/living water.

There might still be some mosquitoes (acts of sin, sickness, etc) inside your house after the stagnant water is removed but they will all die off and there will be none to replace them! Remember,

 “The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.” Proverbs 4:18. 

Things will only get better and acts of sin/earthly ills will become a decreasing factor in your life because you have the only brand of righteousness that counts before God: Christ’s.

In place of the root of sin that produces acts of sin (Romans 7:5) we have Christ's righteousness so we bear fruit to righteousness. We get to produce "a harvest of good deeds for God." (Romans 7:4.) No more mosquitoes that cause disease (acts of sin that lead to death) but God’s perfect righteousness, right living and every blessing of God in Christ! This is the Good News.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.