Grace never excuses failures and sin, but explains them so Christians can live in the power and life of Christ. Anything less is twisted Christianity.

But here we go again: explaining our bad behavior, not by biblical truth, but by our feelings. In other words, “I’ve been very, very bad, because at my core, I’m still an incurable sinner. God help me.” Sound familiar? Do you agree with it? If you do, then you believe a lie. Because of that, you’ve been deceived into denying Jesus’ cure—even while you’re cured. You believe that you are your own life and health, and not Jesus instead. After all, you might say, “I’ve got to hold someone accountable, and I can’t blame Jesus. I’m the problem.” According to Christ, you’re not the problem; what you believe is the problem. And if you don’t look at that problem, you’ll walk with a limp, you’ll crawl all of your days, and believe you deserve it. “I’ll never be cured.”

Because you don’t know the cure of Christ, you cannot help but misdiagnose yourself and treat yourself as though you are sick. It’s twisted Christianity. While perfectly cured, you deny your health. You frustrate yourself by looking for health—freedom from sin—based upon what you do, rather than upon what Jesus did. You must believe in you, because you don’t believe in Him. That’s the error, and that’s twisted Christianity.

To the error-prone Christians in Rome, the apostle Paul wrote: “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (Romans 6:6-7).

So here’s how to determine if you’ve been finding your health and life in Christ, life by the Spirit, offering yourself to Him who lives in you, or if you’ve been attempting to cure yourself. Ask these questions: “Was I crucified with Christ or not? Was my body of sin done away with or not? Am I no longer a slave of sin or not? Did I die and gain freedom in Christ or not? Do I live by faith in Christ, or do I live by faith in me?” Which is it?

If you believe that salvation “only” rescued you from sins and guaranteed you for heaven, leaving you otherwise the same, your diagnosis of failure and sin will be wrong. You will not believe the gospel and enjoy the perfect health benefits of the cross and the resurrection for you. One was for your sins and old nature by yourself, and the other was for your new life and new nature with God. If you don’t believe that, then you’re suffering from twisted Christianity. You’ve been cured, but you don’t believe it. You don’t know how to walk in health, because you believe you’re still sick and broken and always will be. Jesus knows you’re well, but you’re convinced you’re not—and you believe it’s healthy to think that way.

I’ve never been more clear about failure and sin than after I knew the truth about those two events—the cross and resurrection—and my being included with Christ. I’m totally attracted to Him because of it. In Christ, I have died already, and sin has no power over me. In Christ, I have been healed and raised, and my nature is righteous—through and through. It’s miraculous! It’s tremendous! I’m actually a new creation with a whole new way to live—not by restraining my presumed sinner self that God didn’t crucify, but by believing God about me, who loves to prove my new self to me with Him. Oh, how I love Him for it. I hope you do too.

See you later.