Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. -Hebrews 13:8
At the core of every sin is the belief (whether recognized consciously or not) that we are better suited to direct the steps of our lives than God is. We build and base our lives on the shaky foundations of material possessions, emotions, circumstances, ideology, and even relationships. There is a great temptation to establish ourselves in relation to anything that is not God, thereby making them gods. We have been created with needs that can only be fully satisfied by the Creator, yet we fill these longings with things that cannot sustain fulfillment. In our prideful attempts to assert ourselves as masters of our own lives, we find ourselves empty and mastered by the things we thought would bring us satisfaction. We want a solid foundation but we don't want to give up our right to ourselves. There is something within us that sees submission to God as repugnant, yet we are willing to serve countless other things because we get to choose what they are, even though they can never gratify us.
Yet Christ, through His death and resurrection, has provided freedom from this sinful nature and desperate striving to establish ourselves apart from Him. This is not to say that we cease sinning and do not face daily battles once we receive Him, but those who are being made perfect in Christ are no longer characterized by this tension.
Some of the strongest anxiety felt by human beings is caused by change and uncertainty. When we build our lives on anything other than God, we will undoubtedly be at the mercy of those things as they shift and change and disappoint. However, one of the great blessings afforded to us by the Cross of Christ is the unshakable, unmovable foundation of Jesus, upon Whom we can safely and securely base our lives. In Him, our deepest needs are met fully and we are at His mercy which is new every morning. Jesus Christ will never change and His love and security are more faithful than the sun rising. This great truth is repulsive to our sinful nature but profound joy to that which is being made new in Him.
