What is Holding You Back?

[Christsfreeservant]

“Bless the Lord, O my soul,​

And all that is within me, bless His holy name.​

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,​

And forget none of His benefits;​

3 Who pardons all your iniquities,​

Who heals all your diseases;​

4 Who redeems your life from the pit,​

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;​

5 Who satisfies your years with good things,​

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.​

6 The Lord performs righteous deeds​

And judgments for all who are oppressed.​

7 He made known His ways to Moses,​

His acts to the sons of Israel.​

8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,​

Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.​

9 He will not always strive with us,​

Nor will He keep His anger forever.​

10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,​

Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.​

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,​

So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.​

12 As far as the east is from the west,​

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.​

13 Just as a father has compassion on his children,​

So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.​

14 For He Himself knows our frame;​

He is mindful that we are but dust.” (Psalm 103:1-14 NASB1995)​

The Lord brought to mind this morning a secular song with religious overtones, written by Billy Joel, called, “The River of Dreams” (1993). What he described in the song lyrics was a person of religious heritage who knew the way of salvation, but who was wandering in the wilderness. He knew the right way, the way of truth, the way of God and of his righteousness and holiness, but something always held him back from crossing over to the other side, into “The Promised Land,” and into eternal life with God.

And that really is a description of where many professing Christians are today, I believe, though not all. They know the way of salvation and of forgiveness of sins and of eternal life with God. They know what God requires of them in the way of holiness and godliness and moral purity and walks of obedience to his commands, and in the forsaking of their addictive sinful patterns of behavior. And there are times when some of them may then go to God and in his word searching for the way out of their addiction.

But they never cross over that river into The Promised Land because they won’t let go of their sinful addictions. That is what always holds them back from obeying God and from being people of genuine faith in the Lord Jesus. But they are not lacking in truth and in knowledge of what is right and what is wrong or of the consequences of making wrong decisions and not the right ones. But I think sometimes they block those out of their minds and they convince themselves that God is okay with them continually wandering.

In this one line Billy said, “I try to cross to the opposite side so I can finally find out what I’ve been looking for.” And that is never going to work! For we cannot be saved from our sins and have eternal life with God in our own human effort, doing things our way, and not God’s way. Only as we let go and we let God take control, and we let him change us and make us new creations in Christ Jesus will we ever be free from our slavery to sin and walk in obedience to our Lord. For “My Do It!” will never do it!

The song ends in hopelessness, despair, and an acknowledgement that he was never a spiritual man, and that he never did cross over that river of doubt to the other side, but he gave up trying, and he just resigned himself to nothingness. And sadly that is where many people will end up, too, if they do not put their hope and trust in Jesus Christ, die with him to sin, and now follow him in walks of obedience to his commands – all powered by God and not by human flesh, as we cooperate fully with God’s work in our lives.

But it doesn’t have to end that way, the way of hopelessness and despair. There is a way out from slavery to sin and from wanderings and “My Do It” approaches to doing what is right, and not what is wrong. But it means surrendering the control over our lives over to God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – letting him lead us and direct us in the way that we should go, empowered by God and not by human flesh. We must die to our old lives of living in sin and now follow our Lord in obedience to his ways.

And the Lord will forgive us of our sins, and he will free us from our sinful addictions, and he will give us all that we need to live holy and godly lives, for his glory and honor, if we will cooperate with his work of grace in our lives. But we must walk in the fear of the Lord. We must honor God for who he is and for what he did for us in putting our sins to death with Jesus on that cross so that, by faith in him, we can now die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness. For to fear God is to obey him, and we must obey God!

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Seek the Lord

An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Musical Instrumentation by Mark Bradley
Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”

What is Holding You Back?
An Original Work / June 16, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love