Let’s quit talking about what we should have put in the past

By Dean Collins

I don’t know when I first heard or used the phrase, “I feel like we are just beating a dead horse.” It’s an odd expression, but we have all heard it or used it, usually when we continue to squabble about something already settled. We continue to argue, hoping the outcome will be different if we just talk about it longer.

Dr. Google says the phrase is attributed to a politician. Imagine a politician not letting go of something! I’m referring to John Bright, the British politician and free trade advocate in the mid 1800s. He was known as a great orator who had been seeking parliamentary reform. He said his repeated speaking on behalf of that effort was like flogging a dead horse.

Letting go

There is something about us that just stops us from letting go of certain things, certain outcomes, and certain behaviors. The apostle Paul spoke openly about the struggle he had with this. As we read Romans 7 and 8 we recognize ourselves and our own struggles. When you explore all of Paul’s epistles you see he is remarkably consistent in explaining how we overcome our tendency to keep returning to our sin.

Once we come face to face with Jesus and understand his great love for us, we also realize we cannot become good enough to receive God’s love. We are incapable of living a life so good that we gain God’s favor or attention. But what we can do is kill or crucify the sin nature we have and by faith allow Christ to live his life in us.

And if we are willing to put to death our old self, then (as Paul describes in Romans 6) we are buried with Christ in baptism so that we might rise to live a new life. The focus of this process is not the water but rather Christ. The water is a method to help us understand and demonstrate that we are burying our sin in Christ and rising from the dead as a new person. And as Christ lives in us, we simply can’t continue to practice and participate in our old ways and behaviors. We choose to participate in an election process and the outcome is that we have a new leader, a new king of our life. And we must then live as Jesus does.

Paul reminds us in Romans 8 that we must no longer set our minds on the old self, the flesh, but rather on the Spirit so that we can walk in the peace and love of Christ.

Releasing myself

As I consider Romans 5—8 I am convicted about my tendency to bring up the old ways and try to convince myself or others that we can achieve truly good things apart from Christ. I fear that we American Christians, regardless of political affiliation, tend to default to rather bad behavior justifying that our stubborn defense of our party’s correctness will achieve a path to godliness and fix what is broken in our country or her citizens. But we cannot legislate love or grace. We cannot elect kindness or mercy. These attributes come from a life that has been crucified and lives again by the power of God.

I’m going to focus more on Jesus and figuring out how to release more of myself that he might live more visibly in me. Otherwise I might just fall victim to thinking that any elected official could do what Jesus has already done once and for all. I suspect a community of people seeking Jesus and expressing his love will accomplish far more than any political party will ever achieve.

Let’s quit beating the dead horse of our old ways and accept the new life Christ has offered.

Your time with God’s Word
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2:19-21‬ ‭NIV‬‬; Romans‬ ‭6:1-11, 22-23‬; 8:1-8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Photo by Vince Fleming on Unsplash