"You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you..." (Acts 1:8)—not power as a gift from the Holy Spirit; the power is the Holy Spirit, not something that He gives us. The life that was in Jesus becomes ours because of His Cross, once we make the decision to be identified with Him. If it is difficult to get right with God, it is because we refuse to make this moral decision about sin. But once we do decide, the full life of God comes in immediately. Jesus came to give us an endless supply of life—"...that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19). Eternal life has nothing to do with time. It is the life which Jesus lived when He was down here, and the only Source of life is the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's it. That's the whole ball of wax. That's the wall I hit time and again, the struggle I try to dress up in theological/philosophical garb so that it looks like I'm being a deep thinker instead of a stubborn, self-centered. disobedient pig. If I am indeed going to wrestle with the desire to call bullshit on others, I'd better be willing to do it on myself. And that's it.
But that's also the hope and the promise. Those outweigh my own petty considerations. Thanks be to God.
uncomfortable