This episode addresses the tendency among believers to draw on resurrection power only in crises or challenging circumstances. The operating presumption is that believers utilize their own power for routine everyday life but rely on God's power when our own isn't up to the task. Some who are successful in achieving a certain degree of sin-management settle into a mediocre Christian life in which DAILY reliance on Christ becomes optional. One reason is that the bar for Christian life is lowered: being a Christian is primarily about sin-management and strangely "following Christ" is only necessary to manage sin. But this recasting of the purpose of Christian life is fundamentally self-centered and contradicts the Scriptures. "If anyone would be my disciple he must first deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24) Following Christ and service to Him is the end-goal and it is embodied in love of God and neighbor. In essence "sin-management" is the necessary precondition of following Christ which is principally demonstrated by love of God and neighbor. The recasting of Christian life into sin-management, divorced from following Christ, is arguably the principal reason why many dichotomize routine everyday life from crises moments, only the latter of which requires depending on resurrection power. FOLLOWING Christ and loving God and neighbor requires divine power ALL the time.
