What a wonderful truth to know that all our sins are forgiven; the obvious ones, the hidden ones, the embarrassing ones, the awful ones. All of them. God has forgiven them all.
Why then do we struggle to move on from our shortcomings and weaknesses and continue to live under a sense of guilt, shame and unworthiness?
One reason can be that we need to forgive ourselves - we need to release ourselves from our own criticism and judgement and give the same gift of grace to ourselves that Jesus has given to us. The problem can be that we want to punish ourselves because of our sins in a mistaken belief that it will make us feel better in the long run. We have done wrong and we deserve to be punished so we withhold our own forgiveness.
The truth is that we do deserve punishment, we deserve death for our sin but Jesus has taken the full punishment for all our sins on the cross. To continue punishing ourselves when Jesus has already paid the most costly price so we do not have to be punished is nonsense. Let us agree with God that our sins are forgiven, let us forgive ourselves and leave behind the feelings of guilt and shame that the devil wishes to heap on us. Let us start agreeing with God and not with the devil.
But how? It takes a conscious mental agreement on our part to stop and one of the best ways to do this is by declaring the truth. Everyday as we declare 'I am forgiven of all my sins', our mind comes into agreement with our mouth and the truth sets us free.
God wants us to walk free. Free from sin, shame and guilt and the price has been paid in full. Let us leave behind the mistaken belief that we need to suffer for our sins, that suffering is redemptive. It is not. Jesus death on the cross is redemptive and our belief and acceptance of this by faith is all we need to walk in freedom as God intended us.
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Friday, 30 December 2011
Saved by grace
This is a wonderful truth with which we are so familiar. No doubt we can quote Ephesians 2: 8 - 9, 'for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works so that no one can boast.' We rejoice in the wonderful free gift of salvation and eternal life that God gave us through Jesus' death and resurrection. We know we can do nothing to earn it - it comes to us by grace. It just has to be received by faith. All of our sins, guilt and shame was taken away at the cross. Hallelujah!
Yet for many of us, though we agree with all I have written, there is a thread running through our lives of trying to add to our salvation through good works. There seems to be this underlying thread that secretly believes that if we have done something 'good' God will be extra pleased with us and that if we have done something bad God will temporarily withdraw his divine favour from our lives. Worse still we make one another feel bad when they make mistakes.
The truth is that God's love and favour towards us never changes - and that is a truth that is very hard to grasp. Because we withdraw our love and approval even temporarily when others upset us or hurt us, we have taken on board the lie that God does the same. It is a wonderful truth that God is never disappointed by us. He is never looking at us with a pained expression wishing we had done better.
God is constantly working with us to draw us into being more like his wonderful son Jesus. It is a life long process and he doesn't expect us to get it right first time. He knows it will take time and every 'failure' on our part is a step nearer and a learning opportunity for us. But God is totally committed to us on this journey and never turns his back on us till we sort our lives out.
We know our good works can never earn salvation but nor can they impress God and make him extra pleased with us. Let us rejoice in the truth that Jesus' work on the cross was complete and by grace - something that has cost us absolutely nothing - we have all of God's love and favour both now and for eternity.
The Protestant work ethic is strong but its hold needs to be broken so the truth of 'saved by grace' can wrap us in the Father's arms of love and acceptance.
Yet for many of us, though we agree with all I have written, there is a thread running through our lives of trying to add to our salvation through good works. There seems to be this underlying thread that secretly believes that if we have done something 'good' God will be extra pleased with us and that if we have done something bad God will temporarily withdraw his divine favour from our lives. Worse still we make one another feel bad when they make mistakes.
The truth is that God's love and favour towards us never changes - and that is a truth that is very hard to grasp. Because we withdraw our love and approval even temporarily when others upset us or hurt us, we have taken on board the lie that God does the same. It is a wonderful truth that God is never disappointed by us. He is never looking at us with a pained expression wishing we had done better.
God is constantly working with us to draw us into being more like his wonderful son Jesus. It is a life long process and he doesn't expect us to get it right first time. He knows it will take time and every 'failure' on our part is a step nearer and a learning opportunity for us. But God is totally committed to us on this journey and never turns his back on us till we sort our lives out.
We know our good works can never earn salvation but nor can they impress God and make him extra pleased with us. Let us rejoice in the truth that Jesus' work on the cross was complete and by grace - something that has cost us absolutely nothing - we have all of God's love and favour both now and for eternity.
The Protestant work ethic is strong but its hold needs to be broken so the truth of 'saved by grace' can wrap us in the Father's arms of love and acceptance.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
I am a child of God
These words too often conjure up trite or twee images of Jesus with a crowd of multi-ethnic children clustered around his long robes or of a little lamb on Jesus' shoulders.
The truth though of these words is profound once grasped and completely life changing.
Too many of us grew up in the faith as spiritual orphans with no spiritual fathers and mothers to love, guide and watch over us. Spiritual mums and dads help us find our identity in our spiritual family. We have many spiritual brothers and sisters and together we have made it up as we went along, helping each other but lacking anyone of spiritual maturity to help us discover our identity as children of God. This can cause us to have great difficulty connecting with our heavenly Father. So many Christians are spiritual orphans struggling to know how much the Father loves and approves of them. Too many are still trying to clean themselves up or get their act together so that Father will love them. The truth is he already loves us unconditionally and approves of us completely. The prodigal son was accepted back into the family by his adoring father, stinking of the pig pen and with nothing other to offer than a heartfelt apology and yet the father, barely listened to the apology but drew him into his arms and put on a feast.
This story alone illustrates God's heart towards us. But should we need further convincing, Jesus' continual acceptance of the down and outs of society and gracious patience with the shortcomings of the disciples is evidence enough that how God feels about us is nothing like anyone else's love or affection.
Once we get hold of the corner of this truth and start pulling on it, our lives are changed forever. Not only is God our loving, adoring, accepting Father but that means we are his children. The closest analogy I can come up with is that this means we are part of the Royal Family with access to the king at all times, all the privileges of this position and all the resources of the Kingdom available to us at all times.
There is no need to feel worthless, useless, insecure, undervalued, condemned and inadequate. Indeed to do so is to fly in the face of all that Jesus has done on the cross to give us this privileged position. We are indeed children of God and as this revelation grows in our hearts so will our love for the lost, the poor, the needy and the undervalued of society. Sharing God's love with others is the greatest privilege.
Knowing we are a child of God changes everything both for us and for all those we come into contact with.
The truth though of these words is profound once grasped and completely life changing.
Too many of us grew up in the faith as spiritual orphans with no spiritual fathers and mothers to love, guide and watch over us. Spiritual mums and dads help us find our identity in our spiritual family. We have many spiritual brothers and sisters and together we have made it up as we went along, helping each other but lacking anyone of spiritual maturity to help us discover our identity as children of God. This can cause us to have great difficulty connecting with our heavenly Father. So many Christians are spiritual orphans struggling to know how much the Father loves and approves of them. Too many are still trying to clean themselves up or get their act together so that Father will love them. The truth is he already loves us unconditionally and approves of us completely. The prodigal son was accepted back into the family by his adoring father, stinking of the pig pen and with nothing other to offer than a heartfelt apology and yet the father, barely listened to the apology but drew him into his arms and put on a feast.
This story alone illustrates God's heart towards us. But should we need further convincing, Jesus' continual acceptance of the down and outs of society and gracious patience with the shortcomings of the disciples is evidence enough that how God feels about us is nothing like anyone else's love or affection.
Once we get hold of the corner of this truth and start pulling on it, our lives are changed forever. Not only is God our loving, adoring, accepting Father but that means we are his children. The closest analogy I can come up with is that this means we are part of the Royal Family with access to the king at all times, all the privileges of this position and all the resources of the Kingdom available to us at all times.
There is no need to feel worthless, useless, insecure, undervalued, condemned and inadequate. Indeed to do so is to fly in the face of all that Jesus has done on the cross to give us this privileged position. We are indeed children of God and as this revelation grows in our hearts so will our love for the lost, the poor, the needy and the undervalued of society. Sharing God's love with others is the greatest privilege.
Knowing we are a child of God changes everything both for us and for all those we come into contact with.
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
I dreamed a dream
At the end of 2011 it seems that many people are telling us to dream our dreams, re-ignite the flame, get fresh vision. So what do we do if, like Joseph in prison, we feel our dreams are just that - dreams and we are farther away from fulfilling them than ever. Or worse still we don't have any dreams or visions any more and wonder whether our lives will make any differnce to anyone other than our nearest or dearest.
2012 will be a big year in Britain with the London Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. There will be masses of opportunities for the church to get out there and make a difference. The time is ripe. David Cameron and the Queen have laid the foundation over this Chrismas season. Now it's our turn.
Our presence wherever we are can make a huge difference at work, home, in the shops, schools, colleges, leisure clubs and sports fields. We have the light of the world within us and he can shine out through us wherever we are through our words, actions and (the undervalued) attitiudes.
The world is desperate for someone to bring them good news and I believe the doors are wide open for us, the church, to get out there and share God's love, acceptance, approval, mercy and grace. God needs us to show others how much He loves them and has the most marvellous gift of salvation and restoration ready for them right now.
So if you don't have a dream, go and make a difference to one other person today. Show them, with or without words, that God loves them. And if you do have a dream, polish it up and pursue it.
2012 will be a big year in Britain with the London Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. There will be masses of opportunities for the church to get out there and make a difference. The time is ripe. David Cameron and the Queen have laid the foundation over this Chrismas season. Now it's our turn.
Our presence wherever we are can make a huge difference at work, home, in the shops, schools, colleges, leisure clubs and sports fields. We have the light of the world within us and he can shine out through us wherever we are through our words, actions and (the undervalued) attitiudes.
The world is desperate for someone to bring them good news and I believe the doors are wide open for us, the church, to get out there and share God's love, acceptance, approval, mercy and grace. God needs us to show others how much He loves them and has the most marvellous gift of salvation and restoration ready for them right now.
So if you don't have a dream, go and make a difference to one other person today. Show them, with or without words, that God loves them. And if you do have a dream, polish it up and pursue it.
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