We were so blessed last night listening to a friend’s account of our righteousness in Him that it motivated me to think about the essence of our faith. And the more I thought about it, the more the picture became crystal clear – its all just one big love story!
I’m so glad life is simple. We are the fulfilment of God’s love dream mirrored in His Son – a dream realised by the cross. That’s the gospel! That’s our calling! That’s His dream! That’s our origin, identity and purpose.
God’s dream to fellowship, to share, to enjoy, to give! We fulfil that dream – we are His!
Everything was made for us, but we were made for God!
We are manifestations of His glory, images of His likeness, carriers of His life, son’s and lovers of God! His greatest and only enjoyment is us!!! David would say, selah (meditate on these things!).
Our place is His rest, His place is us! Song of Songs says something like “He invited us to His banqueting feast, and when we came, we were His feast!”
Oh, glory!!!!
Now some may say, “great, but what about our experience of sin and failure and bondage… what about that?”
Sin… disrupted this calling. Sin entered when satan deceived man to acquire his twisted sense of identity and become his own god, not live in dependence of the Source of Life, live for himself and be “really” free… Its a deceived and corrupted perception of who we are and where our life is found. Its a senseless and twisted motivation to obtain things (like importance) you already have. satan invented a lack in his mind that was never there and thus never can be answered. Those who live in this darkness are susceptible to chasing after many needs unnecessarily and being religious. Religion is a view that I must work (do the “right” things) because I’m obliged to or to become better, not because I appreciate and find value (in other words a life from the heart). True freedom exists only in a being that loves (or is love), not takes.
The life and opinion of God is man’s only true sense of identity and purpose. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of man” (Jn 1:4). So being alienated from it, sin misdirected man to seek purpose and identity in the flesh and the physical realm. What an ill-fit for a spirit being! Seeking identity in the flesh led to competition, pride and selfishness with the resulting hurt and depression from failing expectations. Its a dog eat dog life, and lick the wounds when you get a chance! Its man living an utterly utterly senseless life, confused and perverted from and blinded to the original perfection and rest that is his once again through the success of the cross.
Darkness is just the absence of light. It has no substance – its a void. Its terrible/frightening (only if you don’t have light) because of the threat that this nothingness/emptiness will take over your life. Sin (like hate and pride and selfishness and anger and feelings of rejection and hurt) is a manifestation of darkness. Its for the most part the voice of pain crying for substance because there is no love, no truth, no light, no understanding. Remember the prophecy in Isaiah: “People that walk about in darkness have seen a great light!”. Good news is that darkness is not something, it is nothing. Switch on the light, and the darkness (with all the needs you thought you had) simply goes (Joh 1:5). “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. (a big fullstop here!) (Acts 26:18, Mat 4:16, Joh 8:32).
Man experienced God as perfect and holy and themselves as sinful and inadequate. No friendship and intimacy (God’s dream realised) can exist in this understanding between two parties. O, how God’s heart cries for you to know that everything has been restored in Him (see 2 Cor 5:14-21, especially v 20). Being empty, directionless and hurt, man searched (and still does) for sense and strived for the fulfilment of the original calling within. The law and religion didn’t help, it only highlighted man’s dilemma and inability without light. And so man’s need for the Light and the Source of Life became clear … and when the time was fulfilled, the Light of man’s design and purpose stepped into the world to bring salvation. John says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of man!”. You will do well to realise that the beginning and the end of your search lies in Him!
There is much to say about satan and the results of darkness (hurt, pride, depression, hate, etc.) but in a nutshell the only important thing to know is this: the less attention you personally give him and the results of darkness and the more attention you give the light and walking in it, the better-off you and those around you are. The enemy loves commotion and seeks attention. His viewpoints are death. He will keep your eyes on the flesh and the physical and keep you talking of all the bad things. He has caught millions/billions in this trap. STOP IT! Repent! We are not here to give him glory! Jesus has overcome! He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and whoever puts their trust in Him will by no means be put to shame. The key, as Rom 10 spells it out, is that He becomes Lord in your life. In other words you don’t make the contradictions and problems and issues that the enemy highlights your lord – no, He is Lord, and His work was perfect!
Now a big one… As much as sin entered and had an effect, the work of God in Christ to restore was much greater! Its a “challenge” because man became so used to living in a physical realm – his experience dictated his belief. After the cross NOTHING seemed to be different. There was still the old failing, corruption, hurt, sickness, disease, stealing, murder, etc all over – it seemed nothing happened. Yet the cross, together with God becoming man, were the biggest events of all time. Surely something truly significant must of happened! All of the Old Testament looked forward to it. All of the New Testament and eternity rejoices in it…
The gospel reveals that God’s eternal love dream was fulfilled – perfectly! That which a fallen angel’s work corrupted, God not only restored, but perfected forever. The restoration of ALL things took place! God’s original thought was restored! If the devil (a created angel) and sin managed to mess things up, then surely God managed at least to restore everything! Rom 5. speaks of beyond just restoring, but the MUCH MORE gospel. This is the single most important thing to know in all of life. Insight into these things is our life!
You are a spirit-being, you are so much more than what you can see. Being spirit, living life bound only to the physical is senseless and frustrating – think of Ecclesiastes. The realm of the spirit is more real than the things we can see. All things seen were made by the Spirit. All things seen will pass away, but the things of the spirit will NEVER pass away. You will find your true home and identity in this realm only. We walk in the spirit by knowledge of spiritual things. As believers that please God we walk by knowledge of Christ and what happened at the cross… not by sight. Beyond our background/history/experience of failure we see His perfect work that far out measures anything we could ever do to mess it up.
This is all we need, nothing else. Paul saw these things so clearly, stating:
“For I determined to know nothing else among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ” (1 Cor 2:2).
“Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have given up all things, and do count them but dung, that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:18).
You cannot access this substantial realm through intellect or any natural means. It is accessed when the Spirit reveals knowledge of Christ in your heart. But in itself this may mean nothing. This knowledge is realised in your life when you say “Amen” to it and let it have the ultimate place of authority in your life – you own it. Walking in it and living it follows. This is what repentance in Acts refers to – a total change of mind. Then alone everything that is true about you in Him, Him in you, His work on the cross and your relationship with the Father becomes a blessing to you.
Its your right to know the Truth. The enemy will strive to keep you in darkness, without knowledge and understanding – a life tossed to and fro, meaningless – bound and dictated by the physical realm and the flesh’ experience. He’ll provide substitutes for your sense of identity and calling. I can encourage you to walk in the Light – to ”get knowledge and get understanding” (Prov) and to STUDY the principles of introducing this LIFE into your life in Jam 1:21-25, Romans 10:1-17, etc. (read some good books too!).
My next post I’d like to zoom into what actually happened at the cross…. though I may finish the post on Ps 139 before then….
Have you ever realised what the introduction to most of the New Testament letters says… 1 Pet 1:2 says it most clearly:
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord!” – let this be the introduction to the rest of your adventures with Him!