In a recent conversation, I was reminded of a book I read five years ago. This book was the last book I read immediately before Grace took on a whole new meaning for me. The book is called "The Valley of Vision" and it's a collection of Puritan prayers.
(You can find it on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Valley-Vision-collection-Puritan-Devotions/dp/0851512283/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367264793&sr=1-8&keywords=the+valley+of+decision).
I do recommend that you read this book, because there are some really great prayers; just be aware of the tendency of their prayers to shift focus.
In these prayers, the Puritans wavered between focusing on their own sinful actions and the work of Jesus Christ. They found hope in Christ, but there was always something in them that seemed to focus on the "not yet" of holiness, instead of the "now". I'm sure I can't give them the proper credit they're due, but those prayers were actually part of the process I journeyed through to discover the amazing news of Grace.
(You can find it on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Valley-Vision-collection-Puritan-Devotions/dp/0851512283/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367264793&sr=1-8&keywords=the+valley+of+decision).
I do recommend that you read this book, because there are some really great prayers; just be aware of the tendency of their prayers to shift focus.
In these prayers, the Puritans wavered between focusing on their own sinful actions and the work of Jesus Christ. They found hope in Christ, but there was always something in them that seemed to focus on the "not yet" of holiness, instead of the "now". I'm sure I can't give them the proper credit they're due, but those prayers were actually part of the process I journeyed through to discover the amazing news of Grace.
Many of their prayers spoke of contrition, with which I, not coming from a Catholic background, don't have a church-initiated history. "Acts of Contrition" is a pregnant thought to which I'm not necessarily willing to give birth in this post. My point in writing this to you is to describe how my perspective shifted from my short-comings and failures, to the realization that my only perspective is to see Jesus. And I've chosen to remain there, despite the times when some would say that one should be more aware of one's sin(s).
I am of the opinion that the institutionalized church has done believers a great injustice by insisting we spend hours grieving over our sins. Some churches would even insist that should there be acts or sacrifices on our part to make right our wrongs. To these acts, I might agree in part, if they relate to other people, but never to the exclusion that our sins have already been forgiven by God. And it is for this reason that we must move to see Jesus and keep our eyes on Him, but not in order to assure ourselves that we are still forgiven (as if at some point our forgiveness would be revoked), but rather for the freeing understanding that Jesus IS our justification, our redemption, our sanctification--our forgiveness. The damage done by such internal introspection taught to us by the church institution is a wavering of our faith--are we forgiven or not? are we righteous or not? are we sanctified or not? etc, etc. What I see are Christians who generally cannot celebrate, because they don't know the security of their life in Christ. The introspection we've become accustomed to--even thought of as holy--has undermined our confidence. The idea that introspection actually would make us holier baffles my mind. "Let's get together and make sin the theme of our meeting."
No, thanks.
It's as if we've been led to believe that the key to holiness and righteousness is be to aware of our sin and that we must remain in such a reflective state. That's totally different than the exhortations found in the Bible. Yes, to become a Christian, one must have that initial awareness of condition of sin before a holy God, but does a Christian stay there? Should a Christian return there? Do we "look back" to the cross to crucify something in us, or do we rejoice because of a work that Christ has already done? All the gifts are already under the tree, but it does take time for us to get around to handling and unwrapping each gift.
Not only should we not look at our past or present sins and react with an effort to maintain our holiness, but we have the confidence that even future sins, which are already forgiven, cannot affect our condition of righteousness. If that weren't amazing enough, here's the kicker: we can't even look to the Law to aid us in our introspective search to root out sin so we can be holy. Why? For at least two reasons: 1. The Law doesn't make any one righteous (Romans 3:19-20 and Galatians 3:11) and 2. the Law was crucified:
"When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Col. 2:13-14, NASB)
The awareness of sin NEVER produces righteousness. It's only faith that our righteousness is Christ's righteousness, which He gives us, that causes the heart to rejoice.
And honestly, that's the language that I would like to hear from brothers and sisters in Christ. A language replete with confidence in their reality in Christ. And when we do sin, I pray we would never look to a list of DOs and DON'Ts to inspire us to regroup and redouble our efforts. What do we do after we sin? We remind ourselves of the truth:
"God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, "If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord." (1 Cor. 1:30-31, NLT)
The motivation and ability to not sin was never found in clinging to a list or even a command*, really. The command was only given to us to prove we could not obey (see Romans 5:20 and Galatians 3:21). Obedience is found in the awareness of the Father's love and our reality in Christ--the security of our lives. That's faith, and that's why every Christian alive should be always rejoicing.
Grace=Peace,
Jeremy
*For those who would refer me to John 8:11, in which we've always read "Go, and sin no more" as a stern command, I submit to you the following thought: which might have remained in her thoughts more, the act of love or the command? We can't know for sure, but we do know that it is God's kindness that causes us to think differently about our actions/condition. I believe that the woman who had been caught in adultery had just experienced the most loving act ever done to her when Jesus chose mercy above justice. Perhaps for the first time in her life a man treated her with love, dignity and respect, and it is for that very reason that we Christians need to see Jesus and all the benefits of our reality in Him. Let's focus on Him and not on ourselves--Since Jesus is not counting our sins against us, why would we?
I am of the opinion that the institutionalized church has done believers a great injustice by insisting we spend hours grieving over our sins. Some churches would even insist that should there be acts or sacrifices on our part to make right our wrongs. To these acts, I might agree in part, if they relate to other people, but never to the exclusion that our sins have already been forgiven by God. And it is for this reason that we must move to see Jesus and keep our eyes on Him, but not in order to assure ourselves that we are still forgiven (as if at some point our forgiveness would be revoked), but rather for the freeing understanding that Jesus IS our justification, our redemption, our sanctification--our forgiveness. The damage done by such internal introspection taught to us by the church institution is a wavering of our faith--are we forgiven or not? are we righteous or not? are we sanctified or not? etc, etc. What I see are Christians who generally cannot celebrate, because they don't know the security of their life in Christ. The introspection we've become accustomed to--even thought of as holy--has undermined our confidence. The idea that introspection actually would make us holier baffles my mind. "Let's get together and make sin the theme of our meeting."
No, thanks.
It's as if we've been led to believe that the key to holiness and righteousness is be to aware of our sin and that we must remain in such a reflective state. That's totally different than the exhortations found in the Bible. Yes, to become a Christian, one must have that initial awareness of condition of sin before a holy God, but does a Christian stay there? Should a Christian return there? Do we "look back" to the cross to crucify something in us, or do we rejoice because of a work that Christ has already done? All the gifts are already under the tree, but it does take time for us to get around to handling and unwrapping each gift.
Not only should we not look at our past or present sins and react with an effort to maintain our holiness, but we have the confidence that even future sins, which are already forgiven, cannot affect our condition of righteousness. If that weren't amazing enough, here's the kicker: we can't even look to the Law to aid us in our introspective search to root out sin so we can be holy. Why? For at least two reasons: 1. The Law doesn't make any one righteous (Romans 3:19-20 and Galatians 3:11) and 2. the Law was crucified:
"When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Col. 2:13-14, NASB)
The awareness of sin NEVER produces righteousness. It's only faith that our righteousness is Christ's righteousness, which He gives us, that causes the heart to rejoice.
And honestly, that's the language that I would like to hear from brothers and sisters in Christ. A language replete with confidence in their reality in Christ. And when we do sin, I pray we would never look to a list of DOs and DON'Ts to inspire us to regroup and redouble our efforts. What do we do after we sin? We remind ourselves of the truth:
"God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, "If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord." (1 Cor. 1:30-31, NLT)
The motivation and ability to not sin was never found in clinging to a list or even a command*, really. The command was only given to us to prove we could not obey (see Romans 5:20 and Galatians 3:21). Obedience is found in the awareness of the Father's love and our reality in Christ--the security of our lives. That's faith, and that's why every Christian alive should be always rejoicing.
Grace=Peace,
Jeremy
*For those who would refer me to John 8:11, in which we've always read "Go, and sin no more" as a stern command, I submit to you the following thought: which might have remained in her thoughts more, the act of love or the command? We can't know for sure, but we do know that it is God's kindness that causes us to think differently about our actions/condition. I believe that the woman who had been caught in adultery had just experienced the most loving act ever done to her when Jesus chose mercy above justice. Perhaps for the first time in her life a man treated her with love, dignity and respect, and it is for that very reason that we Christians need to see Jesus and all the benefits of our reality in Him. Let's focus on Him and not on ourselves--Since Jesus is not counting our sins against us, why would we?
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