Grace - Freedom from Addiction 11

"The source of addiction is not found in the object of our addiction, but rather in our relationship to it--our use of the object.  We cling to our use, the idolization of a person or thing.  The loss of this use is something very real; it is physical.  We will resist this loss as long as we possibly can.  When withdrawal does happen, it will hurt.  And, after it is over, we will mourn.  Only then, when we have completed the grieving over our lost attachment, will we breathe the fresh air of freedom with appreciation and gratitude.  Grace is finally fully embraced and understood.  The question then, is not "Are you willing to give up the use of an addiction?", but rather "Are you willing to go through the pain when you give up the addiction?" - Gerald May

Addiction manifests itself in many ways.  We see it in the use of food, chemicals, relationships, sex, possessions, accomplishments, power, just to name a few.  In each case, we've attached meaning and significance to one or more of those things from which we derive comfort.  The problem for us, then, is not only that those objects of addiction have replaced something of true value in our lives, but also that we've become accustomed to the use of those objects.  It's difficult to turn away...

but this is the power of Grace.

Grace carries us when we take the risk to leave behind what we've found so comforting for so long.  The idea of stopping the use of an object to which we've attached so much meaning and comfort brings us pain...

but this is the power of Grace.

In the quote above, Dr. May contrasts the willingness to stop the use of an object of attachment with the willingness to endure the pain of that withdrawal.  This is significant, because everyone I've known who suffered from addiction was already aware that they needed to stop.  Moreover, most, if not all, were more than willing to stop their addiction.  Dr. May is correct in his targeting of the true issue:  whether or not someone is willing to endure the loss of their object of attachment.

In dealing with their addictions, I've also found that most seek to manage their behavior by weening themselves off their addiction.  I don't drink as much as I used to, or I'm using less and less until I quit completely.  That sounds nice and well-intended, but there's one huge problem:

They still think they're in control and can manage the addiction.

Believing this, they don't realize that the addiction still has power over them.  What's worse is that they have completely missed grace...and grace is the only power which can sustain them and keep them permanently out from under the power of an addiction while still enjoying the true freedom God desires for us.  But here's the kicker:

Addiction is the manifestation of someone's attempt to manage their behavior.

Thus, a person who thinks they can manage the addictive behavior and reduce it to zero has played into the trap of addiction...

but this is the power of Grace.

The only way to manage an addiction is to stop trying to manage it and instead rest in the power of Grace.

If you're trying to reduce your use of an object you've become attached to, you are still under addiction's power and your reliance upon yourself gives you a false sense of freedom.  Be willing instead to go through the pain you'll experience when you can no longer rely on that object to bring you comfort.  Give up on yourself and instead rely upon grace.  It would be impossible for you in your limited strength to travel in a few hours from the east coast of the United States to the west coast.  But, if you're in an airplane, the airplane is quite capable to performing that task.  That's how Grace works...you're in its power and it is God's power to bring you wholeness, health, and healing.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

*May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2005. Print.  p. 96.  The above quote may have been edited for clarity and understanding outside its context.

Grace - A Look At True Humility

God is God, and you're not.

God is Holy and we must rise to His standard.

It's prideful and arrogant to say we're saints.

I've heard the above statements--and more--all said by believers with the purpose of convincing other believers to prostrate themselves before a God Who is infinitely greater and holier than themselves...lest God would get angry and make something bad happen to them.  While I do agree with the first statement, God is God, and you're not, with the others I must take exception.

Can we really rise to God's holy standard?  Is it arrogant and prideful to say we're saints, even when we occasionally sin?

The answer to these questions is patently NO!  So, why do we still lean toward this type of Christian walk?

We have been convinced that it's holiness to be preoccupied with our sins and failures and strive to better our behavior.  But this effort doesn't stop at behavior.  Even our thought-life is under surveillance and the Thought Police are ready to crash in at the slightest notion that we had a dirty thought.  We must constantly be on guard for our dirty thoughts...or so we think.

We are so sin-conscious.  So much so that, in fact, we are not Christ-conscious.  We continually view ourselves in terms of how well we're managing sin and we've lost sight and awareness of the truth and reality of who we are in Christ and who Christ is in us.

Here's a shocker for you:  What do you call it when we replace (substitute) the truth of our life in Christ with our performance?

It is anti-Christ!

"Anti" means "in lieu of", to replace or substitute, in place of, over against, or to exchange.

So...those unbelieving believers who refuse to believe the truth of who they are in Christ and who Christ is in them have believed a spirit of antichrist!  Crazy, but true!

So then, what is true biblical humility?

Well, it's not real humility to consider who or what we are without Christ; true humility is to believe what He says about us now.

Neither is it holiness to muse upon our failures.  We have been set apart; we have been made whole; we have been sanctified.  And this next point is most important:  Pride can mask itself as humility.  To ponder and rehearse our former lives is to believe this following statement, an arrogance above all arrogance:  that the Father has not accepted the blood of Christ.

We are not evil sinners at heart, for we ARE new creations.  It is not our hearts that need to be changed (for they already have been), it is our minds that need to be renewed to the truth of who we are in Christ, not who we were in Adam.  The plowman must not look back.

For more on this, I encourage you to read a recent blog of mine:  http://jdkrider.blogspot.com/2013/08/grace-will-you-believe-heavenly-things.html

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Partners with Jesus

Dwell much upon this partnership with the Son of God, unto which you have been called: for all your hope lies there. You can never be poor while Jesus is rich, since you are in one firm with him. Want can never assail you, since you are joint-proprietor with him who is possessor of heaven and earth. You can never fail; for though one of the partners in the firm is as poor as a church mouse, and in himself an utter bankrupt, who could not pay even a small amount of his heavy debts, yet the other partner is inconceivably, inexhaustibly rich. In such partnership you are raised above the depression of the times, the changes of the future, and the shock of the end of all things. The Lord has called you into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ, and by that act and deed He has put you into the place of infallible safeguard.

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)

All of Grace, Trinity Press, 2011, 118.

Grace - No Perverts Allowed

The following article is from Chris Kratzer.  A link to his blog may be found at the end.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed." Galatians 1:6-9


We are no longer to live an "obedience of trying and striving" to follow the rules, but rather we are to live an "obedience of faith," clinging on to the loveliness of Jesus and His performance, not our own. For the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about Jesus, not about us. The Law presupposed there is something you can do, the Gospel presupposes there is nothing you can do, but Someone you can believe who did it all, and does it all on your behalf!

It's all Jesus, all Him, all Grace, all His performance, all His work, all His faithfulness, all His mercy, favor, and blessing, received through faith alone, or it's not the Gospel.  If it's any other version, it's a perversion.

In the Bible passage above, Paul identifies the true perverts of the world. Not sex offenders, not homosexuals, not child porn viewers, as evil and terrible as they are. No, rather, he speaks of Christians who turn away from or turn the Gospel of God's Grace in Jesus Christ into another Gospel that is, in fact, not a Gospel.  At this point, you should either say, "Amen!" or "Ouch!"

The only documented places in scripture where Jesus gets mad or the Spirit is grieved is when Grace is not extended. Not rules, condemnation, religious activities, performance steps, or obedience speeches.  Paul echoes God's heart and view on the matter as he declares that those who turn the Gospel of Grace into any other version should be "accursed."

Right believing leads to right living. You can't live the Gospel day to day until you believe it all the way.  An obedience problem is at heart an identity problem. You will never know who you truly are until you believe in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith is what pleases God, not your performance. Faith is what makes His performance become your performance.  Faith is the root, obedience is the fruit. We walk by faith, not by sight, or might.

Are you a Christian pervert? Repent (change your mind) and believe in the Gospel.

http://chriskratzer.com/are-you-a-christian-pervert/

Grace - Freedom from Addiction 10

In my last post on addiction, I wrote the following:

Each of us, in some way, has at some point in our lives tried to find Life in something other than God.  We've defined goodness on our own terms.  We've believed that happiness is something we can find and provide for ourselves.  We have taken pride in our accomplishments, but we have also at times purposefully ignored the uneasy feeling that there still remains a lack which cannot be fulfilled through our insight, efforts, or activities.  I'm not saying that we can't be momentarily satisfied, because we can.  I'm not saying that it's wrong to look for happiness in friendships, fine dining, beautiful mountain ranges, a favorite pastime, or a job well-done.  But, if you'll be honest, you know it's never enough; those things can never impart a sense of contentment to us that will last beyond this lifetime.

That's precisely why we still sense that lack--because only the contentment that comes from an eternal source will satisfy us. It must come from a source greater than ourselves so we are not only filled up, but also overflowing with Life.  The weighty truth is simply this:  only through the life of Jesus Christ can this happen.  We experience Life when we experience His life.

With that context, I wanted to share with you another quote from Gerald May:

The spiritual significance of addiction is not just that we lose freedom through attachment to things, nor even that things so easily become our ultimate concerns.  Of much more importance is that we try to fulfill our longing for God through objects of attachment.  For example, God wants to be our perfect lover, but instead we seek perfection in human relationships and are disappointed when our lovers cannot love us perfectly.  God wants to provide our ultimate security, but we seek our safety in power and possessions and then find we must continually worry about them.  We seek satisfaction of our spiritual longing in a host of ways that may have very little to do with God.  And, sooner or later, we are disappointed.  The more we become accustomed to seeking spiritual satisfaction through things other than God, the more abnormal and stressful it becomes to look for God directly.*

Dr. May makes three significant points in the paragraph above:

1.  Loss of freedom

2.  We seek purpose in life through inferior means

3.  The following truth becomes obscured and difficult to believe:  only God meets our needs

In this post, I'd simply like to point out that because we've defined goodness and happiness and success on our own terms, we are left not only with the uneasy feeling that we haven't found an endless supply of goodness, happiness, and success, but also that because we have defined those on our own terms, we can have great difficulty believing God can fulfill those.  Our definitions have excluded God.

We have become accustomed to not trusting God because we haven't believed He's good.  It's difficult, if not impossible, to look to someone for help if you can't trust that they're good and will be good to you.  We have been mostly discontented with God.  Why?  Because we tend to suffer from low-grade condemnation.  Condemnation seeks to convince us that God will not provide, either because we don't deserve it or because there is a reason to fear God.  We think, Why would God be good to me when I've failed and disappointed Him?

As I'm writing this, I think about those who have turned away from God and chosen to walk down their own path.  In my heart, I ask myself how it is they can be content.  I know they experience a lack that only God can fulfill.  I know they are trying to cover it up.  They're still trusting in themselves; they're still defining happiness and satisfaction on their own terms.  Why?  Because we, as a church, have failed to demonstrate God's love to them.  They came to us and although we promised grace and life, ultimately we placed the heavy weight of condemnation on their shoulders.  At first, they believed and trusted us to show them life, but because we were also under condemnation, life and freedom was not ours to offer.

I share this because this is what happens when grace is not preached.  Addictions form.  People are encourage to strive for God's goodness.  In the end, they either give up and leave Christianity, or they stick with the machine, or they give up and discover grace.

In 1 Timothy, Paul briefly describes his former life before he understood grace:

 ...although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.  1 Timothy 1:13

For those of you who are ignorant of God's goodness or who have experienced condemnation from the Church, I pray that you will discover grace and the life and freedom that comes to you through Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God.  He's real and your decision for or against Him has great implications both in this life and the life to come.  Be reconciled to God and learn that He is good, good to you, and worthy of your trust.  In fact, he's been good to you even while you were against Him.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

*May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2005. Print.  p. 92f.  The above quote may have been edited for clarity and understanding outside its context.

Grace - Will You Believe Heavenly Things???

Most Christians define themselves in terms of what they are not, rather in terms of who they are in Christ.  The faith-speech I hear most often from a Christian is that which defines them in terms of sin:

"I haven't committed that habitual sin of mine in the last couple days, so I'm good."  That's about as positive as it gets, folks.

But, it does get worse.  I hear all the time:  "I'm a bad Christian because I keep sinning."  So, the life of the Christian becomes a matter of defining their reality and identity in terms of the absence or presence of sin.  How sad; you just can't win, because even if you're doing well, collapse is on the horizon and is imminent.

What I rarely, RARELY hear is a Christian who talks in terms of their UNION with Christ.  His holiness is their holiness.  His authority is their authority.  His righteousness is their righteousness.  His death to sin and temptation is their death.  His life is their life, etc.

Study and find the scriptures that speak of your union with Christ for yourself.  How about Romans 5 and 6, for example?Once you understand that you are loved and accepted, completely forgiven, completely made whole, and united with Christ's Life, avoiding sin and doing good will be a distant memory and you will experience the freedom you've always longed for.

But there is one warning!:

You can only live this type of life by faith.

Consider the following passages that speak of believing in a reality greater than what you can see.  Otherwise, you won't be able to believe that you truly are united with Christ.  And where are you united with Him?  On the throne, in Heaven.  It's done.  It's true.  You in Jesus, and Jesus and you on the throne.  Co-heirs.  Believe it and accept it!

"If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"  John 3:12 (NASB)

"Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."  Col. 3:1-4

"But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."  Eph. 4:20-24

"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus."  1 Tim. 1:12-14

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." Gal. 2:20-21

Will you choose to believe what the word of God clearly says about you?  If you will dive into this amazing truth, nothing will be impossible for you--even to experience life free from temptation and sin.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - REPENT!

The following article was written by Phil Drysdale.  I hope that you will read it and be enthralled by the amazing biblical definition of repent.  I've highlighted few key ideas in bold.  Phil's latest work may be found for purchase here:  http://www.phildrysdale.com/book

It's only $6.99!

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Repent! by Phil Drysdale

For well over 1000 years now, many in the church have believed repentance is to cry, and wail, and convince God that we are sorry and will never act the same way again.

Let's have a look at the word repentance in the English dictionary*:

1) remorse or contrition for one's past actions or sins
2) an act or the process of being repentant; penitence

*Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers.

This is quite interesting. There are two connotations here in the English language. The first suggests that we must feel deeply sorry and regret our past actions or sins. The second suggests that we must then do something about them to make some form of penance.

This lines up pretty well with what I was taught in the church growing up. However, there is much more to this topic than our English definition.

Let's look a little deeper at the word. Our English word repentance comes from the Latin word "repoenitēre" - from the root word "poenitēre" which means to feel regret.

The Latin translation of the Bible was written well over 1500 years ago. So the word repentance has primarily revolved around the concept of feeling bad about one's sins and doing something to make up for it for a very long time.

Let's go one step further and look at the word in the language of the original text. The Greek word which we translate as repentance is metanoia. This word comes from two root words, meta and nois.

The word meta means "to change". This is probably not surprising to you as we still use meta in a lot of our English language, think for example metamorphosis. The word nois simply means "mind". Nothing more, nothing less.

Once we see what these two words mean it should come as no surprise to us that the word metanoia means, "to change your mind".

This definition of repentance should probably concern you. It certainly concerns me! You see, when most people read the word "repent" in their Bible, their tendency is to associate it with feeling bad about their sin and wanting to change what they do in order to get right with God. And surely you could forgive them for that, given that that is what it means in English. This is by no means the only word in the Bible that is grossly mistranslated, however it might be the most important one.

I know I don't have to convince you that repentance is important.  We all know that, right?  Over and over again the Scriptures state the importance of repentance. Our biggest problem is that over and over again we associate it with feeling bad and changing our actions to get right with God.

So, repentance is not about changing your actions, nor is it feeling bad about your sins.  It is simply changing what you believe, changing your mind. Feeling bad about sin and changing the way you live are not bad things, but they are not the focus of Christian living, they are one fruit of Christian living.

The focus of Christian living is what we believe. What we believe shapes our whole lives.

Romans 12:2 states that we "are transformed by the renewal of our mind." This sums up repentance beautifully. As we focus on the renewal of our mind, we are transformed. As we believe what God says about us, we start to experience that reality.

We are not becoming saints or becoming righteous, we are saints and we are righteous. Our journey is merely a journey of discovery, as we discover who we are and choose to believe it, we start to walk in it.

If this concept of repentance is new to you and you're struggling to see where I'm coming from, I'd encourage you to watch this video on repentance over on my website:  http://www.phildrysdale.com/work/true-repentance/

The renewal of the mind is not a cool phrase for Christians to throw around. Rather the renewal of the mind is repentance. If you as a believer are looking for a way to mature and grow into who you are in Christ - this is it. Repentance is the process of discovering what God says is the truth and aligning your faith with His.

Grace - Freedom from Addiction 9

We experience Life when we experience His life.

(I hope you'll take a minute or two to read this.)

Each of us, in some way, has at some point in our lives tried to find Life in something other than God.  We've defined goodness on our own terms.  We've believed that happiness is something we can find and provide for ourselves.  We have taken pride in our accomplishments, but we have also at times purposefully ignored the uneasy feeling that there still remains a lack which cannot be fulfilled through our insight, efforts, or activities.  I'm not saying that we can't be momentarily satisfied, because we can.  I'm not saying that it's wrong to look for happiness in friendships, fine dining, beautiful mountain ranges, a favorite pastime, or a job well-done.  But, if you'll be honest, you know it's never enough; those things can never impart a sense of contentment to us that will last beyond this lifetime.

That's precisely why we still sense that lack--because only the contentment that comes from an eternal source will satisfy us. It must come from a source greater than ourselves so we are not only filled up, but also overflowing with Life.  The weighty truth is simply this:  only through the life of Jesus Christ can this happen.  We experience Life when we experience His life.

But give us time: we'll look for Life in something or someone other than Jesus. As a products of our culture and society, we've embraced what they offer to us as happiness and goodness and we've learned either accept those offerings or adjust our definitions of those ideals to fit our own desires. Gerald May puts it this way:

If I do something that makes me feel good, I am likely to do it again.  If I keep doing it, and if it keeps making me feel good, I will probably make a habit of it.  Once I have made a habit of it, it becomes important to me and I will miss it if it is taken away.  In other words, I have become attached to it.  The most important behavioral insight into addiction, then, is that attachment takes place through a process of learning.

In my next email on this topic, I'll share a quote with you that will hopefully bring much clarity as to why seeking happiness in anything other than God Himself is so damaging to us as individuals.

I pray that you will see Jesus as your sole source of Life and be willing to change how you've thought about Him.  In relationship with Him, we find the best of everything for our lives.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2005. Print.  p. 56.  The above quote may have been edited for clarity and understanding outside its context.

Grace - Free from the Power of Sin

The natural mind thinks, "If grace covers my sin, why not continue so that grace can be magnified?" Its definition of grace would be that grace frees me from the penalty of sin, so I can go satisfy myself with no fear of punishment. This is obviously tempting to those of us who experience the painful compulsion to indulge in addictive behaviors. But such an assumption is a total misunderstanding of the grace of God… The focus of God's grace is not just on the penalty of my sin, but my bondage to sin on this side of heaven. Grace did not come just to pay my penalty so I could live in the bondage of working sin. It came to set me free from the power of sin in self-consciousness in my own life and even from my bondage to those who have sinned against me… God desires not only to free you from the penalty of sin but to free you from the power of sin. That's why it is foolish to believe you can be a partaker of grace and continue on nonchalantly in a life of ungodliness.

 

Dudley Hall

Grace Works, Vine Books, 1992, 257-8, 263.

Grace - One Reason Why Grace is Vastly Superior

It's unfortunate, but those looking at their behavior as a measurement of their righteous have taken their eyes off of Jesus.  Here's an excerpt from an article by Bill Snell.  I highlighted a particularly interesting portion.  The complete article may be found here.

"Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God" (Romans 7:4)

Thankfully, it is the role of the Spirit living within each believer, not the law, that leads the children of God in their new identity as the "righteousness of God in Christ". Behavioral changes reflecting the standards required by the law would now be out of a motivation of acceptance and love, rather than a fear of judgment and condemnation due to inevitable failure.

"But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory" (2 Corinthians 3:7-9)

Where the law says, "thou shalt not kill", or "thou shalt not steal", or "thou shalt not commit adultery", the Spirit not only leads the believer to not commit murder, but to be willing to lay down his life; instead of stealing, giving; rather than committing adultery, choosing to love sacrificially while receiving one's spouse in a manner which brings them to a place of security, comfort, and joy.

The law set a standard outwardly that the flesh was simply unable to satisfy. This was not a mistake. God intended for the law to instruct us by means of our failure in order that we might trust God's perfect provision for all aspects of life, including holiness and happiness. Christ is our life in all its fullness, living in our hearts by faith.

"When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory" (Colossians 3:4)

Therefore, the law serves to bring us to Christ, while continuing to reveal our utter dependence upon the indwelling life of Christ, serving to make us holy, righteous, justified, and eternally secure before the Father."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - A Short Conversation

I recently had a short conversation with a friend about righteousness and obedience. Righteousness in the Bible is defined as that which is conforming to God's law both in thought and action, thus meaning one is innocent and in no need of being rectified. However, OUR righteousness is defined by FAITH in Christ--meaning that we believed HE perfectly obeyed and has given us HIS righteousness. If we can rid ourselves of the misconception that our righteousness is derived by the Law, we will come to see that the power of sin and condemnation is ALREADY BROKEN in our lives.

Here is the conversation below, with my friend's text in bold print (I got permission to send this out):

Why do I not have to "get right" with God after I sin?

Because you are always righteous through Jesus Christ. Under the old covenant, a sacrifice had to be offered after each sin. Under the new covenant, Jesus is the one, perfect sacrifice.

How do you be righteous and still sin? It almost seems like you can sin any way you want and it not matter.

Because your righteousness is not based on how little you sin. Your righteous is literally the righteousness of Christ. It's unfortunate, but most Christians have been taught a performance-based Christianity and know little about Christ's work on their behalf. As for wanting to sin and get away with it, a Christian needs to understand two things:  just how forgiven they really are and the reality of the life of Christ in them.  After faith in these two things, they will not want to take advantage of that and sin.  The love of God which provided for our forgiveness and right-standing produces thankfulness in those who hear about it and receive it.  Thankfulness does not ask for a license to sin. And the Bible says that Christians don't have that kind of heart anyway; they have a new one. It's the mind that needs to be transformed. Your righteousness is by faith, not performance. Obedience is important, but it's not what makes you righteous.

So my righteousness comes from Christ alone? ...and so to receive and LIVE in righteousness, I need to have faith that HE is my righteousness. And I guess a transformed mind also comes by believing that I have a new mind in Christ.

Bingo.

I'm not sure I have that much faith. I want to say I do. Wait, do I have to have faith to get faith?

It's not an issue of how much faith one has, but rather in whom the faith is placed. Faith is a gift. Quit looking at yourself. Look at Jesus, who authored and perfected your faith. It's a gift.

That's cool. So I don't have to strive to get it; its given to me. And when I look to Jesus, I'm putting my faith in Him, and He continues to give.

Bingo. It's a Christ-centered faith and not a Christian-centered faith. Quit looking at yourself.

My friends, this is why the Gospel of the Grace of Jesus Christ is so important.  It sets people free.  Don't dilute the message; that'll only produce a diluted response.  I charge each and every one of you to allow Holy Spirit to reveal this gospel to you.  It is God's power for our salvation, because through it, He has shown us how we are made righteous.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Freedom from Addiction 8

"We are meant to be free enough to really love God and one another, but true freedom can happen only if we completely trust in God's ultimate care for us.  And to really trust God, we must begin to relax our grip and ease our concern about all the lesser sources of security to which we have become attached.  This can feel risky indeed.  In our culture, the three gods we trust for security are possessions, power, and human relationships.  To a greater or lesser extent, all of us worship this false trinity." (Citation below)

Possessions, Power, and Human Relationships

Gerald May says that these three things are manifestations of how we trust.  As I think about these, I ask myself how Grace has brought change in each area, as contrasted with how culture says we are to live:

1. Possessions: 
• Culture:  accumulate more stuff to demonstrate status and find happiness.
• Grace:  consider yourself a steward with resources to bless others.
2. Power:
• Culture:  live as a predator and manipulate and use others for selfish reasons.
• Grace:  consider yourself a protector and help others to attain wisdom for finding healthy, happy lives.
3. Human Relationships (closely related to the area of Power, relationships are needed for the exertion of Power, but here the distinction is more intimate):  
• Culture:  fulfill your needs through others, rely upon them for true meaning in life, while driven by fear of losing them.
• Grace:  consider your union with Christ as first and foundational, allowing all other relations to be independent of you.

I haven't always preached Grace, but this list causes me to call to mind those who turned from God under that other ministry I once utilized.  Leaving a true relationship with God, they eventually poured themselves into acquiring possessions, chose to be their own god by deciding what was best for them and their future, and brought others into their deception for sexual gratification and the hope of finding love, all the while hurting and being hurt.  The most tragic thing about all of that is that they settled for something good, as opposed to the best that God had for them, if only they had trusted Him.

It didn't have to be that way.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2005. Print.  p. 32.  The above quote may have been edited for clarity and understanding outside its context.

Grace - Forgiveness Must Extend Potential Friendship

Let's look at the love of Christ:

"Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?  For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.  He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.  Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him."  Isaiah 53:1-6 (NASB)

Interesting, that as Christians, we rejoice in Christ's total forgiveness of our sins, past, present, and future--and not only that, but also His complete payment for all guilt, shame, and condemnation, and yet...and yet, we hold grudges against each other, often for years, refusing not only to be reconciled to each other, but also refusing forgiveness that would lead to another chance to someone who has offended us (reconcile:  to conciliate anew; to call back into union and friendship the affections which have been alienated; to restore to friendship or favor after estrangement; as, to reconcile men or parties that have been at variance.  "Go your way; first be reconciled to your brother" - Matt. 5. ~ Webster's 1828 Dictionary).

No wonder the whole world thinks most of the church hypocrites.   We, as a whole, have held onto the sins of others and have missed the whole point of forgiveness:  not to say that we're righteousness in the whole matter, but rather to bring about reconciliation:  the restoration of friendship.  How arrogant of us to think we're in the right because we merely forgave someone.  How sad that we prefer to eat our own cake while starving others around us.  This is most certainly not the love Christ wants to live out through us.  True forgiveness extends the merciful offer of restored friendship.

The world tells us to protect ourselves, but the world doesn't look to Christ.  I agree that there needs to be wisdom and caution in dealing with someone who has hurt you, but the world would have us look after our own interests primarily.  Let's not forget that God offered forgiveness and reconciliation to the world in Christ before any of us repented.  We despised Him; we rejected Him; and we offended Him.  And yet, on His part, the potential for our friendship with Him exists.  It should be the same with us toward others.  To refuse reconciliation to someone who has repented is bad enough, but our heart toward such an offender should be that we have done everything to restore a person to friendship with us--even if he doesn't repent.  If Christ's type of love exists in our hearts, so also the potential for friendship must exist.  We cannot deny freedom to our captives while enjoying the freedom that God has given us.

I just wish we could experience a love such as this within ourselves--the God-type of love of a loving Father who desires all to be saved and brought into His family.  Forgiveness must extend potential friendship.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Freedom from Addiction 7

"When we are not controlled by our negative desires and emotions, our basic desire for God is uncovered and set free.  With freedom of desire (the ability to choose some actions and refrain from others) comes the capacity to love, and love is the goal of the spiritual life."

The ultimate damage done to us and others as a result of giving into our "negative desires and emotions", often which grow into addiction, is in our ability to love.  This condition of which the author speaks manifests as a selfish desire to meet needs which can only be met by God Himself.  It causes the person to live a dual life.  When that alternate life of negative desires and emotions fulfilled through behaviors inconsistent with wholeness and wisdom plays out, friends and loved ones are wounded, often so much so that recovery takes years.  I know personally both sides of this issue.  I have hurt others and I have been hurt by those who have hidden their behaviors from me--living a secret life, usually in contrast to what I had thought was a healthy friendship.  Wounds of betrayal run deep.

The root of addiction is essentially an absence of fathering.  This root of pain manifests as selfishness and selfish behavior.  It causes the person to not only devalue others (seeing people only as objects to fulfill selfish desires such as sex, pride, or power), but the person also devalues him- or herself.  Using someone to meet one of these selfish needs is the worse thing one person can do to another.  In the case of "casual sex", we must face the truth that one does not have sex with a body--one has sex with a soul.  Sex is more than just physical.  It is for this reason that an abuse such as rape does such harm to a person.

The addict who indulges in their addiction lives so far below who they are and who they are (in Christ).  They have devalued themselves in the same way a king or queen devalues themselves by throwing off their royal robes and dressing as a peasant.  Only when the love of the Father is understood and embraced does the person realize who they are and that every need has already been met.  They become a whole person who, because they have fully received, can freely pour out.  Therefore, someone who exists in the love of the Father maintains a stable identity and truly has no needs.

On a personal note, I would ask those reading this to consider in their own lives where they have sought fulfillment of needs in any source other than God.  Most of Christianity views the relationship of person to Christ as one of duty.  Move past that and know His love.

I hope that you will also consider approaching those you've wounded because of your selfish desires as you come to understand what I've said.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy


May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2005. Print.  p. 15.  The above quote may have been edited for clarity and understanding outside its context.

Grace - A License to Sin?

"A frequently asked question is, 'Will some believers take the message of grace as a license to sin?' I answer it this way: 'If their understanding of the gospel goes no farther than the forgiveness of sins – probably yes. But when you understand that Christ not only died for the forgiveness of your sins, but also rose again to come and live in you – absolutely not!'"

~ Bob George, Classic Christianity, Harvest House, 1989, p.175.

Grace - Freedom from Addiction 6

"Addiction exists wherever persons are internally compelled to give energy to things that are not their true desires.  To define it directly, addiction is a state of compulsion, obsession, or preoccupation that enslaves a person's will and desire.  Addiction sidetracks and eclipses the energy of our deepest, truest desire for love and goodness.  We succumb because the energy of our desire becomes attached, nailed, to specific behaviors, objects, or people.  Attachment, then, is the process that enslaves desire and creates the state of addiction." - Gerald May


Psalm 37:4 says:  "Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart."

I've heard many interpretations of this verse.  They include the idea that we shouldn't be selfish by having great plans for our lives, but be willing to rejoice in dirt and poverty, or the idea that if we honor God first, then He'll honor us.  Let me suggest this idea to you:

No one wants second-best.  When offered the choice between a free BMW or a Kia, who in their right mind would choose the non-luxury car?  No one would!  We all want the absolute best we can possibly have in life.  Let's see how this applies to addiction:

Because we have been hurt and are looking for security and comfort, we come to belief in the safety that an addiction can offer us.  It doesn't usually require much effort and we begin to associate how good we feel when we engage that addiction.  It HAS to feel good, or we wouldn't do it again, would we?  We attach happiness to what the addiction gives us.  We sacrifice time for it; we sit in front of the computer gazing at images while forgetting real relationships; we want the ease of chemical-induced states of mind, instead of relating to a person or God.  We simply have less energy or motivation for people and other pursuits.  We've been robbed, and we don't even know it.

Sometimes it's easy to see how the addiction has ruined our lives, other times not so much.  But we do know this:  it's not easy to find the happiness in healthy pursuits and relationships when it's been so simple to just engage in the addiction and find that attachment of security in the addiction.  But we must walk away.  It has to stop.  It's draining life from us and that's killing us.

"Addiction sidetracks and eclipses the energy of our deepest, truest desire for love and goodness."  That means that we all want the best in life:  truth, love, and goodness.  But because we were sidetracked and our eyes taken off of Jesus and His love for us, we've been given something that is far less than best.  It's actually crap.  The hope is that we'll see that and the Holy Spirit will convince us of Father's love and Jesus' sacrifice and life for us.

I would encourage you to stand on the promises in the Bible.  If you don't read it, you'll not know what's yours!  Holy Spirit wants to remind you of those things, so you will have ground to stand on during the season you feel off-course as you seek happiness no longer from the addiction, but now in Him.

I pray that you will know that your failures have been forgiven, your hurts healed, and your future renewed--all in Jesus.  Don't settle for the second-best (or worse) that addiction is truly offering you; delight in the Lord--and for good reason, based on what He's done and who He is in you--and you'll get the desires of your heart.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2005. Print.  p. 14.  The above quote may have been edited for clarity and understanding outside its context.

Grace - Freedom from Addiction 5

"Addiction uses up desire. It is like a psychic malignancy, sucking our life energy into specific obsessions and compulsions, leaving less and less energy available for other people and other pursuits. Addiction displaces and supplants God's love as the source and object of our deepest true desire." ~ Gerald May.

We give our lives away each day. Louie Giglio said it roughly this way: Dig up any culture and you will find objects of worship. The question is not whether we worship, but rather how worthy the objects we worship are--big or small. Either way, when we worship, we devote our lives to that object.

The sad reality of addictions is that they're like a black hole that saps us of our life and energy. Instead of enjoying fellowship and the blessing of friendship, often some addictions can cause us to isolate ourselves from those who could be loving us. Addictions rob us, when all the while they promise us happiness and security. It's a classic bait and switch.

Of course, this isolation is not unfamiliar to those who do battle addictions, which means those who are addicted are all too aware of their condition. As a solution, I would begin by suggesting these basic steps:

First, refuse to believe the offer of comfort and security the addiction offers you; it's a lie and you're being robbed of love, both from people and from God.

Second, be willing to go through the pain and suffering as the object of your addiction is removed. In other words, you've been dependent upon that object for happiness and it may well be difficult for you to find happiness in something that is actually healthy for you. It may take time to endure withdrawal, but the reward is everything you've really been wanting.

Next, find one or two trusted friends who can help you walk toward your goal (ok, they can help you make a goal to even begin with). Let them in and trust them when they help to remove the object of addiction from you.

Lastly, as much as you may feel compelled to do so, DO NOT confess your need for help indiscriminately or to everyone you meet. It can be very draining for people to hear your struggles, but more importantly, it actually causes you to focus on your problem (which is bad) AND take your eyes off Jesus as your life (also bad). Confide in those one or two close, trusted friends who will hopefully help you to see Jesus as the fulfillment of everything your addiction has promised you. In other words, the only true way to become free from addiction is to see Jesus as your life. There, I said it three times, and now a fourth: Jesus is your life.

Realize the truth and be set free in your mind from something Christ has already freed you in reality.

Grace=Peace,


Jeremy

May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2005. Print. p. 13. The above quote may have been edited for clarity and understanding outside its context.

Grace - Freedom from Addiction 4

One of the most powerful quotes I've gleaned from Gerald May's book is this:

"Addiction represents a doomed attempt to assert complete control over our lives."

This quote makes complete sense when May goes on to describe how his own addiction began:

"[In the reaction to my father's death and my disappointment with God], something hurt and angry in me, something deeper than my consciousness, chose to dispense with God.  I would take care of myself; I would go it alone.  My wanting--my love--had caused me to hurt, and something in me decided not to want so much.  I repressed my longing....  I was searching for something that I could use to develop a sense of mastery over my life, something that would help me go it alone."

I've been watching people a lot lately, and I've seen more clearly how addictions arise from the hurts they've experienced.  It's sad to say, but for nearly all men, the deepest wounds come from their father.  These wounds are inflicted by several things:  hurtful words our fathers speak to us; words they never say, such as an affirmation; or, if our fathers were never present, either physically or emotionally, the damage is also real.

Our fathers teach us about ourselves; they model how we should honor and respect the opposite sex; they instill identity, courage, and resolve.  Let's be honest:  without our father, we look to either our culture for our definition of acceptable behavior or we look to ourselves, being moved and motivated only by what benefits us.  We live selfish lives, hurting others as we try to fulfill a perceived need and hurting ourselves in an on-going manner.

But the saddest part in all of this is when we refuse to deal with our addictions and pain by addressing the root issue.  We would rather remain the same:  ever dependent on the addiction or habit or activity so we can avoid the original pain and the pain of having that addiction removed.  Addiction truly becomes a tool for us to maintain control over our lives as we attempt to find happiness.

I pray that you will have the courage to step away from the addiction in your life, to be willing to experience the suffering of no longer relying on that comfort, and to embrace a heavenly, loving, and perfect Father.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2005. Print.  p. 5 and Cover.  The above quotes may have been edited for clarity and understanding outside their context.

Grace - Freedom from Addiction 3

In the following quote, Gerald May describes how his own addiction began.  Notice how the pain and anger he experienced because of his father's death opened a door for him to push God away and embrace another source of comfort:

"In a reaction typical for a nine year old, I expected God to somehow keep me in touch with my father after his death.  I prayed for this, but of course it did not happen.  As a result, something hurt and angry in me, something deeper than my consciousness, chose to dispense with God.  I would take care of myself; I would go it alone.  My wanting--my love--had caused me to hurt, and something in me decided not to want so much.  I repressed my longing.  Just as my father faded from my awareness, so did God, and so did my desire for God.  During college, I fell in love with literature and philosophy.  In retrospect, I think this was my desire for God surfacing again, as a search for beauty and truth.  I even tried to go to church on occasion, but I wasn't consciously looking for God.  By then I was searching for something that I could use to develop a sense of mastery over my life, something that would help me go it alone."

May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2005. Print.  p. 5.  The above quote may have been edited for clarity and understanding outside its context.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Freedom from Addiction 2

"Addictions are not limited to substances.  A person can be addicted to work, performance, responsibility, intimacy, being liked, helping others, among many other possibilities."

May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2005. Print.  p. 9.  The above quote may have been edited for clarity and understanding outside its context.

Grace - Freedom from Addiction 1

Below is a quote from and citation of a book I've read through recently.  I hope these quotations will shed light on both the depths of our freedom in Christ and the trappings which rob us of that freedom:

"All human beings have an inborn desire for God.  Whether we are consciously religious or not, this desire is our deepest longing and our most precious treasure.  Some of us have repressed this desire, burying it beneath so many other interests that we are completely unaware of it."

"Addiction and Grace" by May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 2005. Print.  p. 1.  The above quote may have been edited for clarity and understanding outside its context.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - It Must Be Experienced

"Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience, they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts." (A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, Kindle Locations 51-56)

Knowing Scripture is good. But Scripture's object is not Scripture. Scripture's object is God. Scripture, empowered by God's Spirit, points us to the abiding relationship with God. That's what we need.

Thank God for Scripture. But Scripture is not to be worshiped. Only God is.

-- John Piippo

Grace - John Gaston on Life in Christ

The following post comes to us from my good friend, John Gaston.

Enjoy!

Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ


And now, just as you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.  Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him.  Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7 (NLT)


Some people could look at this and see a command, but it's so far from that!  The New Living Translation's headline speaks perfectly, "Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ"

How did we accept Jesus Christ as our lord?  What did that look like?  What do we have to do when we accept something?

We don't have to do anything to accept someone's gracious gift to us, but just to be willing to receive.  That's it.  There's no prerequisite.  We accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord by His grace because He gave us the desire for Him in the first place.  He drew us to Himself.
 
We accepted Him by falling into the grace which was already laid out before us; we fell into the Holy Spirit's prompting.  Falling into something takes no works, no sweat, no striving--you just let yourself go.  (Picture falling back onto a fluffy memory foam bed.  Not much effort on your part, right?)

Paul goes on to say, "you must continue to follow him", but this must be understood in the context of the previous statement. Just as you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him.  So, just as we accepted Christ by falling into the Holy Spirit's prompting and just as we received the salvation He already paid for us, by saying a simple "yes", we were made a new creation (See Ephesians 1:13:  "...having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise" and John 5:24:  "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.").  The command, "you must continue to follow him", refers to your need to follow the Holy Spirit as you did when you were saved.  You continue in intimacy with Him, not as a command, but because it's what you were born for (or should we say, reborn).  He's the only one Who will satisfy you and your every need and want.  You were designed for intimacy with Jesus.  You were never designed to live by rules or commands.

Paul then says, "Let your roots grow down into Him and let your lives be built on him."  Here, the Holy Spirit showed me something specific:  the scripture verse used the word "let" twice.  When we let something happen, is there work on our part?  Naw!  It's passive; it's a restful state.  God shows us that we are naturally drawn to grow down into Him and our lives are naturally drawn to be built on Him.  He's the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  The only way we don't let our roots grow down into Him is by consciously choosing not to set our hearts on Christ in us and His love for us, but this is now actually unnatural for us to not do, for although we are still in this world, we are now not of it--we died and have been reborn.

When we live as new creations, our roots naturally grow down into Him.  We let them grow and we let our lives be built, but it's not in our own power that our roots grow down into Him and that our lives are built on Him.  It's His power working in us and us letting His power in us do the work, instead of us trying to work.  When we are not trying to follow a "command" in our own strength, the power of Christ's Spirit works.

After Paul states, "Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built upon Him", he says, "Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught."  Faith, being a gift, grows through Him.  It's awesome, but this passage reveals a deeper reality.  The phrase "in the truth you were taught" refers to the truth you are taught by God Himself, through the Holy Spirit given to us by Jesus.  Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."  Podcasts, books, and videos are all amazing--I love all of them, but our true source is God Himself.  Yes, we have fathers, apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors--all are important, but we are taught by God Himself.

Jesus is revealing all truth to us through His Holy Spirit in us!  Relax, receive, and let Him be your source, your life, and your teacher.

Grace=Peace

Grace - Good Enough?

"Yet for all the talk about being good, still no one can answer the fundamental question: What level of good is good enough? Bizarre. At stake is our eternal destination, yet we are more confident about lasagna recipes than the entrance requirements for heaven. God has a better idea: 'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God' (Eph 2:8). We contribute nothing. Zilch. As opposed to the merit badge of the Scout, salvation of the soul is unearned. A gift. Our merits merit nothing. God's work merits everything."

Max Lucado, Grace: More Than We Deserve, Better Than We Imagine, Thomas Nelson, 2012, 47.

Grace - How to Stop the Pain

James Richards, author of "How to Stop the Pain", says:

"Too often I sit in counseling sessions with people who say, 'This person has done this to me for years, and I am sick of it.  He is mean and uncaring.  He has hurt me for years.'  I often ask, 'How did he respond when you discussed this in the past?'  Then, to my utter amazement, I find that they have never discussed it.  It is true that the offender should have been sensitive.  But if it was not important enough for you to bring it up before now, then you are a partaker in your own pain.'

How true.  And he continues:

"The goal of confrontation must be to help that person as much as to help yourself.  You must help him to understand the nature of the offense.  He needs to realize the effect his actions have on others so that he can have the opportunity do something about it."

How unfortunate that we rarely extend a second chance to people--or even allow them the opportunity to offer a sincere apology after we've given them time to come to an awareness of how their actions affected us.

Grace=Peace...even among ourselves,

Jeremy

Grace - Live Loved

Just a short message today.  I hope you're all doing well.

"We are accustomed to living without love.  It affects our perceptions and decisions."  Wayne Jacobsen

Are we aware of our Father's love for us?  I submit to you that if we were to truly dive into this awareness, none of life's disappointments--none of our "issues"--would adversely affect us.

I see people struggling, and they need help, but we must start with the love of the Father.  An awareness of His love for us calms us, it stills us.  Being the Anchor of our soul, He assures us that all is well.  Our mind stayed on Him (Isaiah 26:3) gives us peace.

As Wayne Jacobsen says above, our perception and decisions are affected by the level of awareness we have.

I hope you will stop and reflect on just how loved you are.  It will affect every perception you have and decision you make.

If you are struggling with an addiction or loneliness or depression, I submit that it's not strength you need, but to rest in the presence of His love for you.  It will calm you.  It will heal you.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - The Awareness of Our Sins Does Not Produce Righteousness.

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.

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?

Grace - My First Step

I'm not perfect in my behavior--none of us is.  I've got hang-ups--all of us do.  There are things I've done that people hold against me, and I, too, have been hurt and had occasion to be offended, especially when people have either shut me out of their lives, or held grudges against me for years without ever honestly approaching me about them, or even both.  But in recent months I've grown to move past the forgiveness that people normally offer, which is really only a platitude, to the importance of non-judgment and a willingness for restoration and reconciliation--all which more accurately represents the heart God desires us to have for each other.  It's a result of applying Grace teaching.  I just wish we were more patient and honest with each other than we are.  

Recently, two friends have shared with me how the Gospel of Grace is being resisted at their respective churches.  Topics such as sanctification, sinner vs. saint, and assurance of salvation are always at hand, and that's the case with these two friends who are preaching grace and bearing much fruit along with those who receive and apply the Gospel.  What I find is that people flock to Jesus when the Gospel (and these topics) are taught aright.  But, in contrast, those with differing views tend to -- and I mean no insult or condemnation -- these brothers and sisters tend to have their eyes focused on themselves, rather than Christ.  They would never say that, but in some ways, it's as though we were all trained to look to ourselves and our resolve to live the Christian life.  "Jesus is great, but you need to get to work."  I think I'm seeing more and more that that kind of "living" is devoid of the life for which Jesus died and poured out His Spirit.

Joy?  Miracles?  Revelation of His love that causes you to weep?  Experiencing His heart *for* you?  Gifts of healing? Prophetic words of knowledge? Rest in Father?

Where are these among us?  And why is each of them *not* a part of our daily life?

I believe it's because, 1). the Gospel is preached along with exceptions, and 2). we've been taught to be suspicious of good news.  We've heard that God loves us, but that message is effectively cancelled when we're then told to do something for God.  And why do we have to always be at work?  Because when someone "qualifies" the Gospel message and limits the work of God's love toward us, we are essentially told that we're not good enough yet and that we haven't been sorrowful enough for our failures.  That's the work that we're told we should always be about. We're told that it's us who needs to actively maintain our salvation and especially our righteousness and holiness.  I don't know about you, but that's a heavy weight, but it's a burden we can't carry.  Only Christ can.

"Learning to trust Him...is not something any of us can resolve in an instant; it's something we'll grow to discover for the whole of our lives, and He teaches us with more patience than we've ever known"  Wayne Jacobsen

Because of the subliminal message that "the Gospel is too good to be true", or "Jesus is not enough, you need to sacrifice something else", I believe we're robbed of the full freedom which we're meant to live in.  We can only experience that freedom when we trust.  It really is that simple.

I remember that the first step I took on this road to freedom was when I understood the revelation that I no longer had a sinful nature.  I likened my previous experiences to an attempt to remain stable on shifting sands; if the battle in me was on the two foundations of myself (two natures), then I never, never, never stood a chance for victory.  But, because the sinful body has been removed, this revelation showed me that the battle was in my thought life, not in my nature, and Holy Spirit now sought to reveal this truth of my identity in Christ.  I realized that I was a saint the moment I believed in Jesus, and if I sinned, it didn't change my nature, but that action was inconsistant with who I really was:  a saint, not a sinner.

I didn't need to ask to be forgiven; I already was.  I didn't need to be sanctified; I already was.  I didn't need to climb the mountain of the Lord; I was already seated with Him in the highest of places!  We're not bringing heaven's kingdom into our realm; we are bringing our real realm, the kingdom, into this natural realm.

This is victory; this is freedom.  This is reigning in life and far, far, far, above simply avoiding sin and doing good, which has the fixated attention of most of the church.

Someone preached Grace to me, and Grace taught me.  You may have heard someone also preach that John 1:17 says:  "grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."  The verb "came" is in the singular form in the Greek, not plural (grace and truth).  The reality is that grace is the truth and the truth is grace; they are inseparable.  It is KNOWING the truth through the preaching of grace that brings freedom.

So, if you've made it through reading this post to this point, I hope you'll take what I've said to heart and realize that the Gospel is probably a lot better and Christ in you more complete than you've thought.  You're released from trying to fix your life.  You're released from holding judgment against others.  You're released to live loved.  You're released to see Jesus, and Jesus only as your freedom, life, righteousness, holiness, and refuge.  Paul focused on resting, and God did more through him than through any other apostle.  Let's see what happens for you when you rest as well.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - How Does God Deal With Our Sin?

Check out this link:

http://escapetoreality.org/2013/03/15/how-does-god-deal-with-our-sin/

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Adam and Eve on the Road to Emmaus

In Genesis 3, God carries on a conversation with Adam and Eve.  They've just messed up by believing they could (or needed to) choose between good and evil for themselves.  This act brought sin into the world and created in them an orphan attitude:  a fear of their Father.  They were, of course, not without hope, because God prophesied a coming Savior (Gen. 3:15b "he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel).

I wonder...

if God's conversation with these two, Adam and Eve, should be compared with Jesus' conversation with His two disciples, Cleopas and his companion, on the Emmaus Road.  They knew what they had seen during the last week and a half:  Jesus' triumphal entry, miracle after miracle, and Jesus' arrest, trial and crucifixion.  Even the report of the disappearance of Jesus' body and supposed resurrection made all they had seen and heard all the more confusing.

Yet Jesus did rise from the dead, and I feel like somehow He ends a conversation with them that He started in the Garden of Eden.

It's as if He were to say:  "Adam and Eve, here's the consequences of your choice to not trust in Me.  A curse will come upon you and all creation, but I will one day redeem you from it."  And to those traveling to Emmaus (Luke 24), He might have said:  "My disciples, I've now taken the curse and sent away all sin under the Law.  This was written about Me and foretold by all the prophets.  The work of redemption and restoration has been completed."

But I have a question:  Why did Jesus at first conceal His identity to those disciples?

Let's suppose you are seated beside someone on a plane.  You and this person casually strike up a conversation and it flows very naturally.  Believing the other person to just be a "normal" person, you speak honestly and are not tempted to impress.  Some time later, you learn that the person you were conversing with is an internationally-known business-mogol whose ingenuity earned his company billions.  How would you feel now?  Like an idiot?  That the topics you introduced in your conversation were absurdly below the intelligence and wisdom of this person?

I believe that Jesus hid His true appearance from those two disciples so that they would not have experienced the same fear as Adam and Eve:  that "Oh, Jesus, we really messed up", self-deprecating, groveling reaction, which would have blocked their ears from hearing the good news of restoration and reconciliation.  Because Jesus was sensitive to this possible reaction to them, He hid His identity, enabling them to hear the good news of Him first, which, as the Gospel news should do in any person, caused a fire to stir in their hearts.  He then broke bread with them, and only then did He reveal His identity, as if to say, "I'm not angry or disappointed with you.  I just wanted you know what great thing I had done so you wouldn't leave Jerusalem and be discouraged for the rest of your life!"

I pray that you will believe that Christ Jesus (God's ability to Save) really did settle those issues that you return to time and time again; that you would no longer look back to what you once were and did, and would now see yourself fully restored, reconciled, righteous, sanctified and holy, and complete in Jesus.  Stop groveling and begin reigning.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Fatherhood Defined

The first-century Jewish hope of a Messiah did not include the idea that God would be incarnate in human flesh.  That He would be with them, yes.  But certainly not one OF them.  The Jewish people expected Messiah would be a man whom God anointed, much like Moses, David, or Ejilah.  However, His plan was much greater, but He had to disguise Himself, and He did so, as a baby in a lowly manger, as a young boy in Nazareth, and as a young man walking in and around Galilee.  When God revealed Himself in Jesus like this, NO ONE reacted in cowardice and fear, and for the first time since the Garden of Eden, God walked among His people

People were drawn to Him, not repelled.  His gracious presence allowed them to be real and thus find acceptance.  Jesus didn't want sinners groveling at His feet which, for us, has unfortunately become the model of holiness.  "Fear God because He is Holy!" is the trumpet call of slave mentality under the old covenant.

No, God is a loving God who has settled the sin issue:  Jesus said, "If you really knew Me, you would know my Father as well."  Such tender images are given to us to explain our Father's love and desire for a tender relationship with us, IN us:

Young children beloved by a gracious Father

The bride of an eager bridegroom

Friends dear enough to die for

Little chicks under the loving wings of a hen

When we see the reactions of sinners afraid and prostrating themselves before angels and manifestions of God, it has less to do with God's holiness, and far more to do with how sinful people naturally reacted to God.

How did Peter react to Jesus?  "Go away from me, Lord.  I'm a sinful man."  How did Jesus respond?  Did He say, "Yes, Peter, you're a lousy sinner.  Be grateful I don't vaporize you right now"?

No!  He elevated Peter to be a son, a co-heir, one who goes about the business of his Father!

So, stop groveling and start reigning!  God is serious about the intimacy and security of a relationship with Him built on love and trust.  And for those who think this is presumptive on our part, well, guess what, it was His idea, not ours!

"Finding a true friendship with the living God never demeans who He is.  It doesn't reduce Him to our level and allow us to treat Him tritely; it only defines His Fatherhood in ever more grandeur." - Wayne Jacobsen

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Moses Changed!

I want to share something in Scripture that I recently noticed.  We all know that Moses couldn't speak very well, right?  Here it is, Exodus 4:10 in his own testimony in two translations:

Moses raised another objection to God: "Master, please, I don't talk well. I've never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer." (MSG)

But Moses pleaded with the Lord, "O Lord, I'm not very good with words. I never have been, and I'm not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled." (NLT)

But look at what must have changed when Moses is mentioned in Acts 7:22:

Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action. (NLT)

...and Moses was taught in all wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in words and in works.  (YLT)

What???

Well, I guess two things must have changed:  Moses' heart and speech.  It's obvious that Moses was not confident at all when called by God, but after spending time with God, Moses has experienced God's continual affirmation.  God blessed all that Moses did and He brought favor and honor to Moses.

Could it be that when we experience the Father-love of God, a confidence we've never known grows and influences not only our attitude, but also our (dis)abilities?  Could it possibly be that Moses, having become confident that God contended for him, eventually became the man whose speech was powerful, effective, and eloquent?

I pray that Grace will continue to show you who Christ is IN you and FOR you.

No limitations, for...

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - His Presence Gives Us Confidence To Go Off The Map

The following passage is taken from Bill Johnson's book "When Heaven Invades Earth".  Enjoy!

"History provides us with a lesson from a great military leader.  Alexander the Great led his armies in victory after victory, and his desire for ever greater conquest finally brought him to the foot of the Himalayas.  He wanted to go beyond these intimidating mountains.  Yet, no one knew what was on the other side.  Senior officers were troubled by his new vision.  Why?  They had gone to the edge of their map--there was no map for the new territory that Alexander wanted to possess.  These officers had a decision to make:  would they be willing to follow their leader off the map, or would they be content to live within its boundaries?  They chose to follow Alexander.

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit can present us with the same dilemma.  While He never contradicts His Word, He is very comfortable contradicting our understanding of it.  Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of Scriptures enjoy a false sense of security.  None of us has a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit.  He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth.  But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map--to go beyond what we know.  To do so successfully, we must recognize His presence above all.

There is a great difference between the way Jesus did ministry and the way it typically is done today.  He was completely dependent on what the Father was doing and saying.  He illustrated this lifestyle after His Holy Spirit baptism.  He followed the Holy Spirit's leading, even when it seemed unreasonable, which it often did.

The Church has all too often lived according to an intellectual approach to the Scriptures, void of the Holy Spirit's influence.  We have programs and institutions that in no way require the Spirit of God to survive.  In fact, much of what we call ministry has no safeguard in it to ensure that He is even present.  When our focus is not the presence of God, we end up doing the best we can for God.  Our intentions may be noble, but they are powerless in effect."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy