STAINED CARPET

I have become very accustomed to the inevitable discoloration that occurs on the carpets of my home due to the exploits and activities of my beautiful daughter. I often walk through the door just to be greeted by yet another uninvited stain that somehow has made its abode on the floor. Over time, these "guests" seem to become the defining trait of the carpet. They demand attention upon walking in the room and force you to utilize your resources to hopefully remedy the impact they have on your home decor. You can try to cover them up, but you are always conscious that they still remain. These stains, now embedded in the fibers of your carpet, have taken on the identity of that carpet and are the first thing that comes to mind when referring to it.

Have you ever been characterized or identified by something that you have done or has happened to you? people begin to refer to you as "the person who...." fill in the blank. What I've come to realize is that there will always be something that is attached to us that we will be identified by. It is how we relate to one another and make assessments and so on. If this proves to be true, then it is not a question of will we be labeled or identified, but what are we identified by? I have had many conversations with people who are very much aware of the internal struggles that they bout with on a daily basis and these struggles seem to define them. Insignificance, anger, jealousy, lust, disappointment, acceptance, sorrow, discontentment and the list goes on. The fallacies and poor judgment calls of their pasts are recounted multiple times over by others and themselves, becoming the very fabric in which their identity is made up of. The people who I am speaking of are mostly, but not limited to, my Christian brothers and sisters. Tormented with this consciousness and confession of their ability to fail, they grow deeply more intimate with the notion that 'I am a sinner....saved by grace, but nevertheless a sinner and I'll always be one'. My heart sinks. If you have any experience with what is commonly known as  "church", then you have heard this statement or, at the very least, gathered that this is the general sentiment. The problem is that the manner in which the message is conveyed is not biblical. The underlying tone of this statement is simply this: "my actions determine my identity". So it would stand to reason that if I sin, then that would logically make me a sinner. However, the question I must pose is this, what about the redemptive work of Jesus, was that of no effect? You see, I do understand about the principle of sin which made its home in humanity causing us to behave according to that nature, but the work of Jesus still must be addressed. 

The apostle Paul stated it this way, "when you came to Christ, you were "circumcised", but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision-the cutting away of your sinful nature"(Colossians 2:11). Forgive me now if this sounds crass, but if my foreskin is my sinful nature(my identity as a sinner and the principle which causes me to sin) and Christ cut it off, wouldn't that now mean that it is no longer attached to me? Furthermore, the skin that has now been removed is dead. For those who are a bit squeamish, I'm done with that example. Paul brings up this subject again and says this, "we know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin...so you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus." (Romans 6:6-8,11). What I am getting at is that if the purpose of Jesus' work was to cut off and remove the identity of sin from us and it was accomplished, then why do we still consider ourselves to just be "sinners saved by grace"? Listen to the statement, we were "saved"(past tense) by grace ,therefore our present state or condition must be different from what it was in the past, right? Please understand, I am not denying that there was a "stain" in our "carpet" and it became so absorbed in it that it actually defined it. That was true, but there is a greater truth that has superceded that one, which is that the old, stained carpet has been taken up and new carpet has been laid down so i need not focus on stains because there are no more. Now my cynical readers may ask, "well what about future spills...won't those spills stain this new carpet?" Valid point. Did you know that there is stain-resistant carpet that has its permanent stain and soil protection built right into the fiber during manufacturing? Although spills can still potentially happen, they can not impact this stain-resistant carpet the way it did the old carpet therefore it will never be its defining point. God loves us immensely and He knew that our sinful nature would continue to cause us problems, so through Christ Jesus, He removed it so we could now be identified by our relationship to Him as sons and daughters, not sinners. Our actions or sins we may commit now don't change our position as sons and daughters no more than speaking another language would not change my nationality. Once we begin to identify with who we really are now in Christ, sinning will never be a factor. We are children of God. Christ's actions afforded us that privilege...what could we possibly do to unravel His work?

Out With The Old, In With The New

After about three years of marriage, I have noticed that I have taken on various mannerisms and practices of my wife. They range from making lists and drawing small boxes next to the item or task, so that when it's completed I can check it off,  to acquiring a secret affinity for Gilmore Girls and their wit, not so much a secret anymore due to this transparent blog. One of the practices that I have taken on as my own, and actually enjoy now, is what we call "purging". It is a very simple concept of getting rid of things that we no longer use or enjoy anymore to make room for something better. We do it with movies, clothes, books and now most recently, perspective. For a long time I considered myself to be a radical Christian. The church I went to years ago was traditional, so I considered myself to be making the statement that I was not bound by religion or tradition by wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and Chuck Taylor's instead of a suit. I am now truly embarrassed by the absurdity of that notion. I was a licensed minister of the gospel, which is also absurd that I sought out a license from man to serve in the ministry that was given to each one of us by God, the ministry of reconciliation(2 Cor.5:18-19). I served in various ministries and stayed busy and worn out because, although I was unaware of it at the time, I was trying to please God by what I did for Him. I did not know that I was already pleasing to Him before I did anything. My identity was wrapped up in what I did instead of what Jesus had already done.  This proved to be destructive and discouraging because if i ever missed a "ministering" opportunity, I felt as if I had disappointed God. I had a very distorted perception of how God viewed me and how I viewed Him based on my past and present relationships, opinions and statements of others, and any other external source that I had allowed to dictate my perspective. This inevitably would influence my behavior, attitude and relationship with God. Which is where the "purging" concept comes in. I truly desired to be more intimate with God, to know Him and accept Him as Father, but I was going about it in the wrong way. My answer was "do more for God" and therein find a deeper relationship with Him. Although pure in intention, it was fatally flawed in practice. Have you ever worked at gaining someone's approval and acceptance...it is exhausting!! You get to a point where you think that you have now reached your goal in acquiring this desired position, but now you have to work to maintain your good standing. This, in a nutshell, was my frame of thinking. "Now that I've finally gotten into God's good graces through this tedious effort...now it's time to get to work". Sounds depressing. How can you enjoy being in a relationship with someone that you feel you have to work on getting them to like you? Wouldn't it be so much easier if you were fully aware that you already had their attention, approval and acceptance? Then all of your efforts that were being exhausted could be redirected and refocused to serve as a response to the love that was being shown to you. My journey into a more intimate relationship and friendship with God did not begin with what I could do, but who I was to Him. I found favor in His sight not because of my moral excellence but because of the value that He attributed to me. My identity was not secured by my own efforts, but through the loving act of Jesus willingly giving up His life for mine. Think about it, what causes something to be considered valuable? Is it the subject itself or what it can do or is it what someone is willing to pay for it? God thought that our lives were so worth giving His only Son. Could you give your only child? We make that statement and use the scripture "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" so much that I think that we have become desensitized to it. I don't believe that this was a casual and cavalier event for God..."Well, what's on the task list today? Go to grocery store, get my oil changed, give up my only son for the redemption of people who don't even really like me, complete my P90X workout...." No, I don't believe that this was in any form easy for God, but how important must you be that He found it to be absolutely necessary? God has gone through great lengths to place us in such a privileged position where we are no longer identified by our actions or who we used to be(2 Cor.5:21). Our sins have been perpetually forgiven because Jesus paid the debt that we owed(Hebrews 10:10-12). If you owe a creditor, all the creditor is concerned about it is getting their money. They are not concerned about who pays it, only that it does get paid. And once it is paid and the debt is satisfied, what more do you have to do in relation to the creditor....NOTHING!! The debt of sin was paid by blood, by death.  Jesus' death satisfied the debt and released us from it or pardoned us from it...so what more do we have to do in relation to sin? Our forgiveness is not pending upon anything we have to do, it is settled in what Jesus has already done. God has made such provisions for freedom by grace. We have been freed from the enslavement of sin, no longer subjected to its control(Romans 6:6-14). Sin no longer defines me because Jesus removed it from me. The label of sinner can no longer be attached to me because I have been made brand new. My very nature, my inherent tendencies, and character are totally new, with new proclivities to love God and love people. I am a son, not an orphan...a saint not a sinner.(2 Cor. 5:17, Col. 2:11, Galatians 4:6)