Freedom in Christ
...is a really cool thing. Over the past few days/weeks/months/(years?) God has been trying to teach me some humility. The Casting Crowns' song Who Am I comes to mind, and has been running through my head a lot recently. Basically, I am incompetent, messed up, useful, and a complete fool. And I have to say, that's a wonderful thing. Because God has also been teaching me to see me as He sees me. Which is a saint. I am His child. I am this powerful soldier in the battle against Satan.
It's an interesting counterposition with the idea of humility. But the humility aspect is that nothing I do has anything to do with that status and how God sees me. I can't do good to earn that, and I can't mess that up by sinning. And that's the point He's been drilling with me lately--goofing does not change my status in His eyes. God has already cleansed me. He has fundamentally changed me. I am free from sin.
That's not just a cliche--as a follower of Christ I have been freed from the bounds of sin. I don't have to sin. End of story. It's not who I am, and I don't have to do it. God has made the change in me. As such, if I do goof, if I do sin, if I do take a brief moment of lust because I see some coed walking by wearing effectively nothing (welcome to spring at IU), nothing changes. That's not who I am, that's not my nature. Falling doesn't change me. I have felt such a freedom in that respect in the past few weeks.
Now I don't propose sinning because I can. As Paul said, I don't use my freedom to indulge the sinful nature. But not worrying about "not sinning" has freed me up so much that I'm actually not sinning as much. I just don't have the desire. It's such an amazing transformation in attitude. It's such a basic thing, but it's all God. I can do nothing. I praise Him for everything He's doing in me.
I see so many of my friends who need this freedom in their lives, and I pray God does a work in their hearts as well. Because, once again, it's not something I can force on them or do for them. It's all God.
It's an interesting counterposition with the idea of humility. But the humility aspect is that nothing I do has anything to do with that status and how God sees me. I can't do good to earn that, and I can't mess that up by sinning. And that's the point He's been drilling with me lately--goofing does not change my status in His eyes. God has already cleansed me. He has fundamentally changed me. I am free from sin.
That's not just a cliche--as a follower of Christ I have been freed from the bounds of sin. I don't have to sin. End of story. It's not who I am, and I don't have to do it. God has made the change in me. As such, if I do goof, if I do sin, if I do take a brief moment of lust because I see some coed walking by wearing effectively nothing (welcome to spring at IU), nothing changes. That's not who I am, that's not my nature. Falling doesn't change me. I have felt such a freedom in that respect in the past few weeks.
Now I don't propose sinning because I can. As Paul said, I don't use my freedom to indulge the sinful nature. But not worrying about "not sinning" has freed me up so much that I'm actually not sinning as much. I just don't have the desire. It's such an amazing transformation in attitude. It's such a basic thing, but it's all God. I can do nothing. I praise Him for everything He's doing in me.
I see so many of my friends who need this freedom in their lives, and I pray God does a work in their hearts as well. Because, once again, it's not something I can force on them or do for them. It's all God.
posted by spocktongue at 9:52 AM
1 Comments:
that's cool, bum... you're learning in very personal ways what this "sanctification" stuff is all about. I think you're right on the money - there's no *need* to sin any more, and in Christ we have been given a new nature. (one of my seminary profs calls it "the gift of a new identity")
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