How?
Not concerned…
Our sin has absolutely no effect on God's attitude and posture of perfect love, attention and care towards us if we are in Christ. It is one of complete love and commitment to us no matter what we do or don't do because first and foremost, it is based on the work of Christ, not ours.
But also, because we are created in his image. He values his image in us and desires that image be developed to the maximum of its potential, i.e. that we become all he intends and designed us to be for His glory and our joy. As his fully redeemed image bearers, God's commitment to us is fixed and unrelenting. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
But also, because we are created in his image. He values his image in us and desires that image be developed to the maximum of its potential, i.e. that we become all he intends and designed us to be for His glory and our joy. As his fully redeemed image bearers, God's commitment to us is fixed and unrelenting. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Very concerned…
The essence of sin is our alienation and separation from God due to our rebellious distrust of him. Even as his children, who are completely forgiven and fully loved, this alienation *still exists, is very real and has real effect/harm; it's just that in Christ, it exists only on our side of the relationship, not God's side. As someone once said, "if you don't feel close to God, guess how moved. Hint... it wasn't God."
It is not that God is worried by our distrust, but he cares greatly about our experiencing all he has for us as well as our putting him on display so others might be drawn to him and also experience that love.
To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbors as ourselves is to be fully aligned and in harmony with the heart of God. To the degree, we are not loving God and our neighbor in this way (i.e. with everything we have) is the degree to which we are not in harmony and alignment with him. Again, this has nothing to do with God's love for us. This is totally settled if we are in Christ. But this has everything to do with our love for him and our properly displaying him in all his glory.
To be out of alignment with him is to not see and enjoy him fully or display him truly. He is relentless in uprooting those areas of unbelief in us that keep us from being closer to him, for our joy and his glory.
It is not that God is worried by our distrust, but he cares greatly about our experiencing all he has for us as well as our putting him on display so others might be drawn to him and also experience that love.
To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbors as ourselves is to be fully aligned and in harmony with the heart of God. To the degree, we are not loving God and our neighbor in this way (i.e. with everything we have) is the degree to which we are not in harmony and alignment with him. Again, this has nothing to do with God's love for us. This is totally settled if we are in Christ. But this has everything to do with our love for him and our properly displaying him in all his glory.
This alienation/ misalignment (by us) is completely separate from his alienation from us. His alienation was already fully addressed in Christ and no longer exists. As Christ shouted out, "it is finished." There can no longer be any separation from God's side. This separation is now only on our side.
Our moving away from him in rebellious distrust does not keep God from loving us but keeps us from fully participating in the manifestation and experience of his love already totally and absolutely fixed upon us in Christ.
_________________________________________________________
*our alienation from God still exists because remnants of our rebellious unbelief still exist within all of us, even as his children. It is this unbelief God continually works to eradicate for our joy and his glory.
_________________________________________________________
*our alienation from God still exists because remnants of our rebellious unbelief still exist within all of us, even as his children. It is this unbelief God continually works to eradicate for our joy and his glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for dropping by. Feel free to leave any comments, questions or thoughts and I will try to reply within 48 hours.
If you like our posts please feel free to subscribe to our blog and recommend others to the same. Just click on the home page at the far left of the navigation bar up top for instructions.
Grace to you
Jim Deal