Which is it... sinners or like God?!

God's love for ⁴us is without conditions. FULL STOP! i.e. to be fully accepted and embraced by God requires nothing from us. God's love for us is based on someone else meeting the requirements, ¹not us. 

However, that doesn't mean there is not a good reason for His infinite love for us. There is a major reason. He values and therefore loves us because we are like him - in His image. 

This has nothing to do with what we do but with who we are. Who God made us to be, not our trying to make ourselves more acceptable and loveable to Him or others.

This is why He loved us before we lifted one finger for Him. In fact even while we were still in our state of rebellious distrust of Him.

"...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us..." - Romans 5:8

"...But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—..." -  Ephesians 2:4-5 

Have you ever scratched your head wondering why he would value and love us while we were still in a state of rebellious distrust? It is because our rebellion didn't cancel out or erase our being like God, it only marred it - though severely. 

This resulted in our spiritual sight and sense going dormant (until His Spirit opens our eyes). We are now broken and blind to seeing God's infinite worth, beauty, and love. The Bible describes this as being spiritually blind and dead to God. 

But our capacity for love, light, and life from God didn't go away and is fully intact - we are still like God - even when we don't trust Him i.e. we still long to love and be loved. We are hard-wired for love if you will, because God is love and we are like Him. 

God values and loves our being like Him because we still have the capacity to fully partake of the community of love that God is as Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. 

This capacity for infinite love never went away; it only ceased to function properly. In our broken and spirituality-blind condition, we now long for the wrong things - instead of the only true thing that can fill our longing for love - because we are blind to the true Source of love - i.e. our Creator.

A recap and summary 

Our being in God's image is vital to how God sees us and who we are. This means there is good reason for Him to love us i.e. because of who we are, not what we do. 

We are not just rebellious - aka "dirty rotten sinners." This is only half the story - ultimately the far lesser half - once we accept his offer. The more important half is we are still also like God with the infinite capacity to fully engage, delight in, and commune with the infinite and experience His infinite love and joy!!!

Being like God has nothing to do with what we do (our good deeds) for others (God and other bearers of His image) - as far as being in good standing with Him - but has to do with something about us - i.e. who we are, not what we do. 

God's love has nothing to do with something that comes from us or is offered by us - i.e. something we do in an attempt to earn His love. 

Our only requirement is to recognize that Christ did everything necessary to fully restore us to His Father and accept this as a free gift (the essence of grace). 

Do you receive this? If you only know this in your head but haven't fully believed it, simply recognize He did everything necessary to restore you so He can pour out His love on you. A love He already has for you. Because nothing you can do will restore you to God...nothing - not your abilities or deeds!!! 

Accept His offer of complete restoration. If you are sincere in accepting and receiving His offer of perfect love, He will immediately restore you 100% legally now and ²completely upon His return.

"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price (you can't buy it or earn His acceptance of you)." - Revelation 22:17 

For God to have a relationship with us in the same way the Father and the Son have with each other, we had to be like him in one essential way i.e. we had to be able to receive and return love to God like God does between and among the Father and Son, in, by, and through the Spirit - i.e. God IS love. Love is the central and essential core of who God is!!! We are like Him i.e. we are hard wired for this same love. 

But love for God first, not just between each other. Our love for others must flow out of our love for God. This is why the greatest commandment is to love God first, then our neighbors. 

Does God need anything from us? No! He has Himself.

But when we say he loves us without conditions, that is not to say he doesn't have longings and desires for us and from us. He yearns to commune with us. Why? Because we are like God and God is love. He is the source of love, life, and all things and knows our greatest meaning, purpose, and joy is found only in Him!!

James 4:5 says:

"Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us' ”?

Nevertheless, His love for us is without conditions i.e. no deeds are required from us in order for His love to be set on us.

This is possible only because Christ fulfilled all the conditions ³necessary for him to love us freely and fully. Even to the point that the Father loves us in the very same way He loves His only eternally begotten Son. Jn 17:23.

"I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me."

So does our love and pursuit of God matter since it's not required?

While there should never be expectations or conditions put on us for the gifts freely given to ⁴us or on others for the gifts we gladly give them, it is legitimate to enjoy and eagerly anticipate the appreciation from others for those gifts.

When gratitude is shown for the gifts we graciously receive, it delights the giver because they know their gift (and love) is not just accepted but also enjoyed and appreciated.

This reminds us of the 10 lepers that Christ healed and only one returned and showed gratitude. As a result, Christ engaged him further because he demonstrated by returning to Christ that he appreciated what Christ did. Lk 17:12-19.

To hope for and enjoy someone else's appreciation for what we give them is different than ⁵demanding their gratitude.

This also happens to be how God loves us and enjoys a relationship with us. God doesn't ⁵demand our obedience in exchange for His love. He delights in it. We are this way because God is this way. We are in his image.

In order for him to have this kind of love relationship with us we had to be like him as much possible without actually being him.

For a further discussion on why God loves rebels but not rebellion click here 

Are we rebels against God? Click here 

For a further discussion on the solution to our rebellion click here. 

 For a further discussion on why God delights in our love click here.

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¹Who met them? Christ!!! For only He could, not us!

²The claims of Christ and His return!! and Knowing God but not fully yet.

³this is necessary because we fail to. No one fulfills the greatest commandment to love God with everything we are and have. Do you? I certainly don't!

⁴ Who is "us." Is it humanity in general or us who have trusted Christ. It is both. God values all his image bearers by virtue of them being like him. But only those who accept his offer of restoration actually participate in and experience that love as we are designed to.

⁵We demand things from others only because we believe must have them in order to be loved. God doesn't because He is already a community of love between the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. He doesn't need us, to be who He is and therefore does not need to demand our obedience. 

However because He is love he delights in our entering into and participating in his love. He seeks for - "requires" - us to love him because he knows that is where we are most complete and find our greatest joy.

True obedience

Is obedience merely doing what God says or is there something more to it?

True obedience is as much about intent as it is about action. It isn't about action only, but why we act.

Many are not self aware enough to know the "why" of their actions. But there are several ways to tell. 

Is our "obedience" for our gain and not the gain of others? We may need to probe a bit to know.

If we do not pursue God's commandments out of love for him, and a desire to honor him, it is not true obedience but merely performance to impress others. It is seeking to gain the approval of God and man by our good deeds. 

Doing things to impress others is not true obedience, i.e. it is not actions that comes out of love for another i.e. for another's gain or benefit - but action for my gain. 

This is action to get something for myself, not action to give something of myself.

For example, the Bible says the plowing of the wicked is sin. But how can plowing ever be wrong? It is a wholesome and honorable activity, right?

If we believe we reap the benefits of plowing solely because of our efforts and do not recognize God enabled us to plow - i.e He gave us our mind, body, the tools, and skills to plow - we do not understand or acknowledge that God is the provider and giver of all these things - our time, strength, health, and every resource needed to perform a task, etc. As a result, our plowing honors us, only takes care of us  and brings praise to us, not God who enabled us to plow. If He didn't give us minds, hands, breath and life itself we would not and could not plow. 

In this scenario, our benefit is the reason we take action - i.e. our "why" - for plowing,  not God's honor or acting out of love for Him. 

Therefore, it is an act of arrogance, i.e. rebellious independence from and distrust in God. It is an attempt to gain for ourselves what only can be legitimately and truly found because of God and His generous provisions needed to perform a task. 

This may seem harsh at first since we may not be thinking of God at all. But that is exactly the problem. We do not recognize that all we are and have, our very breath, is a gift from God. 

We assume conduct is

good merely by the external action. However God looks at our heart and the intent behind our actions i.e. is it for self care and bringing praise to me or to honor God (bring attention to God not us) out of love for Him because He honored us by sending Christ to restore us to a right relationship with Him.

For a further discussion of what a good deed is click here.

Good deeds?

What are good deeds?

Do all "good" deeds come from the same place; a place of love? Can the exact same deed come from a place of wholeness by one person and a place of need by another? And if it comes out of ²need is it truly a loving deed?

Truly good deeds that come from a heart of love have ¹no strings attached. The doer of such deeds is only interested in the deeds being gratefully received.

But this is not because the doer needs it to be gratefully received for themself. But because it confirms the deed helped the recipient as intended to i.e. to show love.

Such deeds are not designed to manipulate others to meet their own need for love.

Deeds done out of a need for love are actually done under the guise of giving. Such deeds do not come out of love but out of a need for love and affirmation gained through their good deeds. This is giving of a sort but only superficially i.e. on the outside.

Truly good deeds are intended to give love and also enjoy receiving it as well. It is who were designed to be as bearers of God's image. But receiving isn't the motive for this kind of action. Love is i.e. giving not receiving.

Deeds done to fill a need in us is giving to get love. This comes out of a need for love, not from a place of love. It comes from emptiness (lack of love) not fullness. Therefore it is not truly giving, but ²taking.

This need only exists because of our disconnection from our Designer and Creator who is the source of life, love, and all things. We can not be truly loving if we are not plugged in to the Source of love.

If we accept God's love extended to us through Christ we shift from being takers of love to givers but not until then.

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

- John 15:4-5

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Footnotes:

¹good deeds are not enough. But deeds done out of love. This is why love is not easily offended. It comes out of fullness not need...

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things...

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." - 1 Cor 13:1-7, 13 

²this is not to say such deeds are never helpful, but in time we may find they have clear strings attached which may cause us to have to detach from those who "love" in this way.

The claims of Christ and His return!!

Christ did everything necessary to completely ¹unwind and reverse all that is wrong in the world. 

Yet the world remains a mess.

Why?  

Because the reversal Christ gained is not automatic or 100% complete yet and humanity at large does not take advantage of it to experience what is offered.

 

Why don't people take advantage? 

Because they (you) either don't understand what He offered, believe it is true, or think it is necessary. 

However, the mess the world is in clearly indicates how necessary this reversal (renewal) is. 

Yet we refuse to acknowledge and receive what Christ has done and offers. We are too distrusting, arrogant, and self-absorbed. To use a Biblical description... we prefer being "our own god." We believe we can be our own savior, deliverer, and provider. 

Christ's claims

This reversal is not only necessary but also very real, if only because Christ said it was. But he didn't just say it, He did all that was necessary to reverse our mess and resolve our problem individually first, but also collectively. 

It was because he made these ²claims, he was put to death.

The irony is Christ making the claims He made resulted in the very solution needed to fix things i.e. he had to die so we could be free from death. 

This is the great paradox of Christ's message i.e. life comes through death. A paradox the nation of Israel missed and one we also miss today. People look for deliverance from difficult circumstances first when our need for spiritual deliverance is our greatest need.

One of many of his ²claims and predictions was he would be put to death but would also ³raise himself from death on the 3rd day. Which ⁴he did. 

No one had ever done this before or since, much less claimed they would. His coming back to life was ³unique only to Him. 

His resurrection also confirmed and verified everything else he said about Himself was true. God would not support or acknowledge a fraud or liar much less bring Him back from the dead!

His resurrection is why His claims should be heeded above anyone and everyone else's. 

What were Christ's other key claims? 

He made several, including: 

• Being the Son of God: 

Christ claimed to be the divine and eternal Son of God, equal in power and nature to God the Father (John 1:1-3,14,18, John 10:30, Philippians 2:6). 

• Being the Messiah: 

He claimed to be Israel's long-awaited Messiah or the Christ - the anointed one - i.e. sent by His Father to save humanity from ultimate death and destruction...spiritually first but literally in the future (John 4:25-26, Matthew 16:16-17). 

• Being the resurrection and the life: 

He claimed that He has the power to conquer death (which He did first by His own resurrection) and grant eternal life (resurrection from death) to anyone who believes in Him (John 11:25-26, Romans 6:9). 

• Being the only way to God: 

Christ claimed that He is the exclusive way to God, His Father, and that no one can approach God properly except through Him (John 14:6, Acts 4:12). 

Why? Because He alone did what was necessary to restore us back to good standing with our Creator. Our seeking to be our own god cuts us off from experiencing all He is and offers as well as all we were designed to be. Something God warned about at the very outset of our existence. Christ did what was required to reverse all of this - our rebellion and all the fallout that has since followed.

• Being the true vine: 

Christ claimed to be the source of spiritual life and nourishment for believers, comparing Himself to the vine and believers to the branches (John 15:1-5). 

These claims, along with His teachings and miracles, formed the basis of His followers' belief in Him as the divine Savior and the only way back to God. 

Christ claims to be alive today and also claims he will return to literally rule the world with truth, love, justice, and abundance. 

Because he is alive and said he will return, it is wise to ⁵study all he did and all he claimed to be. If what he said is true, our (your) present and eternal state and happiness depend on it. Something worth exploring, wouldn't you agree?

For a further discussion on why Christ must be the only way to God click here and here

For a discussion on Christ's central message click here 

What is the "good news?" Click here.

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¹So when will he fulfill the complete restoration he promised? 

For now, he reverses the legal consequences i.e. there is no longer any judgment or condemnation for anyone who believes His claims and accepts his offer of forgiveness and restoration to His Father. 

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." - 2 Cor 8:9

What is fully extended to those who believe His claims is perfect acceptance by Him and His Father and their infinite love that can never be taken away. 

And ultimately he will eliminate the practical and physical consequences of the mess the world is in as well. These promises will be fulfilled when Christ returns to establish heaven on earth under his literal, physical reign. 

There will be no more pain or tears or death in the new life He will set up on earth. There will only be perfect flourishing, abundance, and the perpetual progression of joy, adventure, and creativity to His honor and glory. 

We will enter into a never-ending, increasing state of bliss and fruitfulness without barriers or limits, for we will be fully engaged and partake in Him, who is the source of life, love, and all things. 

²And what were the primary claims that resulted in His death? He was God who took on human form to live among us. He was the promised and long-awaited Messiah; the Christ; the only Anointed of God.  

Religion and "good" deeds do not and can not restore us to the Father. Only He could and does if we believe him and the claims he made about himself. He invites us to come and believe. 

³No other religion or religious founder made this claim, much less fulfilled it. NO ONE! 

⁴You may find the movie "A Case for Christ" helpful regarding this. It is a true story about an atheist named Lee Strobel who set out to debunk Christianity and Christ's claims.

⁵This blog may also help.

 

Why the honeymoon doesn't last

How does a believers walk with God change after that initial honeymoon period when they first came to Christ?

Not long after becoming a believer things actually get harder for most believers. In some cases much harder.

Why is this? Doesn't God promise great or greater circumstancial blessings in a believers life when we walk with him? Yet life often gets harder not easier. Why?

Because the greatest blessings God promises are spiritual, not circumstantial (He doesn't promise there will be no "bumps in the road,") financial (good money), or physical (good health).

The ¹main blessing he wants to give us is a deeper relationship with him - who is life itself and giver of all things. This blessing is spiritual because it strengthens our dependence, walk, and joy in Him. To the extent we pursue Him in this way is the extent we may also experience circumstancial blessings as well. 

He seeks to wean us from the

¹pleasures of this world and our dependence on them - not necessarily give us more of them. He does this so we might grow deep spiritual roots into him and find Him our greatest joy, ¹instead of created things.

For things to get better (in Him) they often must 1st get worse (in life). Or as Christ said, "to live we must die." 

We must be weaned from ¹that which keeps us from the best thing - God himself, and a closer walk with Him - not grant us pleasant or comfortable circumstances.

The following quote by John Newton (author of the song "Amazing Grace") captures the essence of this in the following quote.

"Everything is needful that He sends. Nothing can be meaningful that He withholds."

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Footnotes:

¹It is not that he doesn't want us to enjoy and appreciate his creation. He absolutely does. But when the pursuit of the pleasures in this life become greater than our pleasure in God, we actually lose in the long run and miss out on the greatest pleasure of all; knowing and walking with God. 

The best thing God can do for us is deepen our walk with him and our joy in Him, not necessarily make our circumstances better or easier.

What Christ and unbelievers have in common

The disdain that many unbelievers have for "Christianity" is sometimes 100% justified.

How?

Their disdain is usually toward the pretense and hypocrisy among those who claim to believe in God. Yet Christ himself also disdained and even condemned this attitude and behavior. 

Pretense and hypocrisy are far too common among churchgoers. But why?

Because of a performance or works-based approach to "Christianity" i.e. legalism - which is not true Christianity at all, but only gives the appearance of being Christian. In reality, it is the opposite of and opposed to the gospel of grace, the essence of Christ's message. 

Unlike a heart "ruled" by grace, performance-based "Christianity" is based on self-salvation which leads to pretense, pride, and hypocrisy. It rejects the necessity of the work of Christ to restore us to the Father - not rejection with their words necessarily (many say the "right things") but in their heart - and believes we can save ourselves without God and His Son, i.e. we don't need the righteousness of Christ assigned to us because of our unrighteousness. To believe this is to also believe our deeds are somehow better than Christ's. 

This is actually an insult to Christ, and all He did to restore us back to a right standing with His Father. In effect, we are saying Christ's work is useless, worthless, and unnecessary because ours is superior. 

This approach was also the very same issue Christ had with the self-righteous religious leaders of His day.  

How does this self-righteousness develop?

Many, who live in the Christian community and profess to be Christians, are aware of the high ¹moral standards Christ calls us to e.g. love your enemies, love God with all you are and have, always treat others as you wish to be treated, be grateful for all things at all times, especially the hard things etc. 

But they do not know the power necessary to live these out - i.e. a heart moved by love, not by ²mere will power. 

So on the outside and before others, they pretend to live by those standards because they know this is what is expected of a "good Christian." But behind closed doors, and out of the public eye, their true self is ³revealed. 

This is especially true for those closest to them, particularly their children. The criticism often leveled at these so-called "Christians" is they expect others to do as they say but not as they do.

But outward "obedience" only is not true obedience. True faithfulness springs forth from the heart of someone who knows they are truly unrighteous yet infinitely and perfectly loved at the same time. As a result their righteousness is a response of loving faithfulness to God in return, not an attempt to be good enough to earn God's acceptance.

As Christ said, "If you love me you will keep my commandments..."  It doesn't say keep my commands to win my love or impress me and others by your wisdom. 

This was the problem of the Pharisees during the time of Christ. They were all about appearance and pretense to gain the praise of men. They were not about substance - i.e. true faithfulness out of a heart moved by love for God. 

Ironically, those unbelievers who disdain hypocrisy are far more aligned with Christ in this one vital area than many who profess to be Christians.

For a fuller discussion about hypocrisy click here

Why does Christ consider the poor in spirit blessed? Click here.

For a discussion on self-righteousness click here

Should we pursue Jesus or morality? click here

Why religion comes up short click here

Why Christ came with grace not just truth click here

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Footnotes:

¹Also common among those who are legalistic is an overbearing and condescending emphasis on "right doctrine." These self-proclaimed "defenders of truth" can sometimes recite the various teachings in the Bible impeccably, sometimes better than some true lovers of Jesus, but it is from their heads, not their hearts. There is no grace or humility in there criticism of others. It is the fruit of arrogance, not a humble heart, that seeks to honor God by being faithful to His words.  

Those who are like this tend to always be on a spiritual witch hunt to expose those who do not cross their doctrinal T's and I's perfectly according to them. 

However, correctly comprehending things is not the same as believing them. We can comprehend and even explain things perfectly but that doesn't mean we believe them. And faith in the work of Christ for us - i.e. the gospel - is central to being a true follower of Christ, not perfect doctrine.

²Our wills are certainly involved but not to "obedience" - i.e. outward conformity to prescribed behavior - but to faith. We must either believe the gospel of grace and God's infinite love that comes to us by it or we do not believe it. This is the true and legitimate exercise of our will and the choice we are called to make. 

Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”- John 6:28-29

³And no one sees this better than our own kids or family. "Do as I say and not as I do" is a common expression used by parents when their kids or extended family push back on the inconsistency between their private life and their public life. This is common among those who are superficial in their Christianity and may be an indication that they are not a true follower of Christ at all. 

For any kids that had such parents growing up, don't miss the true message of Jesus and the good news he offers of crediting his good deeds to us as if we did them and the removal of our condemnation for our rebellion to Him. 

The key to answered prayer

Is there a key to answered prayer? Let's see.

We are told to...

1. "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psa 37:4. 

The key to the 2nd part is the 1st part. When our delight is in God first, our desires align with His. When they do, He gives us what we both want.

2. "Seek 1st the kingdom of God and all these things will be added..." Matt 6:33. Here we are told to focus on the Kingdom not on things we need.

And...

3. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread...Matt 6:9-11

All 3 of these passages are saying the same thing. If God and His agenda are first then everything else aligns and follows. Our desires and goals and His become the same. This is what ensures that he'll grant them and delights to do so.

In the Lord's prayer above, 3 conditions are listed before we are invited to ask for our daily bread.

*Acknowledging God's position and person - "Our Father in heaven..." i.e. all we are and have are only by the gracious hand of our loving Father above. 

*Desire for God's Kingdom (just rule) to come on earth - "Your kingdom come..."

*And a desire for His will to be done on earth the same way it is in heaven - "Your will be done on earth as in heaven..." 

After we have acknowledged these 3 prerequisites, then we are invited to ask God for our daily physical and material needs, but not before. Otherwise, we are reversing God's prescribed order i.e. things become our focus not the provider of life, love, and all things.

Seeing our heart

¹Unanswered prayer is the best way for us to get to know who you really are - what's really in your heart - who or what do you value most and why do you desire it.

There is nothing wrong with asking God to provide for our daily physical and material needs but if he does ¹not grant us what we wish and ask for, prayer is God's invitation and an opportunity for us to examine our hearts and make sure we are delighting in Him above everything else and aligned with His heart first and foremost. This not only honors Him as the giver but is where we flourish most and find our greatest joy.

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Footnotes:

¹Have you ever wondered why many of your prayers go unanswered? It may be because you are asking for the wrong reason. James says it this way...

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." - James 4:3