legal vs practical consequences of distrust

When we in Christ, the legal consequences of our rebellious distrust of God - condemnation, alienation and death - are no longer part of our status (i.e. we no longer stand condemned before God) nor are they a part of God's disposition toward us. These are entirely removed. They can not be revisited by God and should never be by us. To do so dishonors Christ and his work on our behalf. As Christ said in his dying breath "It is finished..." The work required for us to stand right (perfect) before God is done, over, completed! We can add nothing to it.

The practical consequences of our ¹distrust of God, however, are fully in play and have a real, ongoing, and significant impact on our disposition or sense of closeness to God, our day-to-day relationship with Him, and experience of His love. ¹Distrust may no longer be a legal issue for God but it is still very much a practical one for us.

Though these are entirely separate issues, both are equally significant in how we relate to God. To the degree distrust is no longer a legal issue it is equally significant as a practical one. We often mix these up and have a hard time keeping them separate.

Accurately assessing and acknowledging these two very different and seemingly opposite - but vitally ³connected - aspects of our relationship to God are essential to living in the fullness of love now that he's called us to i.e. to love God with all we are and have and our neighbors as ourselves. To not see the former clearly - i.e. our legal status - is to not enter into the day-to-day practical benefits of our relationship with God fully.

To fully participate in the life we now have in Christ we must see both our perfect righteousness before God and our ongoing deeply embedded distrust of God at the same time.

To recognize and focus on the practical issue of our ongoing distrust is not to revisit - place ourselves under - God's rejection and condemnation we were once under. It is to clearly assess where we need to trust Him more. In Christ, rejection, and condemnation by God no longer exists. We are now fully accepted, cherished and embraced by God. 

The practical issue of our distrust is an entirely separate matter from the legal consequences of our rebellion. It has to do with our moving toward or away from God, not God moving toward or away from us. In Christ God is now fully and perfectly for us, never against us. He is now Immanuel - God with us. 

The practical issue of our distrust must be addressed daily if we are to honor God, experience all He has for us, and be all He created us to be.

To illustrate, once a couple marries, they are fully husband and wife no matter how strained their relationship becomes. Unless they legally divorce, they will remain husband and wife with all the vows, responsibilities, and potential benefits of that relationship intact. However, while held together by binding covenant, they can become completely alienated from each other emotionally due to distrust within the relationship. To build trust does not make them any more a husband and wife legally than they already are but it does make them better partners as husband and wife i.e. The practical outworking of their legal status as husband and wife is more fully and appropriately expressed,  experienced, and demonstrated when trust is a vital part of the relationship. The more they trust each other the more they experience the other's love.

Trust is vital to our developing a stronger relationship with God just as it is with our spouse - or any other significant relationship. This involves our ongoing and increasing love and faithfulness to each other. In each, the stronger the relationship, the more healthy, satisfying, and rewarding it becomes.

Is God's love conditional or unconditional? For a further discussion click here.

For a further discussion on the now but not yet aspect of the gospel, click here.

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¹Even though we are redeemed and the legal consequences of our distrust are gone and no longer held against us, distrust itself remains. It is still embedded in our character, nature or disposition. 

Though trust is greatly restored once we are initially reconciled to God it is still deeply ingrained in our makeup and its negative effects still linger, even as His children. 

God continues to work on and  increase our trust - remove our distrust - in order to strengthen our relationship with Him i.e. He seeks to increase our faith and our experience of His perfect love.

²We are freed from the latter (distrust) to the extent we grasp the former (no condemnation). The greater our grasp of our perfect legal standing before His unfettered love the more impact it has on us practically in our trust of God and day-to-day walk with Him. In this way these two aspects (legal and practical) of our relationship with God are vitally connected though they are seperate.

³Though I am perfectly loved, I do not experience his love perfectly. How far that progresses in this life depends on the progress of my faith-trust in God and faithfulness to him. Once we are in eternity and glorified, the unfettered experience of his love for us begins. Distrust is no longer part of the equation/relationship i.e. we will fully trust at that time because we we will be face to face with Him. We will be like Him because we will see Him as He as is, our perfect loving God.

The more we learn to trust him now, the greater our experience of him in eternity - and today. He is our greatest reward.