Love or consequences

As God's children, we are no longer ³condemned by God for our ¹poor choices - choices which always result in harmful actions. There is no ³condemnation for those who are in Christ.  

But neither are we protected from the short term consequences of those choices and actions.

These two truths are the positive and negative guard rails that are intended to help guide us. 

Love motivates us to make the right choices (leading to right actions). Fear (respect) of negative consequences motivates us to avoid the wrong ones. 

As God's child, we have no fear of rejection by God but should fear that living contrary to our design always has negative consequences. 

As God's image bearers our choices matter because we are created to love and honor God. To live contrary to this results in harm and destruction to ourselves and others. 

As God's children our choices do not matter when it comes to being loved and accepted. In Christ we are always infinitely and perfectly loved and fully accepted and embraced. 

But as the bearers of God's image our choices always matter and must align with how God designed us and the world around us.

Being fully loved and ²experiencing consequences for poor choices are each as true as if the other does not exist. But because of Christ these ⁴exist together and both for our ultimate gain and benefit. 

For a further discussion on the "anatomy" of motivation click here. 

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Footnotes:

¹By poor choices I simply mean disobedience. Disobedience is the resulting outcome (actions) of our rebellious distrust of God. And distrust is at the heart of our choosing to be our own god. Being our own god was the temptation our original parents bought into that brought pain and death into the world. We still operate this way to this day. 

²God may mercifully suspend the the full consequences of poor choices when we sincerely acknowledge them - i.e. "repent." But there is no guarantee. This would be a supernatural intervention and interference of their natural (organic) outcome. Without His mercy (intervention) the consequences will remain, hence His intervention is mercifull.

Plus only God knows the sincerity of our heart (and what best aids our maturing) and when we truly abandon (turn away or repent of) a poor choice or only pretend to in order to get relief or some benefit. 

God's objective is our drawing nearer to Him, which is a matter of the heart. This results in a change in behavior.

³Why are we no longer condemned? Because Christ was condemned in our place. The very fact that someone (Christ) was condemned means God's law (will, design) matter. There are always consequence for violating it (them). Because of Christ stepping in for us the long term legal consequences no longer fall on us but fell on Him. Instead of the judgment and death rightly due us we are given forgiveness and life. These were earned for us not by us.

⁴ "Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other." - Psa 85:10 

Freedom and the Spirit

"...Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." - 2 Cor 3:17

Why is their freedom in the Spirit's presence? Because God ¹is not only Spirit but He is also love.  Therefore, where the Spirit is present, love is also. 

How are these connected? 

As bearers of God's image we are created for love - because God is love. In order to experience His love, God knew we must be like Him to fully experience Him as love and to freely function as God designed us to. 

When we are in God's presence His love fills us up and frees us from always trying to gain or win love from God and others through our actions i.e. good behavior.

Not only does God not demand from us certain actions in order to win His love, He also knew we could never do enough to win it. So He made a way to remove the barrier between us created by our ³rebellious distrust so He could pour out His love on us freely again. This was made possible through the efforts of Christ - efforts driven by Christ's perfect ³trust in the Father of love. 

Whenever we are in the presence of God, we are also in the presence of infinite ²love. This love energizes us to do (obey) and be who we are designed to be. His love results in our wanting to live for Him vs our feeling pressured to, so we might avoid rejection. There is no risk of rejection when love is completely secured for us by the perfect actions of another - i.e. Christ's.

Obedience that springs forth from love is not action we have to take, as a legal requirement, but action we want to take. Obedience occurs supernaturally, freely and organically. Our "wanter" (will) is awakened toward our Creator in response to His love for us. A love fully secured for us by Christ's efforts alone, not ours. 

His love stirs us to our true potential—to become again what we were created to be - as bearers of His image - through God's Spirit of infinite love. 

This happens when we are in the presence of God in all His love. To be all we were created to be is not only what we desire, but His love also gives us the power to do it - i.e., where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Nothing good happens in us or through us apart from the Spirit (love) of God. 

And we have God's Spirit only because we are in Christ. But also because we are in Christ we have His Spirit i.e. this is true for every one of His children with no exceptions.

For a further discussion on glory, and how it ties into the above, I offer the following:

Created for glory II

Crowned with glory and honor

Giving and receiving glory

Why God calls us to glorify him

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¹In fact, some argue (and I agree) that the Spirit issues forth from the perfect love between the Father and Son. For more on this click here and here. 

²We are energized in the presence of any love but most fully when in the presence of the infinite love of God, who the very Source of love.

³the opposite of our rebellious distrust that alienates us from the Father.

Messed up image bearers

It is hard for us to acknowledge how messed up we are. And also how messed up the world is collectively because of us individually.

We hope and want to believe we can ¹fix things on our own i.e. be our own deliverer,  provider... our own god. But to do so requires us to be infinite in ability (power), wisdom, love, and life. 

Why? 

Because we were designed for the Infinite God with the capacity to experience infinite love, joy, delight and bliss in Him. Nothing less than the infinite (i.e. God) matches and meets our infinite longing and capacity for love. 

But we are not our own god. We are finite (limited) and therefore dependent. Our biggest problem is not being finite but our refusal to recognize our limits i.e. that we are finite with an infinite need. We will not experience our greatest potential and joy until we acknowledge our limits and need for infinite love, wisdom, and strength. 

All we are and have comes from our Creator. Without God, nothing else would be; not our minds, our bodies with their 5 sense (all gifts from our Creator), nor the beauty and wonders of creation we partake of through all these gifts. 

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Footnotes: 

¹To a limited extent we can fix things but it is only temporary. The solutions we find or bring do not match and meet the fullest extent of our infinite need and capacity for infinite love offered to us as bearers of God's image. 

No matter how well we are able to position ourselves and our world for maximum joy or happiness ²in this life, it is temporary and never lasts. There is always something to disrupt it. If nothing else, ultimately death itself; our own or those nearest to us. 

²So why bother to continue living?  Because God desires we be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with His love, beauty, wonder, and glory and experience the joy in doing so. 

But this requires we grow deeper roots of trust in Him. The more we learn to trust him in this life the more we experience him now and the greater our joy in Him and His joy in us, both now and throughout eternity. 

God energizes us

The more we see God as the source of life, love, and all things the more our focus on and attraction to Him grows. This, in turn, energizes us to pursue Him - our Creator - more instead of the ¹blessings of creation all around us. Our focus shifts away from the temporary to the eternal, infinite, and permanent.

When we see Him as the all-wise, glorious, and loving Creator that He is, following His directions - i.e. advancing His Kingdom through the faithful pursuit of His ²commandments - no longer is a chore but a delight. 

Why? Because we understand that faithful pursuit of God - who is ³life - is the primary means of drawing us closer to Him and experiencing life as we were meant to. In, by, and through Him is everything necessary to live the life He's designed us for and calls us to. 

Our design also indicates our purpose and "calling" from God i.e. what we were created for... why we exist.

At first, obeying and pursuing God feels more like death, not a means to life (and why Christ said to live we must first die). That is because it requires us to die to our dependence on the temporary things that only give short-term life - temporary satisfaction - in the moment, instead of eternal joy and delight in the Source of life, love, and all things.  

In reality, obedience wakes us up more to see why following God is necessary to experience true life found only in Him, who alone is lasting, never-ending - eternal - life.

This doesn't mean we don't need those created things we pursue but simply that they are temporary and exist only because He made them and grants us access to them out of His loving generosity so we might advance His glory and kingdom of love by loving others well. This also is where we find the greatest joy. 

Created things are given by God and best enjoyed when we fully understand they come to us as a gift, not as something we deserve, can or must earn, and are "rightfully" ours (when we think we've ³earned them) to use as we see fit - instead of as God directs. 

The reality is they are given to us so that we might receive them with gratitude as gifts to show us His love and in turn are to be freely shared with others on Christ's behalf as His ambassadors and point them to Him who alone is life. 

If we pursue God and He prospers us circumstantially - with improved finances, relationships, health etc - it is the result of our desire and pursuit to honor Him and His kingdom of love, instead of our agenda.

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Footnotes:

¹We still enjoy creation but not as something we idolize or worship but as something that conveys His love for us more fully.

²And what commandments does He call us to?

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” - Matthew 22:36-40

³What exactly is life? To find the answer we must look to God himself and what defines His life i.e. what does life consist of for Him - and in turn for us as bearers of His image? For more on this click here.

Pain, humility, and knowing God

Is there any connection between knowing God, humility, and pain? At first we may not think so. 

Let's take a closer look. 

Since humility is key to knowing, seeing, and experiencing God, we should embrace and receive, with thanks, anything that helps humble us, including and maybe especially pain and suffering.  

Instead of bristling at pain and pursuing ¹anything we can find to distract or relieve us from it, we should embrace struggles and be grateful for them. They often are a vital means of drawing us nearer to God. 

Knowing God is far more significant and beneficial than short-term relief from our struggles (though it often doesn't feel that way at the moment). Seeing and knowing this enables us to receive suffering with gratitude.

In short, the reason we are to be thankful for our struggles (vs complaining about them) is they ²can be a primary means of strengthening our understanding and relationship with God who is the source of life, love, and all things i.e. pain ²can be a very unpleasant means to the greatest and most desirable end - our increased union with God and the joy and happiness we find in Him. 

Thankfulness is the best indicator of humility. Humility is the key to seeing and knowing God in all His infinite love and glory.

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Footnotes:

¹drugs, alcohol, and sex are some of the more obvious and most common diversions. But diversions can also be more socially acceptable pursuits such as recreation, career, entertainment, material possessions, food, power, control, fame, or anything else pleasant that will help distract us or relieve us from pain. Bordem is also a form of low grade pain. 

This is not because pleasure in itself is bad. God created us for pleasure but in, by, and through Him. When comfort or pleasure in itself (the opposite of pain) becomes a higher pursuit than God, it is contrary to our design of finding our greatest happiness in God and what He provides. 

²Actually pain and struggle is a primary means to our increasing maturity and greater union with God when received with thanksgiving. I say "can" because it depends on us trusting God is using our pain for our ultimate good (even the pain caused by the failures and offenses of others). Otherwise suffering will only make us angry and imbitter us. 

"See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;" - Heb 12:15. No one likes being around a bitter and angry person - except maybe others who are same way. 

It is worth noting that the author of Hebrews was writing to people going through intense persecution and suffering at the hands of others.

Hebrews 12:6-8 ESV

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” ⁷It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons... 

Hebrews 12:11 ESV

¹¹For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 

Other passages that directly or indirectly address this vital truth... 

James 1:2-4 ESV

²Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  

Ephesians 5:20

"...giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,"  

1 Thessalonians 5:18

"Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 

Colossians 3:17

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." 

Philippians 4:6

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." 

This passage is particularly interesting because often we go to God in prayer for relief from difficulties, yet God says we should give thanks in those very kind of prayers i.e. don't just seek God for relief, seek God himself and be grateful for everything that aids you in knowing Him better, especially difficulties. 

Romans 8:28-29 

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [29] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

The good that God is achieving in all things (vs 28) hard or comforting is making is more like His Son (vs 29). 

Trust or isolation?

When we speak of trusting others we are also talking about ⁴faith. We may understand the importance of trust but this also indicates that ¹no one operates without ⁴faith as well. The two are tied together. 

For society to function well, there must be faith (trust). It is essential for people to work well together. Without it we isolate and things come unglued, fragment, and fall apart. We increasingly see this in society as integrity is set aside more and more.

Relationships of every kind require faith (trust) on many levels. Trust in someone else's knowledge, wisdom, ability, intentions, character, integrity etc. 

And confidence (trust) by others in us as well. Trust must go both ways in a healthy relationship. It is constantly either being reinforced or eroded by one's actions. 

Ultimately, at the bottom of it all, there needs to be trust in God. This is the most vital of all. On this, everything else rests and depends.

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Footnotes:

¹Some think faith is ⁴unnecessary. They don't need to count on - trust in - others. They can simply count on themselves. 

However, this is also based on faith. Faith that we have or can obtain everything necessary ²to function at the highest level on our own. Others are not necessary.

But we are limited. We don't know everything and don't have unlimited resources or the ability to obtain all that is necessary to reach our maximum potential, no matter how talented we may be or how hard we try. 

By ourselves, we aren't even sure what our highest good is. Is it having unlimited wealth, power, knowledge, influence, popularity, praise, and recognition? 

What exactly is our highest good and purpose that will give us the greatest sense of purpose, meaning, and happiness in life? 

Only someone with perfect and infinite knowledge would know and that is not us. 

Who would know and have this understanding better than our Designer who happens to also be the Creator of all things; the One who created everything for a specific reason and with a specific purpose in mind? 

If this all-wise and powerful being exists, it would be wise to find out why He made us and everything else, would it not? 

²It may be ³safer to function on our own but do we want to be safe or do we want to flourish and reach our greatest potential? 

God also created us as relational beings. First to have a relationship with Him but also relationships with others. If so, reaching our highest good without relationships is not possible. 

It is for good reason the Bible says the greatest commandment is to love God with all you have and are AND your neighbors as yourself. Both are about relationships.

It simply is not possible to operate well completely on our own. If you haven't watched the movie "Cast Away" with Tom Hanks, it illustrates this well. 

³In order for betrayal to occur, trust must be violated. If there is no trust, there can be no violation. This is why some refuse to trust anymore. They seek to avoid betrayal. They are acting out of fear instead of faith (trust) in God. 

But this requires isolation which has its own set of issues. If we are designed for relationship we can never be complete on our own.

In the long run, isolation prevents us from experiencing life to the fullest extent we are designed to. Those who isolate have decided a safe life is better than the fullest and best possible life. The life God created us to have. To live a safe life is to also miss out on the greatest riches God offers.

⁴I think there is a slight distinction between trust and faith. We usually consider trust to be something we give someone after they have proven themselves trustworthy through our personal experience with them. Whereas faith may be regarded as more of something "blind" i.e. we trust someone without first-hand experience of their trustworthiness but more from something we heard someone did in the past for someone else. For example, we are told Christ died for us, yet this was thousands of years ago. We did not witness this event firsthand. But we may be compelled to believe it is trustworthy for various reasons such as the loving behavior of someone who trusts the claims and actions of Christ or the confirmation of Christ's claims via the archeological or historical evidence that Christ was and did what we told his did and said.

Faith is disregarded and considered so taboo by some that they avoid using the word altogether (a carryover from "the age of reason" and our postmodern view of the world and a disregard for all things spiritual i.e. that which is beyond the material world we can see and touch). So they replace it with words like trust and confidence. But when we peel back the layers at the bottom of it all is faith in some form. 

While faith might have more to do with belief in something (usually God) and trust with dependence upon something or someone (not necessarily God) they are essentially the same thing i.e. only the object of our faith or trust is different, not necessarily the nature of dependence (trust) itself.