Grace or reaping what you sow...or both?

How the fall played out is an overview of how all rebellion towards God plays out.

When we rebel, we violate God's will and our design. As a result, consequences happen (Gen 3:13-19; 3:23-24) but grace is right there and also happens (Gen 3:9,15,21).

For us today, as than, the love expressed through grace is no less, even though the consequences are there and so destructive. And the consequences are no less even though the love is so great i.e. one does ¹not diminish the other.

In fact the greater the consequences the more loving it is for us to experience the ¹full brunt of them. Experiencing the full consequences of our rebellion demonstrates to us the fallacy and destructiveness of seeking to operate our way versus God's way. In short it shows us the importance of total dependence and trust in God and the destructiveness of not depending on and totally trusting him.

Because God is the source of all life, all goodness, all wisdom and all love, dependence on him and trust in him is not just the only way but also the best way to operate. It is operating according to who we are and who God is i.e. according to how God designed us and the world. 

All the pain and suffering that we see all around us today is a grand object lesson of the foolishness of distrusting God and seeking to be our own god. Yet it is also an even grander object lesson in the greatness of his love. 

Even though we seriously messed up, God himself took all the pain and suffering we caused upon himself in Christ and made a way for us (and eventually the creation itself) to be fully restored back to all the fullness of His love again.

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Footnotes:

¹If the full consequences of our rebellious distrust of God are ever witheld, it is only because God,  in his wisdom, deems it best to show us mercy i.e. His not letting us get what we deserve. 

Early on in our walk with God we experience God's mercy most. This is before we're more fully aware of how great our rebellious distrust is. So in His mercy he withholds the full consequences. But as we mature He allows us to experience more of consequences so we might better see the error of our rebellion and turn from it.

Free to be honest

Performance is embedded in the very core of our being. It is the fruit of believing we can be our own god. The exact same lie Adam and Eve bought into when tempted in the garden.

This is now so subtly and deeply embedded in our hearts and a part of our make up, it is our default approach to everything in life. Only by the Spirit of God, through the grace of God, bringing it to our attention, do we ever see and abandon it. This is not a one time event but a constant ongoing process.

Thank God he frees us and allows us to take an honest look and admit this deeply ingrained and hidden inclination away from Him because we now know He does not reject us in Christ. Because Christ has removed the barrier between us and God and gained God's total love and acceptance of us we no longer need to deny our deep distrust of God. 

He loved us before we ever trusted him. 

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

In Christ we now have complete access to every spiritual and heavenly resource. 

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places," - Paul the apostle. Eph 1:3

#distrust #Performance #Acceptance #Honesty 

God's Commandments...drudgery or delight?

Making out a "to-do" list does not motivate you to do it, it only reminds you of what you need to do. The motivation comes from elsewhere.

If there is no motivation, a "to-do" list is drudgery and restrictive. It only produces guilt because it reminds you of what you need to do when you don't have the motivation to do it.

If there is motivation, a "to-do" list is helpful and aids you in being more efficient, moving you faster and closer to what you already desire. It's the desire that drives us, not a to-do list. 

So it is with obedience to God's commandments.

Living according to God's commandments is rewarding and freeing when we are motivated by love, trust, and a desire to honor him.

But they are condemning and only produce guilt when we are not.

The solution? A clearer understanding and view of the love and majesty of God. A greater trust that He loves us without strings and that all his directives are for our good, given in our best interest and out of his relentless love for us.

If we act for any reason other than love and trust in God and a desire to honor him because of his great love for us, we are not acting by grace, in the Spirit, by love (these all go hand-in-hand) but by performance i.e. to earn God's approval versus acting because we already have it.

"By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." - John, a disciple of Christ. 1Jn 5:2-3

For further discussion click here

Valuing God...the maturing process

What we value and what we want are not necessarily separate. That which we truly value most we desire/want most.

However, we can "want" things simply because we "know we should" and not necessarily because we truly value them, i.e. They don't really hold genuine value for us. We only say they do because God (or someone else) said they should. 

And of course, none of us wants to say openly that we disagree with God. So we disagree "quietly" instead i.e. we hid our true feelings and beliefs from ourselves and others (though not from God). We only attempt to hide from God - thinking by doing so we can avoid dealing with them, i.e. We don't have to look at and address our unbelief/distrust in God and our subtle/hidden commitment to valuing something more than God.

A primary means of our maturing is coming to the place of wanting and valuing what we know we should, i.e. what we know we should value and what we actually do value are one and the same. There is no pretense (pretending). 

When our values are totally in line and integrated with God's values, we are operating as we were designed and have come to a place of true joy, fulfillment, and maturity.

The first step in this process is recognizing how much we don't want or value what we know we should.

"It's their (Adam and Eve's) fault!"

We may complain about being saddled with the decision of our first parents (Adam and Eve), feeling it's unfair. After all, we didn't choose to rebel against God; they did!

However, if you and I were given the exact same circumstances and choices, I propose we would have made the ¹exact same choice. So in this sense, they are a representative of all humanity. 

And what was their decision? To attempt to operate contrary to their design in complete independence from God, instead of in total dependence on God i.e. to attempt to be their own god. But this can't and doesn't work since we are dependent and finite creatures designed to live in chosen union with our Creator.

What many do not consider is that once they rebelled, the ultimate solution was immediately promised (Genesis 3:15) and a temporary solution was provided (Gen 3:21). God did not abandon Adam and Eve but pursued them from the very moment they rebelled - even though they had abandoned him i.e. God did not abandon them, but the other way around.

 

And He pursues us to this day. There has never been a time when God hasn't provided a solution to our rebellion since that day. A solution that is available right now for each of us and has always been from the outset of man's rebellion. The very fact that this solution is not popular is itself evidence of our rebellion. 

 

However, if you don't like how things went with Adam - or how they are now - why continue on that same broken path? We can simply accept God's solution. It's available at this very moment and has been from the outset. You may say, "But that's ridiculous. I wasn't even there." True, but you are here and offered the solution right now, at this present moment. 

We can, therefore, turn away from the path our first parents choose and return to the original path we were created to walk on simply by accepting God's solution to the problem ²they created - and we continue in. A problem we created,, not God. In effect, do exactly the opposite of what Adam did and trust God's promise-claims. 

We cannot blame our first parents (or God) for our present choices. There is a present solution and always has been, from the beginning, at the time of our rebellion. The simple fact that you are reading this is evidence that God is pursuing you right now (you aren't here by accident), and in Christ, God has done everything needed to restore you. All you need to do is accept his offer. 

God does not condemn us for our sin per se, since the solution for our rebellion (sin) has already been provided, and our just condemnation was taken care of. No, we are condemned only because we refuse the solution offered to address it.

Joh 3:17  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 

We now are the ones responsible for acting contrary to our design, not our original parents. We will be accountable for our choice, not theirs. It is our refusal to trust God and accept his present offer at this time that we are accountable for, not our parents' refusal.

Wish to know more about the solution? click here.

For a more in-depth discussion on what occurred at man's original rebellion, click here. 

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Footnotes:

¹So did God make a mistake in how he made us? I propose he made us exactly the way we are so we might know him truly as he is, to the greatest extent possible, thereby enjoying and partaking of him as much as possible. 

There is a mystery in this but I am suggesting how God made us ultimately was not only for God's highest glory but also for our greatest good and joy. It comes down to whether we trust God is good as He claims or He is not i.e. did he know what he was doing when he made us the way we are i.e. with the freedom to either trust or not trust Him? 

What we can not fully comprehend, we must trust is good. We can't prove He is good because of our limitations i.e. we are not all-wise and all-knowing, only God is. God claims He is infinite, in knowledge, wisdom, and goodness. But it's not as if we have no evidence of God's goodness. He gave is ample evidence of His goodness by sending His Son to remedy a problem we created and could not fix. He always does what is right and best. Do we or don't we believe these things He claims about Himself?

²If we reject God's offer and solution, this further indicates we would have made the exact same choice Adam and Eve made given the same circumstances. 

Morality or Jesus?

The church needs to get away from the ¹morality drill. Morality should not be our focus. Why? Because without God's enabling, none of us can truly be moral.

It's not that morality doesn't matter. It absolutely does. However, none of us can produce a truly moral life ²simply and merely by willpower. It is the fruit of something far deeper; something missing. 

Morality -- i.e. choosing to live according to God's commandments -- is not the cause of God's acceptance of us but the fruit of it. So why should we ask or expect the world to do what none of us can do on our own, Christian or otherwise? Morality is the RESULT of being loved by God first and then loving and honoring God in response - which also involves loving others as we wish to be loved.

Christ said, "if you LOVE me, you WILL keep my commandments" but instead, we somehow hear "I must keep God's commandments so He will love me." Sorry, but this is not his message. Read it again slowly and in its context. Morality shouldn't be our focus, the greatness, the goodness, and the love of God for us, and our response of love should be.

When we see God as he truly is -- all-loving, all-wise, and all-powerful -- for and to those who trust Him and that He is always present with us, this causes us to ²want to seek to honor him in our words and deeds i.e. to want to live morally Isa 6:1-8. We don't seek moral living as our primary aim. When we see him as he is, "high and lifted up," -- i.e. of tremendous value, beauty, majesty, wisdom, etc., loving God with all we are and have will be our primary desire and aim. In fact, this statement itself; that he should be our primary desire and aim, is a ¹moral statement and the true essence of morality.

We are not to focus on how poorly we or others are behaving but on how infinitely loving God is and with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves in response. Focusing only on morals causes us to take our eyes off of God. It is the cart before the horse.

People are tired of moralistic preaching and its condescending hypocritical message of do what I say, not what I do; of us expecting and demanding of nonbelievers something even we Christians cannot -- and do not -- do ourselves unless moved by God. The truth is NO ONE is or can ever be moral enough to be approved by God. Christian or otherwise.

So why are we trying to get or expecting the world to be moral? This is indication of our lack of understanding how morally bankrupt we all are. ³Morality is not what they need. They need Jesus first. When they fall in love with Jesus everything else follows. Then and only then will they want to honor him with their words and deeds.

All the "Christians" that are always preaching or demanding morality from an unbelieving world needs to please stop.

Instead, we are all called to fall passionately in love with God. To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is the greatest commandment for good reason. Don't we think this is convicting enough or a pursuit worthy enough of everything we are and have? Yet no one does this unaided by God's - Spirit, not even the most devoted among us. 

There is a reason Christ said on these two do all the other commandments hang. In fact, it's entirely dishonoring to God to focus on moral behavior because it brings attention to us, not him i.e. "look at how moral I am. You should be moral too"

Why? Will morality save us? NO!!! It's precisely because we are not moral and never can be moral enough to ever be approved by God, that God sent his Son to do what we could never do for ourselves; to provide and then offer to GIVE us a perfect moral status. Yes, give it! This is why it's called "good news." It is not something we do but something declared, if we'll accept it. 

We don't have to be moral in order to be totally accepted and fully loved by God because Christ did that for us. He was moral on our behalf and he bore the complete and total consequences for our immorality. We certainly need to recognize we dishonor God by our words and deeds but that is totally different from being moral in order to gain/win/earn God's approval. 

The truth is we must be 100% perfectly moral for God to ever accept us 100%. Well, guess what? That's never going to happen and that is precisely why Christ came and died. To provide morality for us and offer it to us as a gift.

For several posts on the legitimate role the law plays in a believer's life click here. 

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¹For a further discussion on the grounds or basis for morality click here.

²I am not saying we should abandon morality itself, but we should not expect morality from a person who does not know God and is not empowered by God's love to live morally. For the significance and meaning of morality click here.

Php 2:12  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13  for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 

³I am not saying morality isn't important, or there is no right or wrong. There is wrongdoing that causes real harm and should be corrected. But this is more a societal issue i.e. it addresses our horizontal relationships with our fellow man, not our vertical relationship with God as far as His acceptance of us.  

I am speaking of our personal relationship with God. I am saying the morality we all need to be good enough to be restored to God we can never produce. We are simply too morally bankrupt to ever be perfectly moral. True morality is the fruit of godliness not the cause of it. Godliness is the fruit of loving God. Loving God is the fruit of him loving us first. 

Perfect morality has to be provided for us and given to us as a gift. And since it does, this is the message we must bring others; the good news, not "stop being bad...and start acting good..." Rather we must declare we are all bad and can never be good enough. None of us. The heart of where we all drop the ball is we don't love and honor God according to his true majesty, beauty, and honor. All other immoral behavior is simply the fruit of not loving God as we ought and He deserves.

Our desires… Good or bad?

Our desires are:

·        A part of our being in God’s image

But also misdirected as a result of…

·        Being separated from God

-->So there is a good element to our desires. 

By virtue of being in God’s image we can enjoy, worship and glorify God. 

-->But there is a bad element as well. 

We are separated from God and therefore now lacking what we were designed to experience in Him…perfect love, joy, peace, pleasure, value, importance, meaning and so on. Because we are separated from the source of our true fulfillment due to distrust and rejection of our Father/Creator, we go about seeking to fill that lack with anything and everything (i.e. in or by creation) but that which can truly and only fill it, God Himself (the Creator).

Because we have spent all our lives attempting to satisfy our desires with anything but that which can truly satisfy, our desires are stymied, suppressed. As C.S. Lewis stated...

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

I would add though we may be pleased on some level we are never truly satisfied. 

By "weak desires," I believe Lewis means we have the capacity for much greater desires. However because there is nothing in this life to satisfy our truest, strongest and deepest desires, we keep them in check with temporary things. We anesthetize our deepest and greatest longings. 

To allow our true longings to fully surface would be too painful because nothing exists in this life that can satisfy them. It might even cause us to look beyond the temporary things we use to the Creator of those things instead. But due to our rebellion we avoid looking to our Creator with everything that is in us. We refuse trusting God (in our rebellious state controlling feels safer than trusting) to give us what we need and long for which He alone can provide.

However as we grow to trust God and let go of those things we use to anesthetize our longings, our capacity to receive His love increases. As that capacity increases our longings also increase. We feel more because our capacity to feel more has expanded. We are being restored to our original state of finding and enjoying God as the only and true satisfier of our hearts.