You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free

What is Grace Really?

Galatians 1
Galatians 2
Galatians 3
Galatians 4
Galatians 5
Galatians 6
Man Born Blind
A New Me
Conversation With a Friend
Buffoons?
God Used Who?
A Deep Breath of Grace

"I had grown through the dark, dank, funky pits of hell to a corner of heaven in such a short time that I was having trouble catching up with my own life." I received this quote from a friend recently. It comes from Iyanla Vanzant.

This person then went on to say, "I'm not questioning God or what he has done in my life I just feel over the past few years, I put "me" on a shelf (the old "me) and have been creating a brandy spankin' new 'Me'."

We know that when we are in Jesus, there is a new creation that occurs. Everything becomes new. But it's His creation, not ours. It happens on the inside, and manifests results externally. His work is in the heart. People look at the external things. God looks on the heart. People come to us with the list of do's and don'ts. And we listen to all of the things that they say in a sometimes-desperate search with all the vulnerability that comes in the soul search for who we are supposed to be in the new life.

2 Corinthians 5:15 and 16 - "He died for all so that all who live-having received eternal life from him-might live no longer for themselves, to please themselves, but to spend their lives pleasing Christ who died and rose again for them. So stop evaluating Christians by what the world thinks about them or by what they seem to be like on the outside. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, merely as a human being like myself. How differently I feel now!"

The Grand Design is so far beyond what our minds can comprehend that when we put our finite perspective on it, we take what is God's and make it ours. Christ is not mere human like us, yet He dwells in us.

My view is that when the Lord saves us, He does a very complete job. He doesn't leave anything out. He had already done an amazing job of creating us, now He is taking what He has made, and completing what he started. For too long, (for centuries in fact) men have been taking new Christians and trying to make them become something completely different. Paul tackled this issue over and over again in his writings, and to be honest with you, it amazes me that more people haven't seen it. What the Lord wants to do is make us into the people He created us to be when He made us in His image.

We have already been well made, as TD Jakes has so well pointed out. When we try to change what He made, it's like saying, "Lord, you really are very good at what you do, but in this case it's not quite good enough. I think I can do better." But God has made each and every one of us totally unique. There will never be another you. You can reach people, and touch lives in a way that no one else on earth can, right where you are. With your gifts, your personality, your own smile, your vulnerability, your life experiences, your love for people, your gift of hospitality, your sensitivity, you can be the person that God made you to be.

It's when we try to conform ourselves to the image of what others perceive as being benevolent that we get into trouble. When we try to do things that we aren't equipped to do, then we put pressure on ourselves, and we can't quite figure out why it's not working. All we know is that it just doesn't feel quite right, and its not really getting the job done, and we don't really feel fulfilled in what we're doing. We look around and say, "there must be more".

I'm going to take this a step further, and say that with the doctrine of the "eradication of the old sin nature", comes a grave danger of throwing the baby out with the water. While in a constant state of penance we work so hard at the death of the "old self", that we throw away the "real self" that God made. We search and search for what the new man is supposed to look like. It gets so hard. We find ourselves looking around at what the person next to us is saying about how the Lord is talking. By the standards of our peers, we try to become something we aren't, and should never be.

Now, yes the old nature, that "old man" gets us into trouble when we allow it to rise up and slip into sin. It's the big part of the reason Paul wrote Romans 6 and 7. The thing is we can't stay there. That's why we need to be in the presence of the Lord, in the Word and in prayer. When we really get the view of who God is, and how He loves us, we can walk in victory. But I do not think that the sin nature is totally eradicated from us until we see Jesus.

What really happens is that the "old man" is transformed into a new creation, and it's for a REASON. There is a purpose! Careful reading of that passage in 2 Corinthians 5 reveals this.

"So we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being. How differently I think about him now! What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!
All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ's ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, "Be reconciled to God!" For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."

Listen to the words of my friend again, and hear the inner struggle.

"All of the sudden I feel a war going on between the person I once was and the person I am becoming. The old me, the survivalist, the one that got me thru the rough times is all of the sudden fighting to stay alive, with my secrets and history. The old me knows my defense mechanisms and where my weaknesses lie. The new me! The spiritually conscious, spiritually grounded me, is fumbling around trying to figure out, what works now? I guess it's the part of me that has yet to be proven. I believe strongly, I want to change deeply, my newfound identity to emerge. I guess the new me is still not quite sure it will work. It's then, the old me goes to work. It nags at me. It tells me I don't have time to pray and to meditate; telling me "how is all THAT suppose to work anyway?" It seems the new 'me' is getting backed up against a wall and is now borrowing from the old 'me'. I suppose there are two distinct personalities needing to be integrated.
I guess I have to keep in mind that while all this is happening there is still divine restoration going on. I know God is preparing me for a great work and this could be just another step in preparation. I'm becoming more spiritual, I think."

In a sense my friend is right when saying that there are two distinct personalities that need to be integrated. I would prefer to see it as the whole, real 'me'. Growing, groping, and sometimes clawing at the walls of that are in our lives, self must somehow die, and at the same time be alive to Jesus. Jesus is saying that He comes to give full and meaningful life. John 10:10The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness. He is in the process of making it happen.Philippians 1:6 says "I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again."

There are things that are said about the inside, the church, the "structure", the doctrines and the people, that make for a more difficult series of distinctions. The church is the way that the Lord has chosen to do His work until He returns. This is undeniable. The problem is that what the "church" looks like is not what the early church looked like. Through the centuries, from before the time of Jesus until now, people have assembled in places of worship to satisfy their spiritual hunger. We all have that spiritual hunger. We all have need of fellowship and encouragement. God made us relational beings, and we need each other. With the congregation of people follows the necessity of government and order. With that necessity comes the ceaseless fallible nature of man. With that come well intended acts of men and women in places of authority and influence, who hurt what God intended to heal. It's really hard to watch at times.

I will say that I am convinced from reading the scriptures that the way of rejection and ostracizing is the way of the Pharisee. The Pharisees did the only cases that I can see of people being put out of the church. There is a section of 2 Thessalonians 3 that says; "Stay away from any Christian who lives in idleness and doesn't follow the tradition of hard work we gave you. For you know that you ought to follow our example. We were never lazy when we were with you. We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so that we would not be a burden to any of you. It wasn't that we didn't have the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow. Even while we were with you, we gave you this rule: "Whoever does not work should not eat."
Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and wasting time meddling in other people's business. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we appeal to such people-no, we command them: Settle down and get to work. Earn your own living. And I say to the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good."

Please notice that when people have too much time on their hands, they often spend that time meddling in the business of others. Paul says to these people, calm down and get to work. But even though Paul says don't hang out with lazy people because they tend to gossip, he goes on to say that this does not mean to stop talking to them. He says, "Stay away from them so they will be ashamed. 15Don't think of them as enemies, but speak to them as you would to a Christian who needs to be warned." Nowhere does Paul say to ostracize them. He says talk to them, and warn them if necessary. But don't just sit around idly and meddle in other people's business.

The Bible says that where His Spirit is, there is liberty. That's what the entire epistle of Galatians is about. And actually it's a theme that runs all through Paul's writings. We have to get free of the judgements and condemnations of others, and work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. I can certainly relate to the struggles my friend describes.

The most painful thing to many about the events of life is the loss of intimacy and fellowship with friends. It can be absolutely devastating, and take a long time to get over. People that they had prayed with, and worked with, earned the respect of, loved with all their heart, worshipped with and served are gone. The Lord knows the heart. Words of forgiveness and repentance can be said over and over again, but at times the hurt rises again.

But I can tell you that the Lord in His mercy and grace has brought us to this place. There is ministry for the castaway. The Lord is ready to use us, no matter what men may say. I am convinced that most people have had enough grief already and don't need any more. So let's choose to be a blessing.Let's not run down God's people.