...the full measure

.....Been having a bit of writer's block lately....I have just been taking in all that God is teaching me and revealing to me and it's awesome!....I am more and more just letting the truth of the Gospel sink deeply into my heart and mind....it's such a freeing shift from the way I used to think....which ultimately was more sin focused and how to be more holy, as if it were up to me to produce my own holiness...( AS IF!) Anyway, I often think of wrong mindsets that were infused into the body of believers I was in. Such as, "If we aren't daily taking steps to defeat our worst enemy, how can we then be more and more molded into the image of Christ?" Our worst enemy was thought to be ourselves, the enemy within. Our worst enemy is Satan!! That is clear in Scripture!! Another was, "I know I am not where I should be in my walk with God. Proceeded by a woe is me kind of expression or a sigh.(ultimately a feeling of condemnation, which we know can never come from God!) Also, "how can we be molded into the image of Christ???" This one really gets me...
Everything that was required for us to please God, Jesus fulfilled those requirements at the cross and said; "It is finished!" He freed us from the curse of the law. We don't live by the code of the law(or legalism), but by the Spirit of God - Spirit of freedom, Spirit of liberty.

Now, don't misunderstand, I am not judging anyone here, and I too, said and believed these things. However, I just need to expose that this is a legalistic way of thinking, based on a wrong view of the gospel. You cannot add anything to the finished work of the cross....you cannot have both grace and works..this is an offense to the cross!!

I want to share a few verses, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21) We have been made righteous by the presence of His life within us. Another verse, 2 Cor.5:17, "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come." When we received Christ, we gained a brand new identity...no more indwelling sin. Also, 2 Peter 1:4 says that we have "become partakers of the divine nature." Our new nature is a holy nature. Romans 5:17 says that when we experienced the abundance of grace we also received the gift of righteousness. Rom. 5:19, 1 Cor. 3:16-17, Eph. 4:24 all discuss further our holiness given to us, we don't have to try to be holy, we already are, Jesus has become your life and your righteousness!!! So, let's rest in this truth, and live in the full measure of the Gospel!!