Life as we know it...........

I have noticed that there is a lot of confusion when trying to understand how to live as a believer. We have known only the laws and rules mentality of christianity for so long. We have eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and we know no other fruit. We say, "How then shall I live" and even books are written on the subject. Some include a bit of the old and a bit of the new, and we become confused. One minute we are grateful for grace and another we are trying hard to discipline ourselves to make our lives work. Then we get frustrated when our lives don't work. 

Well I say good then, go ahead get frustrated. Shouldn't life be natural? Shouldn't we know how to live because we know who we are? 

Think about it this way. I was born as a female. I started out as a baby girl that then grew into a woman. All my life I knew I was a girl and all my life nature dictated to me I was a girl. I don't recall stopping to think about how to act as a girl. I just learned to live from how I was created to live. Although I must admit, there were times I needed to understand things about being a girl, such as what was happening to my body as I matured.  I didn't start out mature as a woman. I grew into a woman, learning along the way.  I still will be maturing into the woman I will become. My identity is wrapped up in the fact that I am a woman and I live from that reality. 

So how does this relate to being a chrisitian you say?  My identity is how I live. I no longer live out of a mentality of good vs. evil, right vs. wrong to be secure in who I am. I live simply from who I already am. I am a new creation in Christ. I identify as Christ. 

But here's the trick. I think we get so hung up on understanding this and freely living out of our new identity because we aren't used to our new identity. 

Picture it this way. I am born into this world in Adam. Spiritually dead, and living out of the knowledge of good and evil instead of life. I live a significant portion of my life this way, then one day I experience a transformation when I believe in Jesus. This transformation takes away my old nature in Adam, that was spiritually dead and gives me a new life that is spiritually alive in Christ. So I go from being in Adam to in Christ, just by believing in Jesus. Wow! But, what happens when I go from one way of life, to a new way of life. Well, I wonder what now, how do I live? I went from depending on who I was to needing to realize who I now am. 

Life as I know it has completely shifted and I am now in the tricky place of learning to live out of my new life. But over time there is a shift, and I begin to learn to live from who I am. Oh, it's not without plenty of reminding myself of  the fact that I am a totally new person though. As time goes, my identity remains and I grow into the fullness of who I am. Just like as a little girl grows into a full grown woman. 

I am not sure if this analogy is the absolute best to portray my point, but perhaps you catch my drift.............You see as believers, life as we now know it is simply living out of who we have become in Christ. 

On works and rewards.........

"Our good works are a strong indicator of our readiness for judgement day."  This statement was made by a pastor in my old church and then discussed in a care group meeting.  Wow! I can't disagree with this strongly enough, so I will let Andrew Farley do it for me. (author of "The Naked Gospel" which I am thoroughly enjoying reading, thanks to Matt, and I highly recommend it.) 

"The events surrounding the great white throne are recounted 

in Revelation 20 and 21. Revelation 20:11 – 15 informs us that 

God calls “the dead” to his throne for judgment — those who 

are pulled up from the sea, death, and Hades. They are judged 

according to their deeds and then hurled into the lake of fire. 

There’s one criterion that dooms them: their names aren’t written 

in the book of life. 

Chapter 21 then addresses the church. Here God calls believers 

his “bride” and says there’ll be no sorrow for us in heaven. So we 

see a clear distinction made between the dead pulled up from hell 

in chapter 20 and Christ’s precious bride in chapter 21. The bot- 

tom line is that Chris tians won’t be put 

on trial and judged, since we believe in 

the Lord Jesus Christ and our names are 

written in the book of life. 

One eye-opening statement con- 

cerning our perfect standing before 

the Judge is made by Jesus himself: “He who believes in [Jesus] is not 

judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because 

he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” 

(John 3:18 NASB, italics added). 

Despite the clarity of God’s Word, I’ve heard some use the 

final judgment to instill what they term “godly fear” in believ- 

ers. I’ve even heard some say that they determine the quality of a 

sermon by how guilty they feel afterward! Taken out of context, 

the great white throne judgment can seriously damage our sense 

of assurance. "

"Paul 

speaks of our works being tested to see if they’ll endure: 

No one can lay any foundation other than the one al- 

ready laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this 

foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay 

or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because 

the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with 

fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 

1 Co rin 

thi ans 3:11 – 13, italics added 

The principle is simple: Anything built on Christ will stand

the test of time; anything done in fleshly effort will not. But you 

are never on trial. You are not on the conveyor belt. 

This is a crucial distinction to make, since many Chris 

tians 

aren’t clear on it. God has divorced who we are from what we’ve 

done, so that our destiny and standing are not in question. At the 

same time, the Father wants to showcase all that his Son has ac- 

complished. And there’ll be a grand celebration at the end of time 

as we know it. "

Also, in this same vein of thinking is the whole idea of earning rewards in heaven. Quite like was mentioned to me the other day as I met with someone. She said she wanted to get rewarded for her efforts to live a holy God pleasing life. So let's see what Andrew says regarding this thinking. 

“OK, so maybe we ourselves are not going to be judged, but I 

still want to earn tons of rewards in heaven!” Quite often I’ll hear 

a statement like this after teaching on our freedom from God’s 

judgment. 

As humans, we always seem to be looking for a punishment- 

or reward-based motivation to keep our behavior on track. While 

we’re more apt to dismiss a blatant guilt motivation, the picture 

often painted is that God will be doling out mansions of various 

sizes and other merit-based awards when we hit heaven. Chris- 

tians have commonly used the term rewards to refer to extra 

square footage or certificates redeem- 

able for crowns and jewels in heaven’s 

gift shop. 

 In reality, the term rewards does not 

appear anywhere in the New Testa- 

ment. The apostle Paul speaks of a “re- 

ward” (singular, not plural) or a “prize” 

in the context of running a race and reaching the end. But Paul 

also notes that everything else is like garbage next to knowing 

Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:8). Given this truth, do we  really be- 

lieve that God will be awarding larger homes and nicer jewelry to 

those who depended on Jesus more? 

God doesn’t want us to think and act in certain ways because 

we’re seeking to accumulate heavenly merchandise. Just as Paul 

was willing to lose all things for the sake of knowing Christ, we 

too should make it our agenda to know him. For more wealth in 

heaven? No, we want to know him simply because it’s the greatest 

thing going on planet Earth.

But doesn’t Jesus himself tell us to store up treasures in heaven 

(Matthew 6:20)? Yes, but treasures aren’t rewards.  

People discover 

treasures. They don’t earn them. Once a treasure is discovered, it 

can be abandoned or it can be stored somewhere. 

When God tells us we can store up treasures in heaven, he’s 

asking us to consider our daily choices and their outcomes. Some 

choices end in a worthless product that is later burned up like 

wood, hay, or straw. Other choices endure for eternity since they 

are expressions of Jesus Christ. 

Essentially, God is posing the following questions: Given who 

you are and what you know, what will you invest in? Will you 

store up attitudes and actions that endure forever, or will you 

pursue dead works that end up being burned? 

The choice is ours.

More - Grace, but..........

I just received the following text in an email, after having a conversation with a lovely person recently. It actually hurt my heart to read it, and I would like to hear how you (my grace friends) might consider responding. Thoughts please???

"Grace IS a beautiful, basic doctrine of the New Testament, but it is not the ONLY doctrine found in the N.T.  It could be an eternally fatal mistake to treat it as if it is the only doctrine in the N.T.

We need to make a distinction between Salvation doctrine (how we are saved...by grace alone!), and how we are to live once we are saved.  The N.T. is full of right attitudes, right behaviors and good fruits we are to "put on" if our saving faith and salvation grace are real.  To overlook those verses one would have to eliminate most of the N.T.!  Although we will not lose our salvation over them, there are rewards in Heaven that will be gained or lost by our works on earth."

Grace, but..........

Today, I remembered just how passionate I am about the beauty of grace. I hadn't forgotten really, I just was reminded that when grace is questioned or attempted to be added to, I cringe, I get all fired up and just have to speak to it. Grace, grace. It is so much more than we know. So much more than we even believe. Our minds have been so conditioned to think we get this great gift, but now we have to give something back. NOPE!! Simply receive..........

There is no grace...but. It's just all grace all the time. That is unless you simply want to go ahead and add a little but. BUT, don't forget if you add a little of anything to grace, mix it, or add to it with rules, laws and performance and behavior modification - it nullifies the grace!! Yes, NULLIFIES!! 

I don't know how you feel about that there word nullify, but me - it's pretty darn serious. Nullified grace, I certainly don't want to make grace void in any way. I want all grace all the time, cause I know I can't ever possibly add to or take away from what Grace (the person, Jesus Christ) has accomplished once and for all. 

No God's free grace is not just unmerited to bring us salvation and then we are left on our own as saved people to figure out this life we need to now be living. GRACE came as a person, fulfilling all the requirements needed to restore right and perfect relationship with God. This GRACE (JESUS) gave up His life, took our lives (think sinful natures, in Adam) and plunged them into the sea of never to remember again. He died as us, not just for us. And we rose as HIM! With His very life dwelling on the inside of us. Permanently united as one. Forever! 

So when you try to tell me that yes there's grace BUT.............. I don't want to hear it. Because how can you possibly take one iota of emphasis off of what Christ has done for me or for you for that matter. He gave you His very life and His very standing before God!! HELLO!!! And how powerful do you think having the very life of Christ in you really is?? Do you think His life in you is not good enough that you need to add that little preposition - but?  

You see my identity is found in Christ alone. That is where my hope in this life lies. That He has become my identity. Now I live this life carrying the Son of God and He will have His way in me. Can you imagine Christ dwelling on the inside of someone and not having an impact in their lives? I can't. It's Christ in me that is my hope of glory, He will carry out what He began in me. That means His life will affect my life and because He is living in and through me, I can live in a manner that is worthy of the Gospel. It's not me trying to live a certain way, or a godly way. I can't do it. BUT - He can! Only He can. So enough of this Grace but stuff people. It's always going to be Jesus performance and not ours. It's His life that matters working out through ours. It's amazing He actually wants to be knit together with us. It's simply part of His character, to be in union/relationship with us. He knows no other way. He longs to be with us. And so God had a plan for Christ to be within every one who believes the very Good News. 

So PLEASE don't tell me again, there's grace yes, BUT! You have no idea how you are nullifying grace when you do that.................Let's not look past grace ever into our what we need to be doing now. Just receive His gift of Life and let Him live it in you. Let's keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who is indeed GRACE personified!!!!

Missing You...........

I sat here tonight, thinking of you all. Yes YOU!! All my blogging peeps and regular visitors. You are my family. And I wished I could spend some time visiting with you tonight. I have missed you! I know that life is full and summer is winding down, and that many of you will get even busier for a bit. But I also know that many of you are just walking through things that may be a bit more pressing. I want you to know you are not alone. Many of you have situations that are trying to rob you of the joy of who you are and what you have inherited. Perhaps you are just trying to let this whole life in Christ, union life, sink in and just live. It can take you to a place of deep thought and meditation where you need solace and just get to know what it's like to be you and Him. I get that. I can relate. 

On the other hand, think about how beautiful it is when we all gather with our hearts aflame for pure truth. Purity that we now know, that has become so engrained in us that we know we will never be the same again. We know that we have something mighty powerful to speak of and we will speak bodly and loudly. And then picture this 20 and 30 times over. Each one shouting out the sweet truth of Jesus. It's exhilerating, encouraging, inspiring. It's ignition to our very spirit, soul and body to stand up and fight the good fight!! 

What I am trying to say, is no matter where you are and what you are going through, your voice is needed. Your voice matters. You may think you have nothing to say right now, but you do. You have a life to share - His LIFE as you!! And I know that the world needs to hear the Christ that is in you and in me. 

My heart longs for the sweetness of our fellowship, brothers and sisters. I want you to know you all have brought me joy and my heart has hurt for you as well. So to all of you, please hear my heart, but listen for His heart to speak to you and meet you right now, just as you are, where you are. Know you are missed, and you are loved.  Know that your circumstances do not dictate truth or who you are. But that Christ's finished work has dictated that you are indeed new, complete, righteous, perfect, holy, blameless, seated in heavenly places, and that you have the very life of Christ dwelling on the inside of you. That is who you are and that is well worth rejoicing about!!! 

To Dan, my brother I miss your passion and our conversations. To my little brother Matt, I pray you are happy, I love when you are happy and so does He. To Julie, I miss your fiery passion, but I know you are always a phone call away, yet still you add such a strong dimension and empower others more than you know. To sweet Cirra, you impart such a gentleness and ooze out God's love with every word you speak, you are precious and I pray you are feeling more refreshed. To Joel, well Joel, it just isn't the same when you are away (even though you aren't really, it feels like life is full for you), you are such a grace networker and have blessed so many, like a big brother to all - please know that my heart is with you and prayers are offered up for you to not grow weary and to not faint. You are strong in Him because His grace is sufficient for you. To Bino, I appreciate you for being so real and so honest, may your strength be renewed, may you soar on like wings of an eagle. Ursie, my fun loving sister, you are so full of joy and so confident in His love - may you adjust to the season you are in, and find Him holding you and carrying you so that you sense His yoke is easy, and that you can rest in Him!! Chris, you are such a gift to the body and your voice is like that of a coach teaching and encouraging and inspiring the team! Thank you for being so unique and for sharing all that you have learned for the benefit of others!! To Peter, I know you have a demanding job, thank you for all the times you have graced us with your wisdom and insight, it is well worth waiting to hear you pour out your heart!! Leo, so glad you came back to join us, you are a blessing and a wonderful comic relief, I so am blessed by who you are, really!!! To Jordy, I often wonder how you are, and honestly I miss you my friend, I pray that you are resting in Him and letting truth continue to saturate you and drench you until it is so stuck it won't go anywhere!!! To Phil, I miss your thought provoking discussions and I pray you are in good health and letting yourself be entrusted more and more fully unto Him, your Rock. (And of course I can't leave you out Jamie my dear friend. Although I don't miss you, since I talk to you just about every day, I do however miss our community discussions through our blogs - wow, we had some good times and some intensely wild and riveting talks - you are a natural at gracing others and knitting people together- you unifier you!!)

And to all the rest of you, to Alan (who only serves up the choicest meals ;), Sheila (full of hospitality, good laugh and wisdom), Aida (comforting and kind) Tammy (bold, honest, real, seeker of truth and fun to boot), Rich (insightful and rich wisdom into who he really is), Becky (just a natural grace lover full of life), Craig (bold proclaimer of truth),  to Nick, to Gregg, to John Fincher, Don Baker, Amy, Ellie, Shawna, Teresa (with the beautiful joy filled smile) and to anyone else who may stop by and visit from time to time - may you know more deeply God's amazing love for you, and may you come to know who you really are, and enjoy life more deeply in this wonderful union you have in Him and with Him. Be blessed everyone!!!!