We don't rise up in order to shine. We rise up because we ARE shining! The brilliant glory of the Lord IS risen upon us. We have everything we need to leave the spiritual depression behind. Not in our own strength--because we don't necessarily have any--but in HIS strength. He finished the work and now we get to enjoy the fruit of His labor. The fruit of the Spirit, which is love! And let me be clear: we DO have some strength. There are some things that I am pretty good at. But when we're talking about the Kingdom, we don't have to (and can't) take it by force. The violence of human effort will never get it done. Look at Galatians 3:3, "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" It's not what you DO, it's what you BELIEVE. Because what you do FLOWS from what you believe. You don't MAKE the light shine in order to rise up. You BELIEVE that the light IS shining and then you can't HELP but rise up. God's love for us is so big, and so overwhelming, that when you let Him love you it fills you to overflowing. You fill yourself with what you've been filled with, if I can say it like that. You apprehend what you've been apprehended of. What's already in there comes out... when you know and believe that it's in there. And that's where the Holy Spirit comes in. The Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth. The Spirit that testifies of our true identity by testifying of Jesus. The Spirit that whispers, in a still, small voice inside of us, the ultimate truth of the universe; The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand. Daddy loves you. That affirmation is what equips and empowers us. We can't rise on our own. If you start out "not good enough" how can you, in your own strength, make yourself good enough? But when we look into the mirror with an unveiled face... with the stone of the Law--which demands perfection without being able to produce it--rolled away... that's when you see the glory of the Lord. That's when you are changed into that same image FROM glory TO glory. See that? We start at glory. So even when we're mired in spiritual depression... even when we're stuck in a rut... that's not who we really are. And that's not where we have to stay, either. Because there's something inside us that will rise up. It's a fire. A Holy Ghost wildfire. And all it needs is a spark. All it needs is for us to see something better--a more excellent way--and believe that we can have it. Not earn it, because you can't earn a gift, but simply receive it and release it! Don't try to rise up on your own. Because you'll probably stumble and fall. And then you'll get discouraged. But let what's inside you rise up. Let me end this Rant series with 2 Peter 1:19, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." It's all about what's in your heart. Because it's all about love. When you know and believe that you ARE loved... that's when you CAN love. That's when you can lay aside the sin (unbelief) that so easily besets you. That's when you can shake off the yoke of religion. That's when you can escape from the bondage of sin and death. When the light (love) shines (arises)... that's when YOU can rise up and live a life of receiving and releasing the love of God!

I always wondered about this idea of "picking ourselves up by our own bootstraps." This idea of somehow making ourselves "more holy." Like... if we're not good enough to begin with, how can we--in our own strength and power--make ourselves any better? That's why I like the Gospel so much. The Gospel is God saying, "You can't do it yourself. So I'm going to do it. For you... and as you." The Gospel is the Good News. The Gospel is God wanting the best FOR us, and giving the best TO us. Not us trying to rise up in order to get something. But us being able to rise up because we have something! A more excellent way IS available. And not if we somehow force our ways into it. Look at Matthew 11:12, "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Did you catch that? Jesus said, "Until now." He brought a change. Man was trying to force his way into the Kingdom. Trying to do it himself through the violence of human effort. But Jesus said, "...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). And Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32). All this time, what we've been trying so hard to get has been freely given to us. We don't have to take the Kingdom by force. It's a gift. The Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, right? So instead of staying stuck in our spiritual depression... our spiritual rut... going through the motions because we think that's how to get what we want (or we think that's the best we can do)... we can stop trying and start resting. We can receive and release instead of trying to get. We can fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've been filled with. We don't rise in order to shine. We rise because the light of the world is shining on us, and in us, and through us! We don't somehow become more "holy" on our own. We be holy as our Father is holy. Because it's HIS holiness. It's HIS righteousness, peace, and joy filling us up. It's HIS love that equips and empowers us to love. It's that connection. We are in Him because He is in us. That's why Jesus was able to identify Himself AND us as the light of the world. It's the same light. The light that Jesus IS is the life of men. Or rather, His life is the light of men. It's the same thing. Life, light, Spirit, consuming fire, love. God. That's HOW we rise. He lifts us up. He holds us up. We walk in newness of life when we stop trying to go our own way (AND when we stop trying to follow in His foot steps) and we let Him go HIS own way in us, and through us, and as us. He makes His foot steps with our feet. He speaks His Word (which is love) with our mouths. He lives in us even as we live in Him. We don't have to try to earn a gift. And in fact, if you have to earn it it's not a gift at all. It's wages. And the wages the Bible speaks of are the wages of sin (unbelief) which is death. Jesus came that we might have LIFE and that more abundantly. Jesus came that we might walk in newness of life. That we might know the light is shining, and believe. And by believing we let the light (that IS shining) shine through us. We rise because of the light, not in order to get the light. We have it. The yoke of religion has been broken. We are no longer trapped under the bondage of sin and death. The glory of the Lord HAS risen upon us. And as the glory rose... we rise!

When you're stuck in a rut--which we know is just a grave with the ends kicked out--it can feel like you're never going to be able to get out of it. It can feel like a hampster wheel where no matter how fast you go, or how hard you try, you never get anywhere. And the truth of the matter is, that's exactly the trap that religion keeps you in. In religion there's a carrot, but every time you reach for it the stick moves it just a little further out of reach. Mark 10:21-22 says it like this, "Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions." Now let me clarify before we get into this: The problem was not that the rich young ruler had "stuff." God promised to make Abraham rich. Poverty is not a sign of holiness. The problem was the the rich young ruler's "stuff" had him. He was unwilling to part with it. It was--as everything is, when you get to the bottom of it--a heart issue. You can have stuff, as long as your stuff doesn't have you. God blesses us to be a blessing. You can't give what you don't have, right? So if God wants us to be generous--and He does--He first needs to provide us with something that we can share. But the point I want to illustrate today is that even though the man had a heart issue... Jesus looked at him and loved him. Even though the man was unwilling to part with his stuff, Jesus couldn't stop being God in the flesh. God loves because that's who He is. And it has nothing to do with what we do. It has everything to do with who we are, and who He is. The man was looking for something that he thought he didn't have. And he was held back by what he did have. He couldn't rise up because he didn't know the light was already shining. He was trying to make something happen, but he wasn't willing to get out of the rut he was in. He wanted something new, but wasn't willing to let go of the old. Sometimes we have to hit rock bottom before we can start going upward and God-ward. Sometimes we have to lose everything, before we can do anything. And sometimes we hurt ourselves more by holding on than by letting go. Sometimes we rob ourselves of what's available to us because we're afraid to move out of our comfort zone. But let me say it like this: If you never go out on a limb, you'll never get the fruit. Now let me caution you. I'm not saying you should turn your whole life upside down at the drop of a hat. If you want something different... do something different. Unless you're building something. In which case, stay the course. Rome wasn't built in a day. Things of value often take time. But if God tells you to move... move! Be sensitive to the Spirit. Remember the Amplified Bible says, "Rise out of spiritual depression." Spiritual stagnation. Rise above what's holding you down. Let it go. Let it flow. The glory of the Lord IS risen upon you. There's nothing you could ever need that your heavenly Father hasn't already provided for you. So don't be afraid to walk in NEWNESS of life. Don't be afraid to give what you've got away. To share it. To experience it!

Isaiah chapter 60 verse 1 in the Amplified Bible turns the familiar phrase, "Arise, shine for your light has come," into, "Arise [from spiritual depression into a new life], shine [be radiant with the glory and brilliance of the LORD]; for your light has come, And the glory and brilliance of the LORD has risen upon you." I think that addition is important. Because sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can begin to climb. It's my understanding that some momma birds make their nest intentionally uncomfortable so the babies will leave. So the babies will learn to fly. What I'm trying to say is, if you've settled for where you're at, you won't move. You won't rise up. Why would you? If you think the grass isn't greener, or if you think it IS greener but you can't have it, then you'll just stay where you are. It's not "If you rise, the light will shine." That's how we THINK it is when we're in the midst of the fog of that spiritual depression. We think we have to "toughen up." Pull ourselves up from out bootstraps. We think the fact that we're in this situation to begin with proves there's something wrong with us. We think asking for help is a sign of weakness. But it's not. Asking for help is a sign of wisdom. When you know you can't do it alone, that's when you don't have to do it alone. You don't force the light--the glory and brilliance of the Lord--to shine by rising up. The light HAS come. It IS shining. Jesus is the light of the world, and we are that same light. Because He shines in us. First He shined ON us to show us who we are--by showing us who He is--and now that we know who we are He shines THROUGH us. And that's HOW we rise. Not fake it 'til you make it. Not try really hard to make something change. Not be someone you're not in order to get something you haven't got. Remember in the beginning it--the heaven and the earth, the mind and the body, YOU--was dark and void and without form. Then GOD spoke. HE said, "Let there be light." And now the light has come. The light is shining. Nothing you did, or could do. Everything HE did. Everything He IS. And now, through the Holy Spirit, we know and believe that everything He is, is everything we are. As He is, so are we in this world. Now that we know that we are shining with God's brilliant glory we don't NEED to try to be someone we're not. Now that we know that He loves us we don't have to try to get something. Because we know what we've got. Now we can shine. Because of HIS light. Now we can rise, because HE was lifted up from the earth and He drew us all into Himself. We don't have to make anything happen. But we can experience and enjoy what happened on the cross. We don't have to fight anymore. We can rise above. We can lay aside the sin (unbelief) that so easily besets us. We don't have to keep stumbling along in the dark. We don't have to keep struggling. We can rest. We can flow. The grass WAS greener on the other side. There WAS a more excellent way. Called the Kingdom. Called love. And your heavenly Father gave it to you. Because He loves you and He wanted you to have it. To experience it. To share it. He wanted the best for you, so He gave the best to you. His heart. His Spirit. His Son. His life. His love...

It doesn't seem like a lot of the religious world knows this, but in the early church being a disciple of Christ was very much being part of a revolution. Even the phrase, "Jesus is Lord" was in direct opposition to the ruler of the time, "Ceaser is lord." It was a time of change. Upheavel. It was the Apostle Paul writing a letter urging the church to "...be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Don't try to fit in when you were made to stand out, right? There's something new available. Something better. A more excellent way. We have BEEN transformed (by the finished work of the cross) and now we can BE transformed into what we've BEEN transformed into. What came before is over and done. We can learn from it, but we don't have to be defined by it. So let me quote my key verse for this Rant series. Isaiah 60:1, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee." And, again, the key to the key verse is the finished work. Arise for thy light IS come. The glory of the Lord IS risen upon thee. Don't rise up in order to get something. Rise up because you've got something. Don't "love" to try to get something--that's not love at all--love because you have something. Something that's too big, and too good, to keep to yourself. There's a song that says, "What you got if you ain't got love? The kind that you just want to give away..." That's what love is all about. Because that's what love is. Love is giving. For God so loved the world He GAVE His only begotten Son. He wanted us to have the best, so He gave us the best. Jesus gave His life for us, and He gave His life to us. So that we could have it. So that we could experience it by letting God love us and by loving each other with that same love. So that we could shine. Rising up isn't enough, if you keep doing the same old, same old. If you conform to the world you're missing out on the Kingdom. Even though we are IN the Kingdom already. Even though we ARE the Kingdom (because the King lives in us, and through us, and as us). Look at Isaiah 60:1 in the Amplified Bible. "Arise [from spiritual depression to a new life], shine [be radiant with the glory and brilliance of the Lord]; for your light has come, And the glory and brilliance of the Lord has risen upon you." Arise from spiriual depression. If you're stuck in a rut... rise up. A rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out. It's the bondage of sin and death. Unbelief. Not knowing who you are or WHOSE you are. Rise up. To a new life. Shine. Be radiant. Like Jesus on the mount of transfiguration let the light that's inside shine forth. The glory and brillance of the Lord. The glory and brilliance of YOU. For YOUR light has come. What's inside is bursting at the seams, trying to get it. And all you have to do to let it out is believe that it's in there. See yourself clearly as the light shines ON you, and it will shine THROUGH you. OUT of you. And then you can stop trying to be someone you're not and you can rest. You can be who you are. You can BE transformed by the renewing our your mind. By letting your heart be your guide. By letting LOVE be your guide! It's new. It's radical. It's a complete difference from the world. And that's the point.

Your story has been rewritten. All those mistakes you made--all those things other people (and you yourself) hold against--no longer matter. Because of grace. Because God has chosen to forget about them. HE is not holding ANYTHING against you. He sees you as perfect. "Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee" (Song of Solomon 4:7). But the question then becomes: If there's no spot in me, why do I keep acting like I have spots? Why do I keep doing the same things? Making the same mistakes? Romans 7:15 in the NLT says it like this, "I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate." But that's a man who is under the Law. A man who has fallen from grace. And make no mistake, putting yourself under the Law is the ONLY way to fall from grace. Tryinig to be someone you're not is the only way to get out of the rest of God. Trying to "fix" your own story when God already took care of it. Trying to enter into the sheepfold any other way but the door, and robbing yourself of the gift you've been given. The key is not trying to do what you want to do. The key is seeing the finished work of the cross. Because if you know (and believe) that the work is finished, you can stop trying to finish it. You can rest. When you know who you really are you can stop trying to be anybody else. When you see how grace rewrote your story you can just enjoy the ride. You can let it go, and let it flow. You can stop struggling. What's inside comes out, naturally. Or rather--what you believe is inside comes out. When you know (and believe) that you are filled to overflowing with the love and God, and when you know and believe that it has nothing to do with what you do, but everything to do with who you are, that's when it comes out. When you fill yourself with what you've been filled with. When you let God love you and love others with that same love. But if you're too busy condemning yourself, or letting others condemn you and believing that lie, you won't have anything to give except bitterness, and hurt, and condemnation. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. If your story is one "bad" experience after another... that's what manifests in your life. That's your reality. But it doesn't have to be. When God shows us what's inside--when He reveals Himself to us, and through us, and in us, and as us--then we can let "our" past be history and we can let HIS story be OUR history. Remember we started this Rant series with Abraham? And how even though he most definitely staggered at the promise of God, when his story was written in the New Testament he was remembered as NOT staggering? He was remembered as the father of faith. Because Jesus has the final word on you, and Jesus IS the final word on you. He is the Word of God. And that Word is love. God in the flesh. Love in a body. That's our story. And whatever surface stuff we sometimes get buried under doesn't really matter. We learn from it, and we move on. Upward and God-ward. "...but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).

Grace has rewritten your story. And the only way what's come before matters at all is when we learn from it. It can't hold us back. It can't negatively affect us. Because if God forgot it... it's forgotten. Now people WILL probably try to use your past against you. But we have a saying in my family, "Why you bringing up old stuff?" Where I've been isn't where I'm at. I'm moved forward. Upward and God-ward. I'm not who I used to be. And I'm not trying to be someone else. I'm the real me. I preached this verse last night and it's stuck in my heart so I'm going to keep preaching it until my heart is empty of it. Romans 1:19, "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them." Did you catch it? That which is known of God--the truth that sets us free and makes us free--is manifest IN us... for God hath shewed it TO us. Everything that needed to happen has happened. The work is finished. Grace rewrote our story 2,000 years ago on the cross. Don't wait for your rewrite. And don't try to do it yourself. Just leave all that junk behind. Lay aside the sin (unbelief) that so easily besets you. A seed was planted in you. When Jesus was lifted up from the earth He drew all men into Himself and He planted Himself in all men. God poured out His Spirit on all flesh. And a seed has everything it needs inside it. Give it some water, some sun (Son), some good ground, and it will grow. It will bear much fruit. What's inside WILL come out... when you know and believe it's in there. And knowing and believing is faith. And faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God. God shows us who we are by showing us who HE is. He shows us what's inside us--love--and then it manifests. Let me quote one of my favorite verses--I know, I know, they're all my favorite--that goes right along with this. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). When He appears to US we see what we really look like. Because we see what HE really looks like. When He appears IN us, and THROUGH us, and AS us. When we stop trying to be like Him and just do what comes naturally to us. We don't have to make up for our past mistakes. I'm telling you, all we have to do is learn from them and let them go. We don't have to keep punishing ourselves when God has already forgiven and forgotten. What's the old saying? Mercy is not getting what you deserve and grace is getting what you don't deserve. In other words, deserve has nothing to do with it. You don't have to--and in fact can't--earn an inheritance. An inheritance is passed down from Father to Son. Not because of what you do, but because of who you are. And when God shows you who you are (and what's in you manifests, or comes out) that's the final word on the matter. That's the TRUE story. You don't have to try to be someone you're not. And, really, you don't have to try to "figure out" who you are. God will show you. He'll reveal Himself (your true self) to you. And He'll do it by loving the hell out of you. Because that's who He is. And that's who you are. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. No other story can compare, and no other story matters!

The thing about a rewrite is that, while it may draw from the original... once it's "fixed," the messed up version doesn't exist anymore. Let me say it like this, sometimes you have to do something wrong before you can do it right. And while I guess you could call that making a mistake... I call it learning and growing. Very rarely is someone good at doing something new. Often you have to stumble before you learn to walk. But once you learn to walk it doesn't matter that you used to stumble. Once the story is rewritten, nobody sees all of the "mistakes." And that's what grace does in your life. God sees you as perfect, because when He sees you, He sees Jesus. You are complete in Him. Right now. And this process of learning and growing is simply the process of learning what it means to be complete. We can't get any more complete. We can't get any more perfect than having the Perfect One living inside of us. It's not a matter of getting something we haven't got. It's simply a matter of learning what we have got. Learning what it means to be blessed with all Spiritual blessings. Learning what it means that the Father loves us and has given all things into our hands. The story--the never ending, eternal life-long story--is God loving us and us learning about love. That's what a disciple is: a student of love. Learning how to love as we learn how we are loved. And all of those things that we've done that we think ought to disqualify us... God doesn't even remember those things. He purposefully forgot them. And He wrote His laws--the perfect law of liberty, the New Commandment--IN our hearts. He took things out of the external realm and brought them into the internal realm. Remember that story I spoke about? It's a journey into the heart of the matter. And the heart of the matter... is the heart. Jesus is the beginning and the end, right? And that means LOVE is the beginning and the end. It starts with love and it ends with love. Love is the first word in His story. The first word in OUR history. And it's also the last word. Love is the FINAL word. It's a love story. Getting bigger and bigger and better and better as we learn to open our hearts to love. As we learn to lay aside the sin (unbelief) that so easily besets us and stop trying to earn something that is freely given. If it's all about love--and it is--then the most trouble you can possibly get into is looking for love in all the wrong places. Because that human effort robs us of the gift we've been given. Only through rest can we experience the finished work of the cross. When we try to finish the work we get all messed up. When we try to fight anything other than the good fight of faith... we lose. Because the good fight of faith is laying hold of eternal life. Receiving what we've been given so we can release it to those we come into contact with. Not trying to rewrite our own story, but understanding that grace already did! We are, right now, who we need to be. We are, right now, where we need to be (at least for right now). We don't need to change. We simply need to see the change that took place. We don't need to be someone we're not. We simply need to know who we really are. Abraham didn't stagger at the promise of God. That's the final word on Abraham. You are perfect. That's the final word on you!

Grace can rewrite your story. It's kind of what we mean when we say God can turn your mess into a message. And I believe there is something very powerful about ministering out of your weakness. Out of your loss, and your hurt, and your pain. I think sometimes in order to reach people where THEY'RE at, they need to know where we've been. Common ground. Being all things to all people. But, at the same time, you can't get past what you can't get past. I mean, really, how could you? So in some cases you need to take care of yourself--in a sense--by letting Jesus take care of you. By letting God forgive you and forget what you've done... and forgiving yourself and forgetting what you've done! I always thought it was funny when people are like, "God knows everything." Because while it's true that at one time He may have known everything... God has the uncanny ability to forget things. Purposefully. Look at Hebrews 10:16-17, "This the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." The foundation of the New Covenant is God forgetting about the things that have come before and writing His laws (the perfect law of liberty... the New Commandment) IN our hearts and minds. So that everything is internal instead of external. So that instead of judging us according to appearance, or judging us (good and evil) by what we've done... He can judge righteous judgment. Because God DOES know the heart. And He knows that it's HIS heart beating with love in our chests. That's why He circumcized our hearts. He cut away the flesh of human effort. The exterior, surface stuff. So that the real stuff, the deep down inside hidden man of the heart stuff, could come out. Naturally. When God wrote His laws into our hearts and minds He rewrote our story. He brought us out of the Egypt--out of the bondage of sin and death--and into the Promised Land--the land that flows with milk and honey, the rest that comes from Jesus finishing the work on the cross. See, before the cross our story was "try really hard and get what we deserve." Earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. But then Jesus sweated great drops of blood and redeemed us from that story. He was lifted up on the cross and He drew us all into Himself. He finished the work both for us and as us. He gave His life both for us and to us. He brought us out of "our" story and into HIStory! So now we can find ourselves in Him, because now we can find Him in us. Everytime we look in the mirror we see Him. Every time we look INTO each other--seeing the heart--and not AT each other--seeing the surface stuff--we see Him. Our story is history. And our story is His story. Our true identity is being revealed to us, and in us, and through us, and as us! Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. That's the truth. And the way. And the life. That's the only story we need to be concerned with. That's the only story that matters. Forget about the other one. It's gone. It happened, and it's over. Learn from it, but don't let it hold you back or get you down. God forgot about it... you can too. Just let it go. "Let go and let God!" He's the author and finisher of our faith. He knows the best ending. And He knows the best way to get there. So stop trying so hard and just let it go. Let it flow!

As I writer I can tell you... editing is my least favorite part of the process. I'd rather write new things than rewrite old things. But, then again, when I look back at some of the first drafts I've written... they're pretty bad. Lots of mistakes. Lots of changes needed to be made. But that's just with fiction, right? You can't rewrite YOUR story, can you? Let me show you something that I always thought was pretty baffling, and then really amazing. Look at Romans 4:20. Speaking about Abraham, the apostle Paul writes, "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God." Sounds pretty good, right? Abraham IS the father of faith, after all. But wait a second. That's not EXACTLY how it went down. God promised Abraham a son with his wife, Sarah. And that son would be the seed that would grow to a great nation. But Abraham and Sarah were old. And the promise of God was taking a long time. So Abraham decided to try a shortcut. He had a son with one of his servants. That son was named Ishmael. Not the promised son, but the best man could do with his own efforts. So, if you ask me, Abraham definitely staggered. He stumbled. He made a mistake. And that mistake caused a lot of problems between him and his wife, among other things. Because he tried to make it happen himself instead of trusting in God to make it happen. Now the idea we seem to have of God is one of Him sitting on a cloud, with a lightning bolt in His hand just waiting to get us when we mess up. But that's not what happened. God didn't punish Abraham for trying to do it himself. God was faithful to His promise. He promised Abraham a son with his wife Sarah, and that's exactly what He gave him. God is faithful even when we aren't. What else could He be? But my point is... even though Abraham staggered big time, by the time we get to the New Testament--on the finished work side of the cross--his story is that he staggered not. Grace re-wrote Abraham's story. Grace said, "God made a promise, Abraham believed, and it came to pass." And the mistake Abraham made isn't even a footnote. See, we think "justified" means "just as if I'd never sinned." But really it's bigger than that. Stronger than that. "Justified" means I HAVE never sinned. Justified means if any man be in Christ he is a new creature. The things that came before don't factor in to what comes next. (Except for the maturation process aspect. The learning from out past instead of being defined by it aspect.) We are new, and because we are new we can walk in newness of life. We don't have to feel guilty about things that have come before. Because if God doesn't see them--He forgave and forgot--we certainly don't need to. We can write a new story. A better story. One where we aren't bound by sin (unbelief) and death. One where we can truly live by knowing and believing that we are loved, and loving one another with that same love!