Beautiful part 2
According to Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condmenation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." But while that may be TRUE, it doesn't seem to be somethng that we truly understand. Because it seems like most of the church is on a sin hunt. We aren't looking for the beauty in people, we are looking for the beast. And I think--in the same way that charity starts at home--it starts with ourselves. I'm convinced that the worst kind of condemnation is self-condemnation. Because if someone says something about you, but you don't believe it, it can't effect you. But if someone says something about you, and it's something you already think is true about you... then they're just confirming what you're already thinking. That's why some things can roll off of you like water off a duck's back, but some things can wreck you. Some things hit a nerve, because in your mind it's already a sore spot. The condemnation you feel for yourself gets fed by the condemnation of others. So what's the solution? Jesus, of course. Look at 2 Corinthians 4:6 in the Message Bible, "It started when God said, 'Light up the darkness!' and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful." Now let me work on this for a minute. I don't believe we are called to be overcomers. I believe Jesus already overcame (past tense) anything that would stand in our path. I believe that because it is finished, there is nothing left to overcome. Speaking of man (of us), Hebrews 2:8 says, "Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet... But now we see not yet all things put under him." See, all things ARE under our feet. There's nothing left to overcome. The problem is that we don't SEE everything under our feet. What you see is what you be. "But we see Jesus..." (Hebrews 2:9). The only reason we are still trying to overcome--still trying to clean up our acts and be "more like Jesus"--is because we don't see things the way they really are. In order to see things the way they really are, God had to turn on the light. So that we could see Jesus. See ourselves IN Jesus. See Jesus in ourselves. And when we see Jesus we don't see dirty sinners. We see the visible face of an invisible God. We see Him all bright and beautiful. Which means we see OURSELVES all bright and beautiful. Which means we don't have to do anything to BECOME beautiful, because we already ARE beautiful. And if we already ARE beautiful, then everything we DO is beautiful--because what you do flows from who you are--and then we understand that there is nothing to condemn! Being "in Christ" is not about doing "bad stuff" and not getting condemned for it. Grace is not about sweeping sin under the rug. Before the cross sin abounded. Then at the cross grace super abounded. Grace obliterated sin. Jesus took away the sin of the world. We saw ourselves as dirty and rotten, so Jesus shined the light and showed us how we REALLY look. He presented us to Himself as a bride without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. Without anything to condemn. Beautiful.