Condemnation part 1
There are certain themes I like to revisit often, because I think they're important. Like receiving and releasing. I think that's important. Or how the light of the world--the light that Jesus is... the light that WE are--shines so that we can see things clearly. I think that's important. Or how God is love. Which is pretty basic, but sometimes seems to get lost in the shuffle. I think that's important. Another one, and the one I want to dive into for the next few days, comes from Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Which seems like its a kind of bizarre thing for the Bible to say. Because it seems like condemning people is most "Christians" full time job. It doesn't really surprise me that religious folk have a reputation for being men, judgmental, hypocritical, condemning bullies. And, unfortunately, I think the idea that we have to be "perfect," as in, never messing up, comes from our perception of Jesus. We think we're supposed to live His life. But I'm telling you, no one can live Jesus' life except Jesus. He gave His life to us, because He wanted us to have it, but He doesn't expect us to live it. He lives it in us. I've always thought it was interesting that David is referred to as a man after God's own heart. Because David made his fair share of mistakes in his life. Including having a man killed so he could steal the man's wife. Yikes. But I think the key is in the phrasing. He was AFTER God's heart. He didn't necessarily have it, but he wanted it. He prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). Which, as I see it, is what we're talking about in our verse in Romans. Walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. That doesn't mean never making a mistake. I always tell people, "If you never make mistakes, you can't learn from your mistakes." This impossibly high standards that we put on ourselves--and I believe self-condemnation is the worst kind of condemnation. The things people say about us that hurt the worst are the things that we already think about ourselves--really just keep us from doing anything. "I can't do it right, so why even try?" Well, most of the time you have to do it wrong BEFORE you can do it right. That's called learning. And that's what life is all about. Learning and growing. Learning how to love by learning how we are loved. That's what it means to be a disciple of Jesus--a student of love. A never-ending life-long student. Letting God love us, in the midst of our mistakes, is how we walk after the Spirit. One more verse for tonight: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14). We walk after the Spirit by letting the Spirit lead us. And the Spirit of God--the Spirit of love--only leads us to one place: He leads us to love. There is no condemnation, because there is only love. And I'm planning to get into this too, it isn't because love is blind. Its because love sees clearly. Love doesn't judge according to appearance. Love judges righteous judgment. Not what you do, but who you are. Not when you fall, but when you get back up. When you keeping moving... upward and Godward!