DNA part 4
It's what's inside that makes you who you are. Not the external stuff, but the internal stuff. Jesus said it--in an admittedly negative seeming connotation--like this, "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy--full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too" (Matthew 23:25-26 NLT). It's not the outside, it's the inside. Everything works from inside-out. We fill ourselves to overflowing with what's within and it comes out naturally. Who we ARE defines what we do, not the other way around. And just in case we want to get all religious and try to "clean up our acts," let's remember that it's foolish to try to finish in the flesh what was started in the Spirit, and let's remember Jesus' words to His disciples in John 15:3, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." HE cleaned us up, both inside AND out with the Word--love--that He spoke to us. The best the external Law could do was to accuse us and condemn us and make us feel bad about our inevitable failures. It demanded perfection without being able to produce it. And that's why we FELT like failures. That's why we walked around with our heads bowed saying things like, "I'm only human." Or, "I'm just a sinner saved by grace." I've said this a whole bunch of times but I'll say it again here: If you were saved by grace (and you were!) you're not a sinner anymore! The old passed away and the new came forth. No longer a sinner, but a saint. A new creation in Christ where there is NO condemnation... because there is nothing to condemn! Jesus took away the sin of the world and a believer CANNOT sin! If sin is unbelief, then by definition a believer cannot sin. You can't unbelieve if you're a believer, right? And I'm not talking about moments of doubt. I'm not talking about searching for truth. Every time someone asked God for a sign, He gave it to them. He never has, and never will, have a problem proving Himself. Where else do you think we got the measure of faith? We have faith in Him because He proved (and continues to prove) Himself faithful. Even when the religious folk asked for a sign Jesus said He'd give them the sign of Jonah--three days dead and then back to life to preach the gospel. And why did Jesus preach the gospel? Not to earn HIs Daddy's approval. The Father approved the Son BEFORE Jesus started His ministry. He preached the gospel because the good news that He had was TOO good to keep to Himself. He didn't do it in order to be. He did it because He already was. We don't have to clean ourselves up, because we're already clean through the Word. All we have to do is stop trying so hard. Stop trying to clean ourselves up. Stop trying to be someone we're not. And just be who we are. Get to know our true selves by getting to know Him. Letting Him love us so we can love one another! That's human nature. That's what we were created to do. That's the blood--the DNA (Divine Nature of the Almighty)--that flows through our veins!