Graceful Rewrite part 1
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!