To Be part 1
William Shakespeare wrote, "To be, or not to be: that is the question." And while I'm not exactly ASKING that question in this Rant series, I do want to explore the idea of being. Because I think more than anything that's what mankind wants. We want to BE. We want to be accepted, and known, and loved. Unfortunately, way back in the garden of Eden the serpent hissed in Eve's ear and lied to her and convinced her that she had to DO in order to BE. We don't think we're worthy of acceptance and love, but we think if we try hard enough maybe, just maybe, we can earn it. "God doesn't accept me now, but if I change from bad to good then He WILL accept me." I feel like that's the religious mindset in a nutshell. And that's what we need to repent of. We need our conscience purged of dead works. And, in fact, that's exaclty what Hebrews 6:1 says, "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God." That's the foundation. That's where we start. Jesus, the Truth, was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. He showed up to show us the truth. That Daddy DOES love us. That we ARE accepted in the beloved. He came to show us the Father and to conform us into the image of His Son! "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14). See, our repentance of dead works comes from HIM purging our conscience of dead works! And look at what "dead works" means: "Dead" is 3498 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "a corpse." "SWorks" is 2041 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "toil, by implication an act." So "dead works," is simply acting like a corpse! Acting like the Old Man isn't dead and buried. I think this is one of the most important aspects of baptism. We are baptized into Christ's death. We acknowledge and identify with His death AS our death, and we leave that old man in the watery grave. We leave Adam behind. Before the cross we were "in" Adam. He was mankind's representative, and what happened to him happened to everyone else. But on the cross Jesus was lifted up from the earth and He drew all men into Himself. From that point on what happened to JESUS happened to us. He died, and we died. DEATH died. The works of the devil--the lie that man believed--were destroyed. We moved out of death and into life. Jesus didn't come to make "bad" people "good." He came to make dead people alive. He brought us out of religion and into relationhip. Out of the world--trying and trying and trying to DO in order to BE--and into the Kingdom--knowing who we are and doing BECAUSE we be! Man wants to know and be known. That's what God wanted too. That's why God sent His Son. Jesus came to show us the Father. To show us OURSELVES. Our TRUE selves. He came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. Jesus is God's BELOVED Son because He allowed Himself to BE LOVED. And that's what He equipped and empowered us to do when He gave us His Spirit; The love receptor. In order to hear God's voice you need to be still. And in order to love you need to BE LOVED. Know and believe that you ARE loved!