Will Jesus Ever Backslide?

I read this quote from a message by Ryan Rufus recently and loved it:

"You do not have a covenant with God. God didn’t make a covenant with you. He made it with His Son. He made it with Jesus. And then He brought you into it because you are in Jesus. Jesus will never ever break His end of the covenant – He fulfills it perfectly. He is eternal! He is a perfect sacrifice. He offered a perfect sacrifice, which perfectly removes your sins and perfectly makes you righteous.

"He EVER lives to intercede for you and I! That means in the eternity of eternities if we ever sin then we are STILL righteous! We will never ever get kicked out of His Presence and the oath God makes with us – the way it works is that God binds Himself to the New Covenant – the grace covenant – and says;“I will bind Myself and promise that I will never, ever relate to man through his righteousness but I swear by an oath to always and ever relate to man through Christ’s righteousness and on man’s behalf!”.

"The New Covenant is not a fault-finding covenant. You have to get that – you have to see that. It can never be a fault-finding covenant because God is not relating to you through your performance. He is relating to you through Christ’s performance. God will never find fault with Christ – He is perfect. He is absolutely perfect! For you to break covenant with God or to lose your covenant with God would mean that Jesus would have to be made unperfect. It would mean that Jesus would have to backslide. It is absolutely impossible for Jesus to backslide – He is absolutely perfect in all description. He is indestructibly perfect. He is immutable and unchangeable and we are perfect with Him and He has made us perfect forever. This is the good news! This unlocks Scripture!"

The only way we could lose out on the New Covenant would be if Jesus were to backslide!  Imagine Jesus backsliding - it is so ludicrous!  Jesus is just never going to sin - never!  If anyone's righteousness is sure, it's HIS!  And since we are in a covenant based on HIS righteousness, not our puny filthy-rag-righteousness, therefore we are SECURE!  SAFE!  HOME FREE FOREVER!  We just can't mess this up.  I love how secure my righteousness before God is, since it's actually His righteousness given to me for free.  And it's true for you, too! Have a great day in Him, celebrating the fact that the unbackslideable Jesus is keeping you!

Security

Recently I've been reading a book by Darin Hufford called The Misunderstood God.  It's very good and eye-opening, basically showing that the true nature of God is often the polar opposite of what we may have come to believe.

He talks about how God in love will never leave or abandon us.  It's wonderful to know we are secure in Him and He won't ever reject us.  Our relationship with Him is a "done deal".  We just can't mess this up!  Here are some quotes from the book on that subject:

"Security is free, open space all relationships need to grow.  You have that in God...Your relationship with God and your security with Him can never be taken from you.

"The starting point of all true relationships is the knowledge that we will never be abandoned - our experience of love will never be taken away for any reason.  This is the foundation of relationship with God and, therefore, the very foundation of faith.

"What kind of security is there if it's not total and absolute?  We give it to our children without a thought - why wouldn't God, who created us, give the same as our 'Father'?

"Love is the author of forever covenants."
                                                                 Darin Hufford

Wonderful Truths of Grace, Part 6

                     GOD LOVES US UNCONDITIONALLY

God loves us.  To love is to give value, thus God's love for us shows us that He see us as valuable and important to Him.  To love is also to delight in, thus God's love for us shows that He delights in us and wants us around.  He likes to be with us.  He actually likes us!  He made and likes each one's personality and enjoys being with us.  He knows us in every way, knows us in our nakedness, and loves us as we are!  He rejoices over us and sings of His love for us (Zeph. 3:17)!  We are the pearl of great price that He "found" and just can't give up! 

His love is so deep and wide it truly fills Him and encompasses everything He is, so much so that He is actually defined as love! And it is a perfect love.  God actually loves us with the same love Has has for Jesus (John 17:23)!

His love for us is a great big love.  It cannot get any bigger, and nothing we do or think would ever make it get smaller.  His love absorbed all our sin on the cross, taking away anything that would keep us from fully enjoying that love.  Yes, it is in Jesus' life, death and resurrection that His wonderful love is revealed.  He went through the hell of carrying all our sins in order to bring us back - that's true love!

He doesn't relate to us in order to "use" us, and He has no hidden agenda - just showering His love on us and being with us is an end in itself.  In fact, just being with us in loving union the "main thing" with Him (John 17:26)!  His focus is not on changing us but on loving us.  Relationship with us is the most important thing to Him!  God has a wonderful plan and goal for our life, and it is to love us, to love us, to love us...

God's love is without condition, given for free.  We don't have to do or be anything to get it or to keep it coming.  It's ours already - now and forever - freely given just because that is how He is!  He will never relate to us on any other basis than love!  Not on the basis of sin, performance, law, change, growth, teaching a lesson, - not anything else but LOVE!

And this love is a forever love.  It will outshine the brightest stars and outlast eternity.  We are loved for good, for all time, forevermore!

God's Focus

I don't know where I read this quote, but I love it and thought I'd share it:

"God's focus is not on changing us but on loving us - and not loving till we're helped or healed, just loving freely with no expectations."

"Mostly what God does is love you....Observe how Christ loved us.  His love was no cautious but extravagant.  He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us"  (from Eph. 5, MSG).

So many times I fail or get confused, and He is still there loving.  Just loving.  His love is like cool water pouring down on parched lips or a refreshing breeze in the hot desert.  He just keeps on "loving freely with no expectations." 

That makes me feel free, and I should feel free because I AM FREE in Him!  You too! Free from shoulds, free from ought to's, free from regrets, free from struggles to "understand", free - free to enjoy being loved!  We are in the Lover's arms today...no expectations...only Life....only love....total freedom and relief!  I needed to hear that today!

Just the Way You Are

So many of the lyrics in this song just fit how God relates to us:  with grace and acceptance, not "conditional love."  We don't have to change a thing.  If we never improve, never do another thing for Him, never fully understand or live out grace, it doesn't matter.  He accepts us just the way we are. I see it as a love song from God to us:

              JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

Don't go changing to try and please me,
You never let me down before,
Don't imagine you're too familiar,
And I don't see you anymore.

I would not leave you in times of trouble,
We never could have come this far,
I took the good times, I'll take the bad times,
I'll take you just the way you are.

Don't go trying some new fashion,
Don't change the color of your hair,
You always have my unspoken passion,
Although I might not seem to care.

I don't want clever conversation,
I never want to work that hard,
I just want someone that I can talk to,
I want you just the way you are.

I need to know that you will always be
The same old someone that I knew,
What will it take till you believe in me,
The way that I believe in you?

I said I love you and that's forever,
And this I promise from the heart,
I couldn't love you any better,
I love you just the way you are.

                                                         Billy Joel

Wonderful Truths of Grace, Part 5

                        WE ARE SAFE AND SECURE

Because of what Christ did for us, we are safe in His hand and nothing or noone can pluck us out.  The evil one cannot touch us (1John 5:18b).  God will never leave us or forsake us - so there's never anything we or anyone else could do to ever make Him leave.  Sin is the only thing that brings  alienation, and since He's taken all our sin away already, we'll never be alienated from Him again, no matter what, ever! 

We're stuck together by "grace glue"!  He promised He'd never turn away from us or stop doing good to us, and He's given us a new heart that won't turn away from Him (Jer. 32:40).  He'll neither leave us nor let us go.  We can fail and still be "in" - that's security in His love.  He put us "in" and keeps us in by His grace, not be any work of ours; and since it's up to Him and His work, it's done and sure.

We're not vulnerable.  We don't have to think that "anything" can happen to us; we're safe in His hand.  He won't harm us.  He won't send evil things on us, for He only gives good gifts.  His Life in us will buoy us up in every situation.  He will never leave us alone no matter how we react to hard times.  He will carry us safely in His arms no matter what.  He always leads us in triumph (2 Co. 2:14).

God has a hold on us and He's not letting go.  His Spirit sealed us for the day of redemption - we're secure in Him.  He will finish what He's started in us.  He will bring us physically to the heavenly kingdom (I say physically because our spirits are already there, relaxing on His lap on the throne, "seated with Him in heavenly places" - Eph. 2:6).  With Jesus, we cannot lose.  And we can't mess this up, it's a done deal.  As R.F. Capon says, "You can't get away from a love that will not let you go!"

The Happiness of God

I have spent most of my life thinking of God as an sullen God or a disappointed God.  At least I usually saw Him as a very serious God.  Yet more and more He's showing me He's a happy God.  He's jovial and joyful.  He's got a spring in His step, a sparkle in His eyes, a song on His lips!

God is happy, I believe.  He's happy because He knows grace wins!  God is happy about the perfect, finished work of His Son and what it accomplished - the forgiveness of humanity!  And He's happy when we see that finished work on our behalf, delighting in our smile as we realize we are loved and accepted for free.  The good news of grace is the happiest message in the world!  He did a perfect work in us and He's happy with what He made us - new creations in Christ.  He is always pleased with His work, and we are His workmanship...that means He's pleased with us!   We are beautifully re-made by God Himself, Designer Originals with His stamp of approval on us.

If He's happy with what He made, we need never condemn ourselves for failure.  We need never fear He'll withdraw favor if we do something poorly or mess up.  He doesn't see us in terms of good or bad actions but only as alive and new creations in His Son!  He's joyful about what He sees!  And if God is happy with me, I can be happy with me, too....

God, I wasn't feeling very joyful today, yet I had been planning on posting this and so I went ahead and did so.  Just typing the words in encouraged me!  Thank you for Your joy in me even when I don't feel so happy.  Thank you that you ARE my joy and happiness which can never be stolen from me!