There are times in my life when I get distracted from who I am in Christ..and I start to wander into worrying about my spirituality, or thinking I am not good enough and need to improve..I start feeling bad about my Christian walk and start feeling shame and guilt..and I feel empty and out of sorts..at those times, sometimes it seems like I need to 'do something' to get back the feeling of spiritual strength, closeness with God, or focus on Christ. It feels like I need to work to start thinking more spiritually or work to 'be better, do better.' It feels like it will be hard to get back to a 'close walk with God'..
AND YET!
And yet, nothing has really changed! I haven't fallen away, fallen short, lost my connection with God, become distant from God, become less spiritual, or become less of a Christian. Actually, I am still just as close to God as ever and He is just as close to me, which is really close - in fact, we are so close we are in union! My spirit is ONE with His Spirit - now that is close!
And the reason that nothing has changed in my closeness with God or my status before Him is because that isn't based on my performance, but on the perfect performance of Jesus Himself! Wow, it was Jesus who established the union I have with God before time even began, and it is Jesus who is sustaining that union. I am so tied to Him I can't get loose! So even if I fail, even if I forget about spiritual things for a while, even if I get distracted, forget my identity in Christ and start living like an 'old creation' instead of a 'new creation', nothing changes in my relationship with God or my identity before Him. I am just not strong enough to change Jesus work - nothing I do can undo what Jesus did, and what He did was make me perfect and one with God forever!
So we don't have to work to regain something we never lost..our union with God, our perfect relationship with Him, and our identity before Him as clean, perfect, beloved sons and daughters..That is set in spiritual concrete through the perfect and finished work of Christ! And it is all sustained not by our faithfulness but the faithfulness of Christ, who is the same yesterday and today and forever!
