We're In!! And We're Never Going To Be Out!!

We're in, we're in, we're in Christ Jesus, included in the beautiful dance of the Trinity forever!
(song by Godfrey Birtill)

Grace Says We Are FREE!

But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.                        James 1:25

It is amazing that in the new covenant, we have been completely taken out from under law.  The 'law' that we find ourselves under in this wonderful new covenant is called the law of liberty.  How is it described by the NIV above?  As the perfect law that gives freedom!  Wow, what kind of amazing law is this that actually gives freedom!

Usually when you think of laws being put on people, what kinds of words come to mind?  For me, thoughts of bondage/being bound, pressure, fencing people in, rules, requirements, being tied down, being compressed, structure, force, compliance, should and must - these are the words and images that come to my  mind on hearing the word "law"..thoughts of obligation and things being demanded of me, or else something negative will happen.  Yet the verse above says the new covenant law of liberty gives freedom!  How can that be, when law seems to denote restriction and loss of freedom?

I was thinking about this, and I realized that there is another use of the word 'law' in scripture - it can mean a defining or overarching principle, a description of how things work.  Sort of like the law of gravity. What does the law of gravity tell us?  Does it 'demand' that we not float off into space? No!  It describes what is always true of us, tells us that we will not float off into space because we are held on the earth by an overarching force keeping us 'grounded.'  I think the law of liberty may be kind of like that!  This 'law' explains the state we are in now as new creations in Christ - we are in a place of freedom, and we won't be  in bondage to rules anymore, we are free in grace!

What did Jesus free us from?  He freed us from sin, from the effects of sin (death), from the bondage to the law, from the curse, from our futile way of life handed down to us by religious tradition (a performance-based way of life where we thought we had to earn blessings or do certain things to avoid cursing, and it was all up to us, all based on what we did).  Jesus set us free from all this!

We are free from sin's reign in our lives:  Sin doesn't have any control or hold over us, it can't make us do wrong anymore! We are free from sin's bondage!  It doesn't have any power over us!

And we are also free from the rules and regulations of the old law:  The law doesn't have any jurisdiction over us!  The law cannot make demands on us (demands that we could not keep and were doomed to fail at anyway).  The law cannot condemn or curse us or hold a verdict of guilty or a punishment/penalty of death over our heads! 

We are free from living by performance:  We don't have to earn blessings by our good acts, thoughts, words or even beliefs!  And we don't have to worry about incurring curses by our bad acts, thoughts, words or even beliefs!  We will never get all those things completely right, and God knows that.  That is why in the new covenant everything is based on Christ's perfect acts, thoughts, words and beliefs, not our own!  His work is perfect and is already completed on our behalf, and we get all the benefit of it - all blessings, no curses - completely for free, right from His loving hand!  Now that's what I call freedom, that's what I call a glorious new covenant, that's what I call grace!

So what does all this tell me?  We have been so freed from sin's rule over us, law's rule over us, performance-based thinking's rule over us.  One thing it means to me is that we are not under any obligation today.  What a relief this is!

What does it mean to be without obligation?  It means you don't owe God anything.  Nothing is required of you.  God makes no demands on you today.  He is not pushing you.  He is not forcing you to do anything.  There is nothing you have to do, or else He'll be disappointed, withdraw from you, stop working in your life, or stop blessing you! Nothing you do could stop Him from loving and blessing you, because He does those things out of who He is, not based on your performance!  There is nothing YOU have to do, HE does it all; and also there is nothing you HAVE to do, there is no pressure on you to change, measure up, get better, improve, meet a standard, be a good Christian, be more spiritual, or perform in any way!  There is no requirement put on you!

God isn't struggling with you today, wishing you would just shape up or clean up your act!  God is at total peace with you right now.   He is not judging you.  He is not evaluating you.  He is needing nothing from you.  He is completely satisfied with you, just as satisfied with you as He is with His Son Jesus!  If you did nothing at all for God ever again, never even prayed or looked His way ever again, He would be loving you and blessing you just the same!

This gives such relief and rest!  For this means you don't have to 'try.'  You can cease the strivings, you can relax, you can be..you do not have to try..not even try to have more faith or understand grace better or seek His face or ANYTHING..you can rest!  He will do it all.  He will bring you to see who you are in Him.  He will take care of everything that concerns you.  He will manifest your new creation life without your help!  Wow!  You are really free to stop trying to become and just BE your beautiful self that you already are, perfect and lovely and beloved!  You can simply BE and just enjoy life!

You are really free to do anything you wish and it will not change you status with God one bit, because it is totally based on the finished work of Christ.  You are so secure it's beyond words!  You cannot fall out of His grip.  You cannot even fail! Yes, wow, with grace, you cannot fail! Failure will make no difference in your relationship with Him!  Because He bases that relationship totally on His loving nature, Christ's finished work, and His commitment to you, not on anything that you have to do or be.  He is holding up this relationship from beginning to end - and there is no end to it, yay!   You are in Him for all eternity, safe within Him!  So if you fall, the safety net of His grace catches you every time!  He is holding on to you and won't let go!

As R F Capon says, "You can't get away from a love that will not let you go."  That's grace, the love that just won't let us go!  The love that makes us safe and free to be ourselves, free to relax and even do nothing, free to expand our horizons and discover new things, free to ponder and ask questions, free to feel and not be rebuked for the way we honestly feel, free to make mistakes and still be accepted, free to spread our wings and fly!

The new covenant law of liberty describes your state in this new creation realm - in this realm, you are free!  Free to do and be anything!  The question is, what do you wish to do?

Seeing Ourselves As HE Sees Us

There is a place where all our strivings cease..it's in His eyes of love! We look into those eyes that have been adoring us from before the creation of the world, and we see that all we ever wanted we already have in Him - all the love, acceptance, security, friendship, understanding and belonging we could ever want is in Him! And we see ourselves as He does - perfect, innocent, beautiful, flawless! And all the struggles to 'become' somebody better just cease, because we already ARE! We already ARE all God ever wanted us to be! We are just like Jesus to Him! God isn't struggling with us today! He is looking at us as He always has and always will, with perfect delight, absolute affection, and unending joy! You make His heart sing! Let's never listen to any lie that would tell us otherwise! Let's see ourselves as He has seen us since before He even made the world!  We are the treasure of His heart!  We make His heart flutter!  He holds us, He protects us, He understands us, He celebrates us!  We are His PRIDE and JOY!

Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to!                       E[ph. 1:4-6  Living Bible

What Wonderful Good News is the Gospel of Grace..

The gospel of grace is that we are loved, accepted, homefree, righteous, and safe - forever - all by God's doing through Jesus' finished work, without us having to do a thing..and this wonderful good news brings relief, rejoicing, REST! Since you are already in His arms, you don't have to do anything or become anything to get in His arms!!

What good news that it's all already done by His grace:  we're already home and sitting in the Father's lap, already perfect before Him and in spirit to Spirit oneness, without any bit of our effort required... What wonderful rest this brings...we were always meant to live from a position of perfect acceptance, unending love, and unceasing rest! And that is just the position we find ourselves in because of His grace toward us through Jesus!

There is no 'try' or 'must' or 'you should do this' or 'you need to become more that' in this gospel - there is only the wonderful message that all you've wanted to be, you already ARE, and the place you've wanted to be at, you already ARE at - you are His beloved and precious child, safely tucked into His arms, and He will never let you go!   

Hallelujah!  What a wonderful Father, what a wonderful Savior, what a wonderful indwelling Spirit, what a wonderful gospel of grace!