"....He has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word." Heb. 1:2-3
Walking with Jesus through His finished work, I will be looking at different scriptures and know I need to see them in a proper perspective. So what is that perspective? There is something deeper to understand than just words on a page. The Word isn't a book, really, is it? The Bible itself tells us that Jesus is the Word! What does that mean? What does it mean to see the scriptures through the lens of Jesus BEING the Word? I think it means He reveals Himself through the Bible, that He is the ultimate and original Word or thought of God! Jesus is the perfect expression of God and God's thoughts, "the exact representation of His being!" We can read the words of scripture and encounter THE Word of God, Jesus, there!
I feel like there is so much about the scriptures I don’t understand. I seem to have interpreted so much of the scriptures through ‘performance’ lenses for so long, that some parts I just have to set aside for now and realize that eventually God will make all clear and show me how to see those passages through His ‘grace’ lenses, which really means seeing all of scripture through Jesus and His finished work! Wow, that gets me excited! Just thinking of how we began, not in our mother’s womb, but in God, in His thoughts, in His mind, in the Word or logic of God, in Christ Himself! We are of Him, and so we are like Him! These truths are so new to me that I can barely grasp them…but how wonderful to rest in His knowledge about me..
A couple of days ago I shared the quote from Francois du Toit with a friend, that it’s all about Jesus, and Jesus is all about us. My friend replied, ‘But that makes us God!’ I didn’t know how to answer at the time, but the more I think about it, the more I realize the powerful truth behind my friend’s reaction, for the statement shows, not that we are God Himself, but at least God-like, for we are in the image of the very God of the universe, and Christ is like a mirror showing us how very God-like we are! It makes my heart sing to think of it!
All my life I have struggled with low self-esteem, feeling unworthy as a person, dealing with lots of shame. But now, I find that the deepest part of me is not bad and sinful as I had learned all my life, but instead in God’s image, like Christ, and thus very good and beautiful, pleasing to God and of infinite worth! Who can put a value on Christ? And yet, the scriptures are all pointing to Him, and to the fact that not only is He IN us but that He is an example OF us! So we, too, are of infinite value…We too are lovely and whole and good…We too are a delight to the Father…We too are wrapped in beauty eternal, wrapped in love, wrapped in God Himself, intertwined with Him in union down in the depths of our being, for that is how we were actually existing long ‘before’ time began, existing as love dreams in the Father’s heart!
That’s my true home, that’s my true essence, and even though I don’t fully understand many scripture passages, He is showing me that the written words point to a much greater reality than I ever imagined: Christ in me, representing me, mirroring my true, good, perfect, in-union-with God identity! It is such a relief to see myself and everyone else as basically good people, children of God who have simply believed a lie about themselves for far too long! The scriptures address that, too, for they not only point to Christ and our beginning in Him, but also to the wonderful way He freed us from the lies of the enemy that have confused us for too long and kept us trapped in a belief that we were inferior, shameful, sinful, ugly and far from God.
I am so glad to wake up in the morning and know that I am complete in Him, I am His very good girl, I am loved and close to Him and don’t need to ‘do’ a thing to make all that so, for it is already so. It has always been so, and Christ came to free my mind to see and believe and live in that reality. (Just writing those words almost seems heretical, because it seems too good to be true, and yet I am finding my heart leaping forth and believing these new ideas!)
So that is my understanding of how to read the scriptures – not as a book of ‘how to’ get to perfection before God but as a book revealing Christ, the perfection of God, who shows me who I am and where I come from and makes me able to live in that reality – that I am His perfect child already, originating in His thoughts of love, ready to share this love with the world so they too can awaken to the truth!
Walking with Jesus through His finished work, I will be looking at different scriptures and know I need to see them in a proper perspective. So what is that perspective? There is something deeper to understand than just words on a page. The Word isn't a book, really, is it? The Bible itself tells us that Jesus is the Word! What does that mean? What does it mean to see the scriptures through the lens of Jesus BEING the Word? I think it means He reveals Himself through the Bible, that He is the ultimate and original Word or thought of God! Jesus is the perfect expression of God and God's thoughts, "the exact representation of His being!" We can read the words of scripture and encounter THE Word of God, Jesus, there!
I feel like there is so much about the scriptures I don’t understand. I seem to have interpreted so much of the scriptures through ‘performance’ lenses for so long, that some parts I just have to set aside for now and realize that eventually God will make all clear and show me how to see those passages through His ‘grace’ lenses, which really means seeing all of scripture through Jesus and His finished work! Wow, that gets me excited! Just thinking of how we began, not in our mother’s womb, but in God, in His thoughts, in His mind, in the Word or logic of God, in Christ Himself! We are of Him, and so we are like Him! These truths are so new to me that I can barely grasp them…but how wonderful to rest in His knowledge about me..
A couple of days ago I shared the quote from Francois du Toit with a friend, that it’s all about Jesus, and Jesus is all about us. My friend replied, ‘But that makes us God!’ I didn’t know how to answer at the time, but the more I think about it, the more I realize the powerful truth behind my friend’s reaction, for the statement shows, not that we are God Himself, but at least God-like, for we are in the image of the very God of the universe, and Christ is like a mirror showing us how very God-like we are! It makes my heart sing to think of it!
All my life I have struggled with low self-esteem, feeling unworthy as a person, dealing with lots of shame. But now, I find that the deepest part of me is not bad and sinful as I had learned all my life, but instead in God’s image, like Christ, and thus very good and beautiful, pleasing to God and of infinite worth! Who can put a value on Christ? And yet, the scriptures are all pointing to Him, and to the fact that not only is He IN us but that He is an example OF us! So we, too, are of infinite value…We too are lovely and whole and good…We too are a delight to the Father…We too are wrapped in beauty eternal, wrapped in love, wrapped in God Himself, intertwined with Him in union down in the depths of our being, for that is how we were actually existing long ‘before’ time began, existing as love dreams in the Father’s heart!
That’s my true home, that’s my true essence, and even though I don’t fully understand many scripture passages, He is showing me that the written words point to a much greater reality than I ever imagined: Christ in me, representing me, mirroring my true, good, perfect, in-union-with God identity! It is such a relief to see myself and everyone else as basically good people, children of God who have simply believed a lie about themselves for far too long! The scriptures address that, too, for they not only point to Christ and our beginning in Him, but also to the wonderful way He freed us from the lies of the enemy that have confused us for too long and kept us trapped in a belief that we were inferior, shameful, sinful, ugly and far from God.
I am so glad to wake up in the morning and know that I am complete in Him, I am His very good girl, I am loved and close to Him and don’t need to ‘do’ a thing to make all that so, for it is already so. It has always been so, and Christ came to free my mind to see and believe and live in that reality. (Just writing those words almost seems heretical, because it seems too good to be true, and yet I am finding my heart leaping forth and believing these new ideas!)
So that is my understanding of how to read the scriptures – not as a book of ‘how to’ get to perfection before God but as a book revealing Christ, the perfection of God, who shows me who I am and where I come from and makes me able to live in that reality – that I am His perfect child already, originating in His thoughts of love, ready to share this love with the world so they too can awaken to the truth!