Christ Working In Us

"In our intent we abide in God, and faithfully trust to have mercy and grace; and this is His own working in us."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 52)

We are human. We are weak. God knows this, He knows we are like dust that blows in the wind or flowers that fade in the heat. He doesn't expect us to be perfect. We are going to fail sometimes, even doubt sometimes. God knows this, He knows we are weak. That is why He has bonded with us forever, infusing us with His strength, His power, His wisdom, His confidence. Christ is one with us. He is in us by the Holy Spirit, always upholding us in life. We don't need to have our own strength or wisdom or faith or obedience, because Christ is in us and we have His strength and wisdom and faith and obedience. We find that deep down, even in the failures and struggles, there is still an intent and inner will that sticks with God and trusts in God's mercy and grace. This is the very faith of Christ within us! He infuses us with His own trust, His own iron resolve to abide in the Father. His faith is our faith. And that's the faith we live by. We don't even have to manufacture our own faith or worry if our faith is good enough. Christ in us has faith for us and through us, and His faith is perfect. We don't have to worry if we will stay with God or stick  with God, because Christ in us always abides in the Father, stays with Him, and makes us to abide in His abiding. We are truly carried along by Christ and His Life! With Christ upholding us like this, how can we fail? We can't. We cannot fail in God's eyes!

I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20 (KJV)

A Prayer: Thank You that I'm not expected to live this life or struggle to muster up perfect behavior. Thank You, Jesus, for living the perfect life of love and trust in me, through me, every day!

Our Keeper

"We have in us our Lord Jesus uprisen, we have in us the wretchedness and the mischief of Adam's falling, dying. By Christ we are steadfastly kept, and by His grace touching us we are raised into sure trust of salvation."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 52)

We have the risen Christ in us! We have eternal life right inside us, holding us up in life at all times, no matter what. So that means it is okay to admit we are not always perfect. We are human and we can sometimes fail or doubt or struggle. But Christ is our keeper. He is keeping us in life at all times. That means we don't have to keep ourselves. We don't have to measure up to a perfect standard, have perfect behavior, have perfect faith, have perfect emotions. We can fail and still be okay, because Christ is the One who is with us, one with us, keeping us. We are not the life, Christ is. Christ is our life! 

We learn that the whole point of this Christian life is not behavior but relationship. Grace, not law. We are not being judged or evaluated based on our performance. We are free to fail and still be in the family. Even if we never improve or get our act together, our place here is assured for it is permanent. We have to know that or we will never relax and enjoy being in the family. We will never feel totally safe, included or that we are secure unless we know there is no way we can lose our place in this family of God. We are always His children. We are always one with Christ. He has permanently become one with us, humanity, and there is no going back. He has brought us with Him from death into life and there is no going back in the grave. We are always new creations. There is no going back because old things have passed away and all has become new. This is the only place to be, here in God's family, here in God's arms. Christ is our keeper, so we are perfectly kept. We are kept by His grace, not by our works or struggle to keep ourselves. We are kept by grace, which means it is unconditional and cannot be lost. We cannot mess this salvation up! That is why we have a "sure trust of salvation." It is a sure thing in Christ. So we can relax. We can be real about our mistakes knowing we will still be loved and accepted. We can fail and know we are still in the family. We are always in Christ and there is no "out." We are safe forever. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:7 (MSG)

The Lord is your keeper.

Psalm 121:5 (ESV)

A Prayer: Thank You for letting me know that no matter what I do or how I fail, I can't fall out of Your family, I can't fall out of Your arms!

Pictures of Love

"And thus I saw that God rejoiceth that He is our Father, and God rejoiceth that He is our Mother, and God rejoiceth that He is our Very Spouse and our soul is His loved Wife. And Christ rejoiceth that He is our Brother, and Jesus rejoiceth that He is our Saviour. These are five high joys, as I understand, in which He willeth that we enjoy; Him praising, Him thanking, Him loving, Him endlessly blessing."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 52)

All the best relationships we have here on earth with loved ones are like a faint picture or echo of the way God is with us. In fact, He is the best example of and original prototype for those human roles and relationships, the One they are designed after. And whatever way that helps us to feel loved by God and close to God, safe with God and cared for by God, is the right way for us to see and relate to God. We may have a wonderful father here on earth, so it is easy for us to relate to God as Father, seeing Him as our Strong Protector, Caring Provider and Ultimate Source. Perhaps we may relate better to God as Mother, for God is the Best Mother, tender-hearted, gentle, kind and warm. We can relate to God as Spouse, the One with Perfect Love for us, His most beloved wife. Or we can relate to God as Brother, a Best Friend and confidante, an understanding listener who loves just being with us. And then we can relate to God as Savior, the One who gave up everything to rescue those that were in such desperate need, who never turned his back on the broken or hurting. 

God epitomizes all those roles and comes to us, expresses love to us, in the love of the best fathers, mothers, lovers and friends we have here on earth. And God is the very best Father, Mother, Spouse, Brother and Savior to us that we could ever imagine, the Family we have always longed for that accepts us just as we are, the Friend that never lets us down, the One who saves us no matter how many times we fall. God has so many ways to say to us, "I love you," so that we can relate to the way that helps us the most. Our God is truly everything we need a God to be!

"How dearly God loves us."

Romans 5:5 (NLT)

A Prayer: You are my Perfect Father, my Perfect Mother, my Perfect Lover, my Perfect Brother, my Perfect Savior!

The Son in His City

"Now sitteth the Son, Very God and Man, in His City in rest and peace: which [City] His Father hath adight (prepared) to Him of His endless purpose; and the Father in the Son; and the Holy Ghost in the Father and in the Son."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 51)

Adam was weak and limited as a human being. He wasn't meant to live out life alone. Trying to live on his own, he fell into confusion and trouble. But God became human to help and save Adam (humanity). The Son, truly God and Man, lifted up and saved humanity. Christ made Himself one with human flesh. He is permanently in a human body, permanently God and Man, permanently joining human flesh to God. We are lifted up into the circle of the Godhead, into Their life, into Their experience, into Their loving fellowship. Now we can live as we were always meant to live, one with God, with Christ living in and through us as our very life. Christ now sits at rest and peace in His beautiful City or Kingdom, humanity itself. This is what the Father always prepared for His beloved Son, this beautiful kingdom to be His lovely dwelling place. 

In this kingdom, Christ takes care of everything. It is a kingdom of love and grace and kindness. It is a kingdom of acceptance and joy and union. We do not have to try to live life on our own. We do not have to rely on our own limited understanding or  feeble strength. Christ is in us, one with us, living in and through us. He is living His life of perfect understanding and strength. We are off the hook. The pressure is off of us to live a perfect Christian life or do everything right. Christ is doing the work. Christ is doing the heavy lifting. We are His responsibility, and He won't fail to take care of everything in our lives. He takes care of it all so we don't have to. We don't have to hold everything up, make sure everything turns out right, or hold onto perfect faith or works. We are free. Free from law. Free from burdens we were never meant to bear, burdens too heavy for us to bear. We are even free to fail and get confused and doubt, because Christ is continually holding us up in His success, His wisdom, His faith. We may be weak but it doesn't matter, because He is strong. We can never really fall like Adam once did, because Christ upholds us in His life and in union with Him. He has permanently joined with our humanity to make sure of that! He is the ruling factor here, not fear or sin or doubt or even death. 

We were never meant to live life alone. We were always meant to rest as Christ lived in us. He was always meant to carry the burden of living for us, in us, through us. He is the head of this kingdom of human life that we live, and He is reigning in this kingdom, radiating His love and life through us, manifesting His victorious power through us, making sure everything is working out for the very best.

"The kingdom of God is within you."

Luke 17:21 (NKJV)

"Christ lives in me."

Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

A Prayer: Thank You for taking care of everything that concerns my life today and every day! Thank You for living Your perfect and beautiful life in me and taking me along for the ride!

The Son Sits

"Now standeth not the Son afore the Father on the left side, as a labourer, but He sitteth on His Father's right hand, in endless rest and peace."

[Pg 121]

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

In the Parable God showed Julian, Christ is not standing before the Father on the left, as if He has unfinished work to do or a task yet to complete. Instead, He is sitting on the Father's right hand, at rest forever. He is on the right side to denote His work being done to the satisfaction of the Father. He is sitting to show that He is completely finished with all His work and can now sit down and be at rest. He is at rest endlessly because His work is done forever and there will never be anything more that needs to be added to it. Christ finished the work of our salvation! We are saved, we are justified, we are sanctified, we are glorified. We are completely saved and we are eternally saved. There is nothing we need to add to this salvation. We are complete in Christ, perfect in Christ, with nothing that could be improved upon in any way! We did not do anything to get this salvation work done. We did not have to do anything. All we did was fall down and get "lost." We could not do a thing to save ourselves. We were helpless, so Christ did all the saving, all the rescuing, and He did a perfect work! He did all the work to save us and His work is finished and done. So we are not trying to somehow get saved, get to God, get in God's favor, get forgiven, get to heaven. In God's sight we are already there in Christ, radiating like a crown of beauty that Christ is arrayed with in glory!

So what is left to do for our salvation? Nothing at all. It is time to celebrate, enjoy, rejoice, and savor the intimate friendship we have with God. It is time to spread and radiate all the love and grace we have been shown to others, so all will know about this great salvation we have been given. We are that crown of beauty on Christ's head as He sits in splendor, reigning over all creation from His heavenly throne. Look at that throne full of happy people! They are dancing, they are shouting, they are singing! They are riding high in the heavens with Christ, far above everything that could try to defeat or deflate them. They are in the highest place possible, a place of victory, peace and joy, a place of love, confidence and unity. We are part of that company. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places! It is finished and Christ has won the victory for all of us!

To celebrate the perfection of what was attained through His single sacrifice, He sat down as the executive authority of God....By that one  perfect sacrifice He has perfectly sanctified sinful man forever....Sins were dealt with in such a thorough manner that no further offerings would ever again be required. Nothing that we can personally sacrifice could add further virtue to our innocence.

Hebrews 10:12, 14, 18 (MIRROR)

Immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

Romans 5:5-6 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You that my salvation is a completed work and there is nothing I need to do or need to add to it, for it is finished!

Crown of Beauty

"Now standeth ...the Son afore the Father ....even-right, richly clad in blissful largeness, with a Crown upon His head of precious richness. For it was shewed that we be His Crown: which Crown is the Joy of the Father, the Worship of the Son, the Satisfying of the Holy Ghost, and endless marvellous Bliss to all that be in Heaven. "

Julian of Norwich (ch. 51)

Christ was made a lowly human and brought about our salvation, and now He is ascended to heaven and crowned with glory and honor. And What is this glory and honor that Christ is crowned with, this crown that He went through so much to win? It is humanity! He has won us back from the dark regions of sin and death, and we are His victor's crown. He has searched for us and found us like a buried treasure that He gave up everything to have, and we are His most prized treasure of all. He is so proud of us! He wears humanity like a crown for all to see. Because Christ has won back this crown of humanity, God the Father is full of joy, the Son is worshipped, the Holy Spirit is completely satisfied, and all people can rejoice. And all creation, all heaven and earth are witness to the way that Christ displays us as His favorite and most treasured ones. He is showing us off to the universe. And amazingly, we don't diminish Him but instead we beautify Him! Can one see any flaws in this beautiful crown of Christ? None at all! It is flawless, perfect and exquisite! Our holiness and purity is complete through Christ's finished work. We are absolutely, stunningly perfect to Him in every way, a jeweled crown without a single imperfection, and He loves showing us off to all the universe.

Christ chose to crown Himself with us, to wear us as His beautiful crown of glory and honor, to share His glory and honor with us and let us be part of His reign and rule. What did we do to deserve this, earn this, make this happen? Nothing at all. What a great salvation! How could we be so important, so special, so precious to Him? It is because we are family. We are His family, God's offspring and Christ's siblings! We mean everything to the Trinity! We are right where we were always meant to be, within the life and love and glory of the Godhead. Their glory can now shine though us as it was always meant to, and we can receive, enjoy, and radiate all Their beauty, love and light to all creation!

For though you made him lower than the angels for a little while, now you have crowned him with glory and honor.

Hebrews 2:7 (TLB)

The Lord your God will hold you in his hand, and you will bring him honour. You will be like his beautiful crown!

Isaiah 62:3 (EASY)

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:7 (MSG)

A Prayer: You make me feel beautiful and perfect!

Where God Is

"Now sitteth... the Son ...in His noblest Seat, which He made in Heaven most to His pleasing."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

God had a home in mind, a perfect dwelling place that would be His very own special home, His favorite  place to be. He imagined this home before time ever began. He loved and delighted in this home before the world's foundation. He intricately planned every detail of this home, down to the smallest parts. He saw it in His infinite mind, made beautiful through His endless creativity, the perfect abode for divinity. Then He lovingly and tenderly created, shaped and formed this lovely home in heaven. It was all to His specific plan, everything just as He had planned it to be. It was all He dreamed and hoped for, the beautiful fulfillment of His most pleasant thoughts. He declared this home "very good" and nothing could change His opinion of this home. And it has been His favorite place ever since, the home He will never depart from, the most special place in all creation. Where is God? Where is His favorite place? His perfect home, where He loves to dwell, is YOU!

"Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?"

1 Corinthians 3:16 (HCSB)

A Prayer: I am Your favorite place to be! And You are my favorite place to be!

Flesh Made New

"The body was in the grave till Easter-morrow, and from that time He lay nevermore....And our foul deadly flesh that God's Son took on Him....was then by our Saviour made fair, new, white and bright and of endless cleanness."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

He has taken on all the pains and struggles we experience in our human flesh. He has felt hunger, sorrow, temptation, tiredness, pain and death. He is part of the human experience, but He is not overcome by it. Instead, He has transformed it and transfigured it. He infused human flesh and blood with divine life, transforming earthly man into heavenly man. He rose in a body that is a resurrection body, a glorified body. It is "fair, new, white and bright and of endless cleanness." In our union with Him we also have been raised to newness of life, and we partake even now of this resurrection life, for we have the true and original Heavenly Man dwelling inside us as our very life. Right now there is a wholeness, completeness, brightness and beauty that is flowing through us, invigorating every part of us with heavenly life. This life is carrying us through, bringing hope to desperation, bringing joy to sorrow, bringing freshness to exhaustion, bringing health to weakness. We are carried along by a Life that is so much better, stronger, clearer and greater than anything we have ever known. It is a Life with no pain in it, no anguish, no anxiety, no weakness, no lack. His life has overtaken all our deaths. His life has swallowed up all the darkness. His life is flowing in us and through us, full and free and endlessly beautiful. His life is our life, now and forevermore!

"Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives."

Romans 6:4 (NLT)

"Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life."

Colossians 3:3-4 (MSG)

A Prayer: I'm living a new life in You.

Raised from Death with Christ

"And at this point He began first to shew His might: for He went into Hell, and when He was there He raised up the great Root out of the deep deepness which rightfully was knit to Him in high Heaven."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Humanity was trapped in sin and death. Julian describes humanity trapped in death as a great root buried in the earth. This root of humanity had been rightly joined to Christ in heaven and did not rightfully belong to death. Christ came and freed humanity! He destroyed the power of death over us, raised us up and gave us life together with Him! The mighty power that raised Christ from death to life has raised humanity from death to life as well. How wonderful to know that when Life encounters death, death dies! When the Power of God encounters the power of death, death is defeated! When Love encounters the prison of death, all the captives in the prison of death are freed! Because of Christ we know that death is already a conquered foe. Eternal life with Christ awaits, and it has already begun for us! 

"When Christ went up to heaven he took those he had won with him." 

Ephesisans 4:8 (WE)

"God has won against death. He has destroyed it completely! Death, you can no longer win! Death, you no longer have any power to hurt us!' ...We thank God! Because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we win against death and its power."

1 Corinthians 15:54-55, 57 (EASY)

A Prayer: Remind me of how powerful You are on my behalf, stronger even than death! With You inside me, nothing can defeat me!

Yielding His Soul

"He might never rise almightily from the time that He was fallen into the Maiden's womb, till his body was slain and dead, He yielding the soul into the Father's hands with all Mankind for whom He was sent."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Christ gave up all His rights and privileges as God to take on human flesh and become a man. He chose to be in a human body permanently, chose to humble Himself to the point of servanthood. For He came to serve us, not to be served. He came to give His life for us, not to demand we give our lives for Him. The King of all creation was born as a helpless baby. And He remained without power in Himself throughout His life, fully relying on the power of His Father to work through Him. He never acted in an 'Almighty' way but chose to be vulnerable and limited, just as any human is. He experienced what it means to be human to the fullest extent, taking on our human nature fully, so that He could heal it from inside out. 

Everything we had done wrong, Jesus went through and did right. And through His union with us He brought us with Him as He went through human experience. His obedience became our obedience. His faith in the Father became our faith. He endured even unto death, and His endurance became our endurance. His death to sin became our death. He delivered Himself to God His Father, yielding His soul into the Father's hands, along with all mankind! When Christ gave His spirit into the hands of the Father, He gave all of humanity into the Father's hands, as well! We have been committed and entrusted into the Father's hands by Christ Himself. We are set apart to God. We are given to God. Wayward Humanity has been returned to the God it belongs with!

But we see Jesus, who for a short time was made lower than the angels. This was so that, by God’s grace, he could die [taste death] for everyone. And now, because he suffered and died, he is wearing a crown of [crowned with] glory and honor. [Jesus fulfills humanity’s destiny: to be crowned with glory and honor.]

Hebrews 2:9 (EXB)

A Prayer: Your kindness, humility and self-giving love are the most beautiful thing in the world!

[Pg 120]

We Are His Body

"For all mankind that shall be saved by the sweet Incarnation and blissful Passion of Christ, all is the Manhood of Christ: for He is the Head and we be His members."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Scripture uses very intimate images to describe the connection between us and Christ. John 15 says that Christ is the true vine and we are branches on the vine. 1 Corinthians 12 says that Christ is the head and we are members of His body. The connection we have to Christ is close, perfect and strong. We are truly part of Him! All that we need flows naturally from Christ to us. All His love and strength and goodness flows into and through us. We are an expression of Christ on earth, identified with Him in every way. Christ has joined with our humanity and considers us all parts of His body. Not all may see or know this yet, not all may experience this yet, but the truth of the union is there to be discovered. We have a secret reservoir of hope, joy, peace and love within us. We have a continuous connection to God. We are so close to Christ we are simply one. And all that is Christ's comes to us not just in abundance, but overabundance. This is resurrection life flowing through us! We are part of the risen Christ and therefore we are experiencing the victorious life right now in our everyday life on earth. We have the joy of eternity inside us, the peace that passes understanding. We have the mind of Christ, the power that raises from the dead, the hope of glory. We are more than conquerors through Him, carried along from blessing to blessing, all things working to good. We are light in the Lord, radiant with His beauty. Every day we walk around expressing Christ's life and love to this world. We are His hands and feet and we spread His encouragement and kindness everywhere we go. He is on display in these human bodies. It's an effortless thing for us, for He is taking care of everything, Christ living through us as we simply be ourselves and go about our days. It's the most natural thing in the world for it is how God always meant to live, in union with humans! We are simply His favorite place to be, and He loves living in and with and through us. Nothing is ordinary for us; everything is supernatural. Heaven has come to earth, and it's Christ in us!

"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."

1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV)

"Discover God himself as your inexhaustible inner source."

Philippians 2:13 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: I love living life together with You!

Ready and Willing

"He is God, even with the Father as anent the Godhead. But in His foreseeing purpose that He would be Man, to save man in fulfilling of His Father's will, so He stood afore His Father as a Servant, willingly taking upon Him all our charge. And then He started full readily at the Father's will, and anon He fell full low, into the Maiden's womb, having no regard to Himself nor to His hard pains."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Why would He do it? Why would He, the Son of God who was equal to God and truly God Himself, give up all the privileges and rights associated with His divinity and take on the form of a servant, humbling Himself to become weak human flesh? Why would He submit to the pain, sorrow, suffering and death that came with His becoming human? Why? It was all for love! Christ was ready and eager to go do this work of saving humanity. He desired to go, He wanted to go. He willingly took up our cause, the cause of the lost and helpless ones, the failures and the ruined ones. He was ready to go, and ran to go complete the task with eagerness and vigor. He took on all our situation, bore all the pains that came with being human, even to the point of dying at the hands of the very ones He came to save, giving of Himself completely, giving all that He had to give.  Yet He had no regard to Himself. He only thought of us! That's what love is, that's what God is! Unconditional, selfless, other-centered love, always pouring itself out for us, no matter what! And that is the only way He is. He is only love and nothing else, and the Cross stands for all time to prove that is true!

"His being God's equal in form and likeness was official....His mission, however, was not to prove his deity but to embrace our humanity. He emptied himself into a physical human form; born in our resemblance, he identified himself as the servant of the human race. His love enslaved him to us! And so we have the drama of the cross in context: the man Jesus Christ who is fully God, becomes fully man to the extent of willingly dying humanity’s death at the hands of his own creation. He embraced the curse and shame of the lowest kind in dying a criminal’s death."

Philippians 2:6-8 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: Thank You for all the love You have for me, all the love You have shown me. Thank You for going through all You did to save me!

Brought Up to Heaven

"He would send Him to do that worshipful deed by which mankind was brought again into heaven."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 51)

Christ did not just take away the sin of humanity on the cross. He did not just die for us. He took us with Him in all that He accomplished. So when He died, we died. When He rose, we rose. When He ascended, we ascended. When He was presented in heaven, we were presented in heaven. He is our representative, the joining of man and God. In oneness and unity with humanity, He took us with Him through death to all our sin and shame, and into resurrection from death, and into heavenly glory and perfection! We have died with Christ to the old life, to sin and the law and condemnation and death. We have risen with Christ to a new life, to eternal union relationship with God, to holiness and goodness and love! Humankind is saved in Christ with an eternal salvation, pulled along with Christ into His resurrection life. Through Christ humanity is not bound to sin and death but freed to goodness and life. In Christ humanity has been brought up from earth to heaven! We are not struggling to get there or hoping to get there; we are already there! It is a complete work and a finished work that Christ has done, with nothing that needs to be added to it. Hallelujah, we are saved by His grace, by the free gift of God in Christ! God has saved us without our help. God has saved humankind! Now is the time to share this good news, so that more and more people can hear and believe this truth and start to personally experience and enjoy this this union relationship with God, this victorious, eternal life with God in Christ!

"He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own."

2 Corinthians 5:15 (MSG)

"But even though we were dead in our sins God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, gave us life together with Christ—it is, remember, by grace and not by achievement that you are saved—and has lifted us right out of the old life to take our place with him in Christ in the Heavens. Thus he shows for all time the tremendous generosity of the grace and kindness he has expressed towards us in Christ Jesus. It was nothing you could or did achieve—it was God’s gift to you."

Ephesians 2:4-8 (PHILLIPS)

A Prayer: Thank You for the wonder of Your grace, how You saved us as a complete and utter gift! May everyone know what You have done for us in Your death and resurrection!

No Blame

"And thus hath our good Lord Jesus taken upon Him all our blame, and therefore our Father nor may nor will more blame assign to us than to His own Son, dearworthy Christ."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Christ the Son of God took on flesh and became the Son of Man. Christ united with our humanity and became the union of God and Man in one Person. He is fully God and fully Man. By uniting with us, taking on a human body and becoming one with our human flesh, we are truly one with Christ, in intimate connection with Him. We are so close that we are one. In that oneness with us, Christ took on all the sin, shame, pain, condemnation and blame of our failures. He took it upon Himself and away from us, off of us. All our sin and shame and guilt and blame is done away with in Him. His purity, righteousness, goodness and holiness destroy all sin, dissolve all blame. He truly took away the sin of the world, taking it down into death so it is gone forever! And in that oneness with us, He gave us His righteousness. He gave us His purity. He gave us His goodness. He gave us His holiness! We are one with Christ. Can there be any fault found with Christ? No! Then there cannot be any fault found with us, either! God would no more assign blame to us than He would to His own Son! We are completely cleansed and purified in Christ, freed from all our sin and blame. And we are completely made righteous in Christ, sanctified with all the holiness of Christ Himself. He is our Righteousness. He is our Purity. In Him we stand perfect, complete, innocent and right with God for all time! What a Savior!

"For God caused Christ, who himself knew nothing of sin, actually to be sin for our sakes, so that in Christ we might be made good with the goodness of God."

2 Corinthians 5:21 (PHILLIPS)

A Prayer: Thank You for taking away my sin. I am innocent and blameless in You!

Held Up by Christ

"The virtue and the goodness that we have is of Jesus Christ, the feebleness and the blindness that we have is of Adam: which two were shewed in the Servant."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

We are one with Christ and always have been in God's eyes, for the incarnation united man and God and was an event that is beyond time (eternal) as well as seen in time (temporal). God sees Christ and humanity as one. So all the we have gone through, Christ has been right there with us, going through it with us. All our sorrows, sins, and sufferings He has carried and experienced. And all that Christ has gone through, we have been right there, going through it with Him. All His saving work and triumph we have been carried through and experienced. For each person, this means that no matter what my failings, Christ has been right there holding me up with His success. No matter what my thoughts or feelings of loss, fear, doubt or alienation, Christ has been right there keeping faith, never losing sight of God, always seeing the truth of heaven. In all my circumstances and sorrows, He has been holding me up with His strength, peace and joy. No matter where my journey has taken me, or how far away I have seemed from God, Christ has always been in fellowship with God, keeping me in God's presence. When I have felt unloved and angry, His love and tenderness has supported me. He has been pulling me forward in life no matter what struggle I have had. He has been holding my head high no matter what storm has come at me. He has been the silent partner that has kept me up at all times. His righteousness has continually overshadowed my sinfulness. His perfection has always surpassed all my imperfection. No matter what my trouble, unbelief, or failure, He has been the  purity, life and light shining forth from within. My humanity brings me weakness and blindness and death, but Christ's presence brings me goodness, purity and life! How beautiful!

"I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."

John 14:20 (NIV)

"You are united with Jesus the Anointed. He is God’s wisdom for us and more. He is our righteousness and holiness and redemption."

1 Corinthians 1:30 (VOICE)

"Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ."

2 Corinthians 2:14 (NASB)

A Prayer: You are everything I need. You fill up all my empty places. Your love supports me no matter what. Your life carries me through in triumph!

Christ and Adam, One Man

"For in all this our good Lord shewed His own Son and Adam but one Man.

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

We can tend to think of ourselves as separate from Christ, estranged from Christ, far from Christ, needing to move closer to Christ. But according to God we are always found in Christ. He sees humanity and Christ as One Man, a single person before Him. We are one with Christ. We are one body of Christ, with Christ as the Head. There is no estrangement, there is no separation. There is only union. There is only oneness. There is only one. I am never alone in anything I face. I have never gone through anything alone in my life. I cannot sin my way out of Christ. I cannot fall out of Him. I am one with Him. My existence is wrapped up in Him. We are joined and united, we are one. Christ the Head of humanity takes care of His own body. The church father Gregory of Nyssa wrote, "Now the body of Christ, as I have often said, is the whole of humanity." There is one humanity, the humanity of Christ, and we partake in that humanity. There is one true human, Christ, and we are parts of that human. There is one human nature, and our human nature is sourced in that nature. Christ and Adam (humanity) are One Man!

"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."

1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV)

A Prayer: Let me never think of myself apart from You!

The Son's Work of Salvation

"Adam fell from life to death, into the deep of this wretched world, and after that into hell: God's Son fell with Adam, into the deep of the Maiden's womb, who was the fairest daughter of Adam; and for this end: to excuse Adam from blame in heaven and in earth; and mightily He fetched him out of hell."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 51)

We see the Incarnation as happening at a certain point in time. But from God's eternal perspective, it happened outside of time, for Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. That means that even before Adam had a problem, Christ already was the solution. Even before Adam was lost here on earth, he was found in Christ in heaven. Because of the oneing of Christ and humanity from creation, when Adam fell, Christ fell. Adam fell into sin, corruption and death. Christ fell with Adam and was born from the virgin's womb to be the Savior and rescue Adam. Christ went to the extreme of becoming a human, with flesh and blood, to rescue humanity from sin, evil, loss, death and corruption. Christ who is God became Man in order to excuse Adam from blame and lift him up from death into eternal life! He rescued Adam (who stands for all humanity)! He vindicated Adam/humanity as worthy of God's help, as righteous in God's sight, as the recipient of honor and eternal life. Sin and death are defeated. Adam/humanity is shown to be blameless, innocent and pure. God is shown to be loving and kind, and stronger than death and all evil. Christ is shown to be the perfect God-Man uniting man to God forevermore. Adam/humanity is saved! Hallelujah, what a Savior and what a salvation!

"He embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep."

Isaiah 53:12 9MSG)

"I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness."

Isaiah 61:10 (NIV)

A Prayer: Thank You for excusing me from all blame! I am blameless before You! I am free from sin! I am saved!

God's Son Fell

"When Adam fell, God's Son fell: because of the rightful oneing which had been made in heaven, God's Son might not [be disparted] from Adam. (For by Adam I understand All-Man.)"

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Humanity was created in connection to God, tethered to God, founded in God. We are created through, in, and by Christ and cannot even be in existence without Him. He upholding us, is the source of our very nature, is our template. For we are made in the image of God and have innate connection to Him, having His very breath or Spirit within us sustaining us in life. Somehow, humanity is oned with Christ from the beginning. So when Adam, representing all humanity, fell, Christ also fell. Whatever falls or fails we have in life, Christ is right there with us. Whatever dark alley we end up on, Christ is our companion. Whatever hole or pit we feel trapped in, Christ is with us, never leaving us, never forsaking us.  He is always with us in all our sufferings, suffering along with us, and raising us up. No matter what dark night we have gone through, we have never been alone. We have never been separated from Him. He loves us so tenderly and would never let us go through anything alone. We have never been without help or hope. He is deeper than our deepest trouble and stronger than the strongest evil. Our Big Brother Christ is by our side, on our side, sustaining and saving us, bringing all of His strength, light and love to our every situation. We have an unlosable Helper, Supporter and Friend, for Christ cannot ever be separate from humanity. He is permanently with us, one with us, for us!

"If I make my bed in the depths, you are there....your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

Psalm 139:8,10 (NIV)

A Prayer: In all the dark times, I have never been alone! Even when I did not reach out to You, You were holding me. Thank You for being there for me, no matter what.

Christ Is Rightful Adam

"In the Servant is comprehended the Second Person in the Trinity; and in the Servant is comprehended Adam: that is to say, All-Man. And therefore when I say the Son, it meaneth the Godhead which is even with the Father; and when I say the Servant, it meaneth Christ's Manhood, which is rightful Adam."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

In the Parable God showed Julian, she learns that the Servant represents both Adam and Christ. Adam represents all humanity; Christ represents the true, rightful Adam. In other words, the humanity of Christ is true humanity, what humanity was created to be and what humanity truly is in its identity. We often see ourselves as descending from Adam, yet going farther back, we see that Adam descended from God! So the source of our identity goes farther back than Adam to Christ.  We are sourced in Him, of the same family, in God the Father's image, so much so that Christ calls us His siblings. For Christ is the original blueprint of human life. So Christ is who we look to if we want to see what a true human is, what the original characteristics of humanity are. Christ shows us in His humanity that human nature is good, kind, fit for God. Human nature is not lowly or broken or incompatible with God; humanity is the perfect home for God to live in and for God's glory and love to fill and to flow from. We were unable to actively live out this holy purpose, because we were weakened and blinded by the fall, but Christ lived perfectly, filled with the Father's love and glory, being our representative Human.  Christ is the picture of true humanity and lived the true human life perfectly for us. He brings about our salvation from sin and death so that noble human nature can be freed to live as it was always meant to live, in union with God, invigorated by God, filled with the fullness of God, knowing and being known by God, for Christ Himself, joined with us, lives this wonderful holy life within us and keeps us filled with God.

Jesus, who makes people holy, and all those who are made holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus isn’t ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

Hebrews 2:11 (GW)

A Prayer: Thank You for being in me, living in me the holy life I could never live on my own!

Grounded in Love, Healed by Love

"That [treasure] was grounded in the Lord in marvelous deepness of endless love, but it was not all to His worship till the Servant had thus nobly prepared it, and brought it before Him in himself present.

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

We are always God's dear treasure, the ones He loves to show off, like a bride shows off her jewels or a king shows off his crown! We are grounded in God, securely rooted and sourced in His presence, His love, His life. The deepest and truest thing about our life is not sin or brokenness but endless love, love that holds all our thoughts, concerns and even failures in its gentle and accepting arms, love that holds our past, our present, and our future safely and securely. Our whole life is founded on God's forever love for us. That is the truth about our life, no matter what other things are going on with us. The parts of us that have lost sight of that love, that have been wounded by life's difficulties, that have forgotten what it is like to be unconditionally loved and accepted with no chance of rejection, those parts have been embrace and healed, rescued and restored by Christ. No matter how broken we feel we still are, no matter how we feel about ourselves right now, whether we see ourselves as ruined, or in process, recovering, or whole, Christ has already taken up our cause and healed our wound and presented us perfectly flawless and whole and complete in heaven. He has presented us sound, and strong, and beautiful, and alright, presented us in Himself so that we are secure in that condition, assured that it will never change and that we will never be lost or ruined ever again. We may not see it perfectly here and now on earth, but we will, because heaven's reality overwhelms and surpasses this world's reality just as heaven surpasses earth in glory and strength. 

Let's relax in His arms today, because no matter what we are going through, everything is perfect in Christ, and that's where we are today. We are enjoying heaven's bliss. We don't have any problems, hangups, or losses. All is healed, all is restored, all is well, and God is going to manifest that completely, whether now or later. But we will see it. There is nothing wrong with us and nothing wrong with our relationship with God. Every broken place in us we can embrace and love because we have found that we were never really broken to God. We have always been whole to Him. We have always been innocent. We have always been loved. Nothing on this earth could change that. Nothing ever did and nothing ever will! 

"You are God's special treasure."

1 Peter 2:9 (NIRV)

A Prayer: Thank You for showing me that brokenness isn't the deepest thing about me. The deepest thing about me is love!

To Be a Gardener

I marvelled and thought what it (the treasure) might be, and I was answered in mine understanding: It is a food which is delectable and pleasant to the Lord.... I beheld, thinking what manner of labour it might be that the Servant (now representing Christ) should do. And then I understood that he should do the greatest labour and hardest travail: that is, he should be a gardener....And he should never turn again till he had prepared this food all ready as he knew that it pleased the Lord. And then he should take this food, with the drink in the food, and bear it full worshipfully afore the Lord."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

In the parable that God showed Julian, the Servant in the story now shifts from representing Adam to representing Christ, and we see the work of Christ to help Adam who had fallen into trouble. In this part of the story, the work of Christ is likened to the work of a gardener, such as one who works in a vineyard, who brings forth plants from the seeds deep in the soil, waters and cares for the plants till they bring forth fruit, and then brings the fruit and its juice to the Lord. So one way to look at this treasure in the earth is to see it as a seed of a plant, waiting in the earth to sprout and grow and bring forth fruit. We can see Christ as the One tending the seeds so they sprout, caring for and watering the plants so they grow, and bringing the fruit of the vine to the Father. We are His little plants that He nurtures and cares for, doing everything to help us thrive, bringing out the fruit of the Spirit from within us. Christ's finished work has brought the seed of humanity to sprout from the earth, from death into life, to flourish forever and bear spiritual fruit. This work is not done by us but is already done for us and through us. This work is already finished and complete and we are presentable to God in heaven. The seed of humanity was always meant to grow and prosper through God indwelling humankind. Christ accomplished this plan and there is nowhere left to go but up and up with God, to thrive and flourish and be full of God's life forever!

"Sing about a fruitful vineyard: I, the Lord, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it...In days to come [it] will take root, [it] will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit."

Isaiah 27:2-3, 6 (NIV)

A Prayer: I love the way You tenderly care for me. Thank You for always nurturing me with Your love.

A Treasure in the Earth

"There was a treasure in the earth which the Lord loved."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

In the Parable God showed Julian, there was a treasure in the earth. A  treasure by definition is something rare, precious, valuable and greatly desired. This precious, greatly desired treasure is humanity, who has fallen into the depths of earthly existence with its pain and death, not fulfilling the full potential it was created for. It has become covered in the dirt and mud of sin and delusion and not visibly glorious. Yet the treasure remains beautiful even when covered over with dirt and grime; the treasure remains the treasure and never becomes the dirt. The treasure only waits for Someone to bring it out of the mud and remove the dirt to reveal its original beauty. This is the treasure Christ came to lift up, redeem and restore. He came to wipe humanity free of grime and dirt and death and not only bring it back to its original glory but fill it with even more glory, filled with Christ's own fullness of life and flourishing, and bring it up to heaven to present to the Father in beauty and splendor! We are what greatly pleases the Lord, what He loves and adores, what He considers precious and beyond price, the treasure He would do anything to have back in sweet relationship with Him, safe in eternal life with Him. Christ is the One who has done all the work to bring God's dear treasure home to Him, in glory and honor!

“The kingdom of heaven is like a [very precious] treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid again; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field [securing the treasure for himself]."

Matthew 13:44 (AMP)

A Prayer: Thank You for seeing me as a priceless treasure in Your eyes, so that You would do anything to have me with You! 

Rejoicing for the Worshipful Restoring

"He hath, beclosed in Him, all Heavens, and all Joy and Bliss: and this was shewed .... I saw Him highly rejoice for the worshipful restoring that He will and shall bring His servant to by His plenteous grace."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Heaven is in God. Heaven is found in Him, for being in Him in a total way, fully experiencing the bliss of His presence, is true Heaven! In His presence there is no pain, sorrow or fear; there is only love, joy, and bliss. He has within Himself all the joy and bliss that is possible to know. To see Him fully, know Him fully, experience Him fully, is the highest joy, the deepest bliss, that is possible! His joy is in knowing that He will and shall bring His servant (Adam, all humanity) to 'worshipful restoring' by His abundant, all-surpassing grace. He knows that all will end well for us all. He knows that we will all be home with Him enjoying perfect love and endless joy in His presence. He knows that Christ's work was sufficient and restored all to wholeness and glory, and that all will experience that. It will happen, it shall happen, it has already happened in the eternal will of God, and we shall all see and experience it! Christ has made this a 'sure thing,' and what a relief it is to know this story has a happy ending only God could dream up!

"For the grace of God has appeared, saving all."

Titus 2:11 (NABRE)

"For God had allowed us to know the secret of his plan, and it is this: he purposes in his sovereign will that all human history shall be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in Heaven or earth shall find its perfection and fulfilment in him."

Ephesians 1:9-10 (PHILLIPS)

"God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ."

2 Corinthians 1:21 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for Your 'worshipful restoring' of us all!

God's Dwelling Place

"He made man's soul to be His own City and His dwelling-place: which is most pleasing to Him of all His works. And what time that man was fallen into sorrow and pain, he was not all seemly to serve in that noble office; and therefore our Lord Father would prepare Himself no other place, but would sit upon the earth abiding mankind, which is mingled with earth, till what time by His grace His dearworthy Son had brought again His City into the noble fairness with His hard travail."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Humanity has always been God's favorite dwelling place, the place He most wants to be. We have lost sight of that and not realized our value or the great purpose God had for us to just be His home, radiant with His glory. But God never lost sight of this! Christ came to bring the royal city of God back to its true radiance in all its glory. Now through Christ's work in the incarnation, death and resurrection, that vision of God for us is realized. We are the royal city of God, the seat of His throne. His glory radiates out from within us through His Spirit. Death is defeated, tears are wiped away, sorrow and pain are done away.  God's dwelling is with humanity not just in essence or spirit but also in earthly human experience. In God's eternal view, this is fact and reality, something already true for us. We are simply becoming more and more aware of what Christ has already done, of God already dwelling within us, of the victory over sin and death that is already accomplished. Heaven has been brought to earth, and it's within us. It will manifest more and more till all see the glory of the Lord here on earth, in His beloved humanity!

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

Isaiah 40:5 (KJV)

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride dressed in beauty for her husband. Then I heard a great voice from the throne crying, “See! The home of God is with men, and he will live among them. They shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more, and never again shall there be sorrow or crying or pain. For all those former things are past and gone.”

Revelation 21:2-4 (PHILLIPS)

A Prayer: I am radiant with Your glory that shines from Your presence within me!

He Shows Himself

"Man is blinded in this life and therefore we may not see our Father, God, as He is. And what time that He of His goodness willeth to shew Himself to man, He sheweth Himself homely, as man."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Living in this mortal existence, humans cannot fully see who God is using our human senses and faculties. We are limited in our understanding, also, and have been confused by false information about God. But God wanted us to know Him for who He truly is, so we could experience deep and meaningful relationship with Him. The second Person of the Trinity, the only-begotten Son, who is God and exists in the bosom of His Father, in closest and equal association to Him, took on flesh and blood and became human. Now we can see God right in front of us in the man Jesus Christ. God has revealed Himself, God is with us, God has spoken to us the final and truest word about Himself, in His Son! Everyone who came before had limited information about God, but the Son is the perfect and exact representation of God. All the thoughts and words that we heard before were incomplete; the Son is the final word about God, the perfect truth about Him. He shows us who God is, and we see that God is unlike some of the older pictures of God that people have had, even pictures found in the Old Testament. We can see now that even though these pictures had merit, they were incomplete pictures. Jesus shows the complete picture, being God in the flesh. Jesus shows us a God who is tender-hearted, gentle, forgiving, compassionate, and kind, who is all love and nothing else. He shows us a God who forgives His enemies, does good to those who rail against Him, and blesses those who hate Him. Every past revelation, every word that was said or written about God before, must cede to the final revelation of God, the Son Jesus Christ. If we don't see a trait in Christ, it is not in God. If we do see a trait in Christ, it is truly in God. He is the face of the Father to us, and we see it is a good, accepting, nonjudging, welcoming, understanding face. It is the face of pure love. God has appeared in human form to walk and talk among us, to show us the true nature of God, to experience what we go through as humans, to meet with us and relate to us in a way we can understand, to call us home to where we belong, home to His Father and our Father, too!

So the word of God became a human being and lived among us. ...It is true that no one has ever seen God at any time. Yet the divine and only Son, who lives in the closest intimacy with the Father, has made him known.

John 1:14,18 (PHILLIPS)

"In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also 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."

Hebrews 1:2-3 (NIV)

A Prayer: Jesus, thank You showing me the Father!

His Lovely Look

"And the lovely looking wherewith He looked upon His Servant continually,—and especially in his falling,—methought it might melt our hearts for love and burst them in two for joy. The fair looking ...was marvellous to behold: the one [part] was Ruth and Pity, the other was Joy and Bliss. The Joy and Bliss passeth as far Ruth and Pity as Heaven is above earth: the Pity was earthly and the Bliss was heavenly: the Ruth and Pity of the Father was [in regard] of the falling of Adam, which is His most loved creature; the Joy and Bliss was [in regard] of His dearworthy Son, which is even with the Father."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

If we could see the way God looks at us, especially when we fail or sin, it would melt our hearts and fill us with happiness. We cannot even begin to imagine the love and tenderness and sweetness of that gaze, which is upon us at all times! It is a look of compassion, feeling for us in all our troubles, but even moreso it is a look of pure bliss. God is so happy with us, so pleased and proud of us, so filled with awe and wonder at His beautiful little children. Just as a parent is with a small child, He adores us. Our failings don't change His attitude toward us or His expression towards us one bit. His tender heart is filled with joy over us, and the look of love He gives us always is just the same look He gives to His Son Jesus! In just the same way, with just the same intensity, as the Father loves the Son, He also loves each of us. It seems too good to be true, yet it is. 

As church father Hilary of Poitiers said in his book, On the Trinity, "God can never be anything but love, or anything but the Father." He has nothing but love to give us. He has no other attitude towards us than compassion and delight. Just as He would treat the Son, that's how He is treating us. Can we see Him now, smiling at us? Can we relax into that gaze of love and let it melt our cares away? Can we just stay for a moment in the embrace of that look, and forget our failures, realizing we are perfect to Him? What wonderful love is this, and what a wonderful God who is all love!

"His love for His Son is His love for us."

Ephesians 1:6 (MIRROR)

"Jesus, looking at him, loved him.."

Mark 10:21 (ESV)

A Prayer: One look in Your eyes, and I know I'm loved!

God Does Not Punish

"Only Pain blameth and punisheth, and our courteous Lord comforteth and sorroweth; and ever He is to the soul in glad Cheer, loving, and longing to bring us to His bliss."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

One of the most life-changing things we can find out is that God does not punish us! Though some Old Testament verses seem to say that God punishes, Jesus came and gave the fuller picture of God. Jesus never punished a single person, whether tax collector or Pharisee. And on the cross He prayed for all who harmed Him to be forgiven. He showed that God's way is forgiveness and release, not punishment. He showed us God is grace, not law. He gave us the true picture of God, a God of compassion, mercy, forgiveness and love, a God who does not judge us but saves us. It is not God who causes us pain and suffering. It is not God who punishes or harms us. It is pain itself that hurts us, evil and death that do us harm. It is fear and loneliness and depression and tragedy that hurt us, not God! These things are brought on us through the presence of evil, not the presence of God. God comes to us not to cause  pain but to relieve it. He comes not to punish sin but to remove it. What a relief to know that when we fail, God isn't looking on us harshly with judgment, ready to beat us or make us suffer to learn some kind of "lesson." Instead, He is looking on us with compassion, tenderness and kindness, suffering all our pain with us and being so moved in His tender heart that He wants only to comfort and encourage and heal us, or rather to show us Jesus already healed us! He has only one look towards us, the loving look of joy! He is bringing us into joy, the joy of heaven, and He doesn't think, talk or get concerned about our sin. It's not on His mind at all; it is already dealt with and removed by the cross anyway! He is only thinking about how happy we make Him just by being His kids. He always has a smile on His face for us. He is only thinking about the joy He wants to bring into our lives. For God only looks at what is, not what isn't. Sin and punishment are what ISN'T. Sin is gone, and there is no condemnation, shame, judgment or punishment at all coming to us, never from God anyway, but not from any other source either! It was all taken away by the death and resurrection of Christ! God only looks at what IS. He only sees new creations in Christ, perfected and holy, pure and clean, flawless and beautiful, beloved and honored! He is always seeing this reality and is bringing us to get our eyes off the sin we already died to with Christ, so we can look at the resurrection reality we have been brought into by Christ! What a glorious thing to know, that God doesn't punish us, He has simply healed us by love through Christ!

"The Lord lifts up all who fall, and he supports all who are bowed down."

Psalm 145:14 (EHV)

A Prayer: When I fall down, You always pick me up. You never shame or blame me. You just encourage and help me. Thank You!

Seeing Through His Eyes

"For neither doth he see clearly his loving Lord, which is to him full meek and mild, nor doth he see truly what himself is in the sight of his loving Lord. And well I wot when these two are wisely and truly seen, we shall get rest and peace here in part, and the fulness of the bliss of Heaven, by His plenteous grace."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 51)

Humans ask certain "big questions" to find meaning in their lives. Two of the biggest questions are "Who am I?" and "Who is God?" If we can find good answers to these questions, we can find meaning, joy and peace in our lives. One of the effects of the Fall is that these two truths, of who we are and who God is to us, are in a sense forgotten by the human race. We have suffered a memory loss or blindness regarding these most important things. We have been deluded into believing ourselves and God to be different than the truth. We have mistakenly attached the attributes of evil to both ourselves and God, thinking that we are bad, selfish and hurtful, or thinking that God is vengeful, angry or destructive.  These false attributes don't belong to God or to us, His children! We have been deluded and have mistakenly lived under these delusions, living out a false identity and beliveing a false identity of God.

Christ came to show us the truth. Being both God and Man, He shows us the face of God, for He is one with the Father; He shows us God is loving, meek and mild.  He shows us the face of man, for we are considered Jesus' siblings and part of His family; He shows us we are in the image of God and precious enough to die for. He gives us His eyes to see, His mind to think clearly, freeing us from confusion and healing our blindness. And He simply asks us to side with Him, to align with His viewpoint about us and God. Let's dare to believe in who He says He is: humble and lowly of heart, compassionate and nonjudgmental, kind and all-forgiving, wanting nothing more than to give us His whole kingdom. Let's dare to believe what God believes about us, too: that we are His dear ones, for whom He has great compassion, forgiven of any and all our wrongs, welcomed into His arms like little children. Knowing these truths gives us freedom to love ourselves as basically good people, as well as the confidence to be ourselves before God without fear, opening us up to a wonderful relationship with Him. And we start experiencing the peace and joy of heaven right here on earth!

 "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." 

John 14:9 (NIV)

"Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters."

Hebrews 2:11 (NIV)

A Prayer: Let me see who You are clearly, and let me see myself through Your eyes. 

Seeing Our Good Will

"This man (Adam) was hurt in his might and made full feeble; and he was stunned in his understanding so that he [was] turned from the beholding of his Lord. But his will was kept whole in God’s sight;—for his will I saw our Lord commend and approve. But himself was letted (hindered) and blinded from the knowing of this will.."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

When Adam fell, it wasn't that he suddenly became a bad person. His God-given nature or identity was still intact. But he was made weak in might and lacking in mental clarity. He was hindered from living out His good nature. He was in an environment and trap of sin and death that kept him from fulfilling his natural God-given potential. So we humans have been born into a world where we are subject to sin, corruption and death. In this broken world humans are weak and lacking sight of spiritual reality, so that we are not able to see God or see ourselves clearly. 

But God sees us clearly, He sees that our good will that He created us with is intact. In fact, God Himself is keeping it safe and whole in Himself so that it is undamaged and never lost. Yet we cannot see this clearly, and sometimes we may wonder what our true will or motivation is deep down. We may wonder if we are basically bad or basically good. But God never forgets or loses sight of who we are as good creations made in His image. And He seeks to show us this truth about ourselves. Christ came to show us our inherent created goodness and value. He is like a mirror showing us who we are, for we were created in the likeness of His nature, meaning we are like Him by nature. We see in Christ the very blueprint for human nature, for we were created in and through and from Him, and we see that human nature is inherently good with the very goodness of God. God never lets go of that good inner nature and He wakes us up to see it, too. 

We can confess that we are basically good. We don't have to put ourselves down or hate on ourselves. We have inherent goodness and value that will never change, no matter what our confused attitudes or actions. We naturally want what is good and right, and choosing that is most fulfilling to us and most comfortable. We are "love beings" deep down, even if we cannot see this truth! It's true that humans have been weakened and lost in confusion and could not live out that truth. But Christ has freed us so we can see this truth and live according to it, having lives full of love and fellowship with God and one another.

"Deep within my true identity, I love to do what pleases God."

Romans 7:22 (TPT)

A Prayer: I love knowing my will deep down inside is aligned with Your will. I love knowing that is my real, true self.