"By the tempest and the sorrow that we fall into on our part, we be often dead as to man’s doom (judgment, decree) in earth; but in the sight of God the soul that shall be saved was never dead, nor ever shall be."
Julian of Norwich (Ch. 50)
Here on earth man and man's law judges us all guilty sinners worthy of the punishment of death. Man's justice tends to say that wrongdoing must be punished or paid for. The payment required for heinous sin is death. The Old Testament law of the Bible highlighted this type of justice and showed man's desperate need for mercy and grace in the midst of the law's decrees of guilt, condemnation and punishment.
Yet God's way is so different and is seen in the New Testament. The law only brought condemnation and death, and increased the amount of sin. Yet God's way of grace eliminated condemnation, freed us from death and took away sin! The law considers us dead because of sin, yet God never does. God only sees a pure child of His very own, who has needed healing and help in all its suffering, and who Jesus came to seek and to save. To God we have never been too far gone, wretched dirty sinners, willful rebels, or as good as dead. To God we have always been good-hearted souls who have been trapped by evil delusions and needing of rescue and liberation. Even when we did the worst thing and killed God's only begotten Son, Jesus said we didn't know what we were doing. Christ conquered sin and death for us and brought us to new life with Him in the resurrection, life beyond the reach of sin and death, life in relationship with Him forever. God has seen us in Christ all along, has seen us as new creations in Christ all along. He has seen us pure and innocent, clean and holy, alive and free. He has always seen us in Christ's resurrection life, running freely and joyfully with Christ, vibrant and victorious. He has never seen sin on us or seen death holding us. He has always held us in light, in love, in life! He has always known sin and death weren't the truth about us. He has always known purity and life were the truth about us. He has always known us as His good children, and He has always known He would bring our true identity to light and expression through Christ!
"You are not under law but under grace."
Romans 6:14 (ESV)
"Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people."
Ephesians 1:4 (CEV)
A Prayer: Thank You for always seeing the truth about me - righteousness and life in Christ - even when I could only see sin and death.