I was reading an interesting post from pelogifam and she says,
” My hubby has a Study Bible and it says that God takes us where we are. We gotta start somewhere.”
And I began to ask myself if we really believe that. Do we really believe that God accepts us where we are? Maybe. In fact when I really think about it this may just be the easy part. I don’t control God. I don’t get to speak for Him. I can accept His words or not. In fact accepting them often feels scandalous. Grace often feels like a get out of jail free card. Where’s the justice in that God? But when I spend time thinking about it, I get that it’s good.
But maybe the problem is different than that. I think we get grace in its philosophical form. But maybe problem is that we don’t take ourselves where we are. Letting God forgive me for the stupid things I’ve done is often a mental ascent, the easy step. Forgiving myself for the destruction I’ve caused myself is the hard part. The cost of my own self destruction is incalculable to a great extent. The cost is loss of relationship, extensive pain, and deep isolation.
And yet grace still calls me out of my own oppression. It is that still small voice that tells me I’m worth it, that the cross was meant for me. And that stepping out of my own prison cell means leaving my past behind, that it no longer defines me. The cross does.
But embracing the cross means that my definition of justice changes. It means that I must now pass out get out of jail free cards. It means seeing others through the cross as well. It means I must lay down the things that keep me from relationship and isolation. It means letting go of those things that oppress me as much as keep others from harming me.
It means embracing His image of me. And that’s hard to do.
well said.
I had not read this blog yet (funny how some get skimmed over temporarily)
It’s funny (ironic, not ha-ha) – I have been involved in a Bible study at my church, that talked about the fact that no where in the Bible is it mentioned that we need to forgive ourselves. I have struggled with the whole concept, because I am with you – there are definately some things in my life that I screwed up, and I have chosen to let them go “unforgiven” for too long… Knowing that God forgave me, and “forgiving myself” (or is this not “accepting” His forgiveness?) don’t always seem to go hand-in-hand….
I did have a couple of questions though:
1. Why do you think we hold onto those sins in our life, but “not forgiving” ourselves?
2. What do you think Christ’s ultimate motivation for dying for us was? Do you think it our worth?
3. Do you see the justice of God differently now than before, or does the “get out of jail free” card still not feel right? My understanding is that you feel it is now more about accepting the card, and forgiving yourself, than perhaps understanding why God is just to give out the cards… (to continue with your analogy) What does God’s justice look like to you?
I’m gonna give you the honest answers that I see from my discipleship group and ministry.
1. Why do you think we hold onto those sins in our life, but “not forgiving” ourselves?
A – Because letting go means we have to grow up and take responsibility for our own life and it’s easier to not grow. If we hold on to the stuff, we get to stay where we are. Do we do this intentionally, maybe. The hard part about following Jesus is that we dont’ know what the other side of the cross looks like (letting go of all the stuff) until we’re over there. This is what faith is from my perspective.
To a certain extent if we embrace grace, it means we can’t hold that same thing against someone else when we want to. If we accept grace, we have to dispense it.
To me this is also a lot of the work of the enemy doing his best to keep us in a prison that Jesus has already open the door to. I think he knows that if he rescues us from the prison, we will likely never fight for our own dignity. We’ll never grow up into our courage.
2. What do you think Christ’s ultimate motivation for dying for us was? Do you think it our worth?
A – Genesis makes it very clear that we are his glorious creation. We are “so very good”. He is the relentless Father pursuing our wholeness. Yes, I do think we are worth it to him. Not just because we are but because that is how love sees the world. We have the cross to prove it.
I think the question of worth is the central question of humanity. The loss of our validation form the Father was the fall.
3. Do you see the justice of God differently now than before, or does the “get out of jail free” card still not feel right? My understanding is that you feel it is now more about accepting the card, and forgiving yourself, than perhaps understanding why God is just to give out the cards… (to continue with your analogy) What does God’s justice look like to you?
A – I love the card now, yet there are times when I don’t want to. I’ve spent the last two years of my life coming to the conclusion that it really is good for me. He actually does love me.
To me, God’s justice is that he’s leveled the playing field. By declaring my worth, my neighbor (or enemy) becomes just as valuable as I am. The cross applies to them as well. So I don’t get to pick and choose who I love. Everyone is part of God’s glorious creation. Justice is this amazing grace that calls me to love and see the world the same way I want him to see me, which is loved.
I actually think this is the interesting question about grace. God’s justice is the card. Is the card’s validity and meaning established by his power or my accepting it? I don’t know the answer to that question but it haunts me.
“The hard part about following Jesus is that we dont’ know what the other side of the cross looks like” – wow, that is so very quotable! I picture Christian, in Pilgrim’s Progress, standing at the hill, with the burden on his back – and there being some sort of shadow line at the cross – it really is another world on the other side, is it not? It’s why there is a Daily denial, and taking up the cross I think – I am not sure we would pick it up, if we were not picking it up for each day that is before us… Denying self is SO hard! So – well said.
The most life-changing book I have read, save the Bible, is God’s Passion for His Glory. John Piper wrote the first half, and Jonathan Edwards wrote the second (albeit 300 years ago : ) It is a paradigm shift in thinking…. but it addresses the second question. God loves us – but I don’t think that is His ultimate motivator in our salvation….
I can’t answer your last question for you (hey – I’m a conservative evangelical, but I’m learning 🙂 I think to place the card’s significance in man’s hand is to trump God’s sovereignty and election….
I think the cross is one of the most powerful elements in our life. But I don’t think we set our soul at the cross. I think Jesus was calling us to lay down our pretensive self, the side that lies at the root of the problem. When we begin to strip away this false self and leave it at the cross, we can begin to uncover what he really created us to be. And so often we return to that self, and so we have to go back all the time.
And regards to the grace card, this is the heart of the last conversation we were in. When we talk about right belief, are we stripping God of His sovereignty and role of judge? This is what haunts me about hell and all things condemning. God’s mission is to restore his creation. And he’s constantly working that out in many ways. Jesus was the true sacrifice or atonement. That is not in question. But once we add our acceptance to the equation we can no longer call ourselves Calvinist. But if we don’t, then anyone’s declaration of being a Muslim doesn’t matter because belief does not complete grace. Doesn’t Christ’s death on the cross then have the intention of atonement for all creation?
This is the quandary for me. And I don’t have the answers.
I think we strip God of His sovereignty and His justice when we suggest anything other than faith in His Son is our only means of salvation. God’s divine attributes can not be divided – which I think we often do. He has to be fully just, even as He exercises mercy. I was mulling over the verse in 1 John a few weeks ago – that says “He is faithful and JUST to forgive us our sins and cleanse our unrighteousness…” I found it exciting, because John could have said “faithful and merciful” or “faithful and good” or “faithful and loving” but he does not. God is just, because of the work on the cross. ““This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”” Acts 4:11-22
I am a Calvanist – so I don’t add my acceptance to the equation. 🙂 I think that the EC takes Arminianism to its logical conclusions…. Bell, in Velvet Elvis, says that “when Jesus died on the cross, He died for everybody…. Everybody’s sins on the cross with Jesus…. And this reality extends beyond this life… Heaven is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for. Hell is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for.” pg 145,146 Which, in my opinion, is not founded on anything I have read in Scripture, but I understand why people carry the thought process further along….
The only thing that is counted to us as righteousness is faith. And even our faith in God comes from God. For, how can dead men be born again? Can they birth themselves? No – the Spirit must do the work. It is grace, because it is unmerited, and so, so beyond my ability. I believe it is irresitable…
I think that we have so neglected the sinfulness of sin. I think that we have forgotten how grievous it is to daily say that this tv show, this motorcycle, this shopping trip is more important, more satisfying than You are. Adam and Eve chose an Apple over the pleasure of God. And we do it every day in a thousand different ways…. I think that either we pay for this grievous mistake, or Christ did.
What is the point of loving people to Christ, if they do not need Him for salvation?