May I share a few simple statements with you that you will be tempted to gloss over because they are, in fact, simple? Let me give them to you anyway because they are 100% true and can transform us if we would ever truly believe them. These are days wherein God is calling His children to tenaciously pursue the reality of a mind renewed by the Scriptures and by the Spirit. He wants you to know, believe and rest in the identity that He has assigned all of us who are in His Son, Jesus. What we think about who we are is directly tied to who we think He is as our Father. Take a little time and welcome the Holy Spirit to soak these statements deeply into your mind. Let’s think rightly together.
God, the Creator, knows you perfectly and deeply cares for you. God loves you right where you are. That love has never grown nor decreased. It’s been at an immeasurable full-throttle since before you were born. He gets to love like that because He is God, and loving like that is His nature. We do not need to understand it to believe it and rest in it.
God has an identity reserved for you. This identity is defined by who you are in Him. You are not your mistakes. You are not your successes. You are not your fears, losses or failures. You are not identified by your accomplishments, physical appearance or material attainments. You are not who anyone else says you are, because they are limited in their ability to understand or define you. Try as they might, they cannot assign you your identity. The enemy wants you to live under the cloud of being defined by your worst moment and deepest regrets. He is still a liar so feel free to let him know that his opinion does not count at all. You are, now and forever, who God says that you are. By the way, do you know who He says that you are? That is a crucial element to your life. You cannot live out what you do not believe, and you cannot believe what you have not learned. He says a lot about who you are in His book. That is where you will begin to learn His Father’s heart.
God accepts you through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. You are not partially accepted. You are not tolerated. You are not given a free-pass on a technicality or through some biblical loophole. You have been made complete in Jesus Christ and God the Father accepts you with the very same welcome He shares with His only begotten Son. It may sound strange, but God delights in you. His love and acceptance of you is immeasurably greater than you can understand and boundlessly vaster than you have ever allowed yourself to feel. This is true for everyone who is in Jesus Christ. everyone…and that still includes you.
God does not approve of all that you do. He is not a blind Isaac passing an accidental blessing on you, His Jacob. He is committed to revealing to you specific actions and areas of your life that are not consistent with His love for you. This is called conviction, and it rises up in your heart with the scent of guilt. Yes, there are times when this loving, accepting and committed God will speak to you in a way that arouses a sense of guilt in your heart for your own wrongdoing. This type of guilt – this conviction of sin – is His gift to you because you could not know of your need for change apart from it. God is a good Parent and will work correction into your life because it is necessary and helpful for you. It does not make God unloving when He awakens you to your guilt. Nor does it make you bad when you hear His voice on this issue.
God will not shame you. Shame is never from God and nothing productive comes from shame. Shame is a weapon of the enemy which actually denies the goodness of God and His full acceptance of you. Guilt says that we have done something bad; shame takes it up a notch and says that we are something bad. Guilt clearly points out that I have made a mistake; shame lies and says that I am a mistake. Guilt tells you of your need to change and that God will honor your humble repentance; shame hisses that you cannot change because you are a very bad person who should not hold assurance that God will receive you when all is said in done. Guilt will teach you to confess, change and rest. Shame will insist that you fear, cringe and run. Shame is never your friend, while guilt actually leads you to something better if you will learn what it actually says. Guilt – this conviction of sin – tells you that you have misstepped, but that Jesus walked perfectly where you have gone off the path. Guilt tells you of your need to take His hand by faith and have courage to look in His eyes as He lifts you up to begin walking again. No further scolding, no threats, no demands for you to promise never to fail again. Guilt, when dispatched by God, always leads you to Grace who accompanies you in your next steps.
Today I would want us to trust in the goodness of God to a greater degree than we loathe the badness of self. In Christ, you are not a mistake…though you make many. In Christ, you sometimes do badly…but you are not condemned as being bad. In Christ, you are wise to acknowledge that you have plenty of room to grow up…but never believe because of that truth that it means you have not been born anew. You, my friend, are like the rest of us who journey after Jesus. You are a work in progress. God’s work.
And, finally, a word about where you are with Jesus today: you are not done walking with Him. His adventure for you is yet incomplete. He wants more time with you down here. He has many things left to offer, to say and to impart to you. He is God, yet He is not a distant, disinterested deity. He likes you more than you like you. He will be working energetically today to increase both your awareness and your experience of His perfect, paternal love for you. Though He will have you with him for all eternity, His infinite heart prioritizes what you are knowing, believing and learning of Him while you are still down here. His is a constant invitation to you. He wants your trust for another season. He wants you to risk laughter and release joy that He will pour through you. Sure, it is war down here. Something in His unfathomable heart takes pleasure when you, His child, continues to sing, praise and worship Him…even when the bombs are going off down here. I don’t know what the face of God looks like…but I am convinced that it is characterized by a smile. He is not finished with you yet, so please do not shelve the book of your life before the Author is done writing it. In the end, it is a great story with a glorious ending.
Thank You My Sweet Lord Jesus Christ!!! Bless your Holy Blessed Awesome Name!!! Thank you Gracious Lord Jesus Christ for your stedfast love and your Great mercifulness and your Great understanding!! May The Good Great Lord Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father Bless You Mr. Jeff and everyone He has Created for we all need You and Your Holy Blessed Awesome Love Gracious Lord Jesus Christ!! Hallelujah Praise God Bless You Sweet Lord Jesus Christ Thank and Praise you God for Now and Evermore!!
Thank you so much Pastor
Thank you Jeff for allowing the Holy Spirit to used you with these words of encouragement in a much needed parched & dry land we live in today.
A land where there is a famine for the true Holy Word of God!
Jesus Christ & the Cross plus nothing else!
Hallelujah nothing but the Blood & the Cross thank you King Jesus for your Mercy, Grace, loves & Faithfulness !