In Rob Bell's book, Velvet Elvis, he has this to say:
"None.
No shame.
No list of what is being held against us.
No record of wrongs.
It has simply been done away with.
It is no longer an issue.
Bringing it up is pointless.
Beating myself up is pointless.
Beating others up about who and what they are not is going the wrong direction. It is working against the purposes of God. God is not interested in shaming people; God wants people to see who they really are.
"Let us live up to what we have already attained."
I am not who I was.
You are not who you were.
Old person going away, new person here, now.
Reborn, rebirthed, remade, reconciled, renewed.
Jesus put it this way: "You are in me and I am in you."
Christians are people figuring out their identity. When someone becomes a Christian, they are being transformed into a new person. Jesus takes root in our hearts and cleans house, so to speak. There is no burdening ourselves with senseless legalism that only leads to despair. God wishes to ease our pain, not pile it on with the burden of the Law. That is why Jesus said he came to fulfill the Law so that He was the one to live up to, not the Law.
In my life, I have seen God working in me. I am a project. The good thing is that God never gives up on us though we may give up on Him. I struggle a lot with this faith and it's taken away my joy. The new person I'm supposed to become seems to be chained down in the depths of my heart. There are times where I don't know if he will ever be released. I don't know if I can literally just let Jesus take control and allow Him to be the Savior I accepted. There are times where I feel like Job and pray for death hoping only then will I achieve peace. I'm tired of the sin that courses through my veins. It sickens me. It angers me. I ask Jesus to take it and it's like a part of me retains it because I don't know what I would do without it.
God may not be keeping a record of wrongs for me, but I am for myself.
Jesus, let me be who I really am.
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1 comment:
Why did you delete my comment? You said right in your note you were looking for opposing views, and I wanted to see what you had to say about it. I'm not trying to stir up anger in any way.
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