Made in the Image of Love

Even those who haven't had good fathers or haven't been loved well by human beings have an idea of what a good father is like & have an idea of what love is like. Every person knows what true love is despite the fact that they may have some false ideas mixed in with it.

How do I know this? Because the unloved & those with bad fathers say, "he should have done this.. he should have done that.." & they are right. This is why Jesus said, "treat people the same way you want them to treat you." Even if you've never received or given true love everyone has a decent idea about what it is & everyone longs to receive it & ultimately to give it as well. We are made in the image of God & God is love. Humans aren't inherently bad, we are inherently love. There are just falsehoods in an imperfect world that keep us from being that love. This is why God doesn't erase your personality when you are reborn. He makes you into a new creation while leaving you as the same person. He sanctifies us, which literally means He purifies us. You can't purify something if there was nothing good there to begin with.

Just as orphans & adopted children long to know their biological parents, people search for love & long to know it. Every search for love is a search for God because God is love. Think about that for a while.

Fear Behind the Curtain

One reason people oppose the "grace message" is because they are afraid of God. They think He will be angry with them, punish them, or break fellowship with them if they aren't vigilant to avoid sin & diligent to obey Him.

Another reason people oppose the "grace message" is because they are afraid of sin. They don't believe that Christians are dead to sin or free from sin. They believe sin still has power over us. They think we have to avoid sin like perpetually falling acid rain. Romans 6:14 says sin is powerless against someone who lives under grace (the recognition that God desperately loves you no matter what, y'know like a loving Father would). It also says that when you put yourself under law you give sin power over you that it otherwise would never have.

If you fear either of these things you doubt or limit God's love for you. 1 John 4:18 says there is no fear in a relationship where you know that you are loved. Knowing you are loved actually pushes away any fears that may come up. Zechariah said the very proclamation of the coming of the Messiah was "Fear not, your King is coming." Zacharias prophesied, "The Lord God of Israel has granted us the freedom to serve Him without fear." Every Christian that believes in the power of sin also believes they must fear God. They are living as if Jesus has never come to this earth. If you reject the grace message, you at least in part are rejecting Jesus & the suffering He has done on your behalf.

God has not given us a spirit of fear. If you are fearful you are not walking by the spirit He has given you. The spirit He has given us causes our hearts to cry out, "Daddy! Papa! Father!" What father demands fear? What father angrily punishes? What father abandons you whenever you make a mistake? Not Jesus' Father. Not my Father. What child wants to run to a father that does those things?

Handling Discipline As God Desires

Many Christians take the passage from Hebrews 12 about discipline & make harsh unpleasantness out to be the main or only way God teaches His children. It is true that it does say "the different types of discipline seem sorrowful in the moment instead of joyous." But Lamentations 3:33 says, "God does not make people suffer nor cause them sorrow willingly from His heart." So if discipline seems sorrowful to us it is because of how we handle it not because of how God intends it to feel.

Discipline is elsewhere translated as "nurture" & it has the meaning of "the whole training and education of a child." It does not mean punishment or harsh treatment. 1 Corinthians 13:6 says "love rejoices with the truth." If God corrects you by telling you the truth & you don't rejoice it just might mean that you don't love yourself. But it more likely & may also mean that you don't understand enough about how much God loves you.

If you take discipline, in regards to the portion where God is trying to correct your false beliefs with the truth or God is trying to walk you out of destructive behaviors, as God not thinking you're good enough so He is constantly trying to fix your worthless tail you will take that discipline with sorrow. But "God does not willingly cause people sorrow." Sometimes He knows it is an inevitable part of the process but His heart does not want it to be that way. He values you beyond your imagination. You are perfect in His sight but He wants to help you control & improve your flesh so that you can enjoy life & share His love.

So Hebrews 12:6 talks about how we might experientially receive God's discipline not how God desires for us to receive it. And I'm not at all talking about a "suck it up because you're supposed to take it like a man" type of thing.

The Lord said to me, "My love is all you need. My power brings an end to weakness." I will gladly rejoice about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may move in & take control of my weaknesses. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Instead of feeling sorrow because of the weaknesses of our flesh God wants us to rejoice knowing He will help us with all that we need. He does not intend for His discipline to cause us sorrow but He tells us in Hebrews that even if it does we should not let how we feel determine how we view our relationship with Him because we in fact are His "sons & daughters in whom He delights in, in whom  He is pleased with."  Hebrews 12 was to encourage us that we are His children who He loves & nurtures so we wouldn't take His discipline as something that is sorrowful or irritating. It wasn't, as so many have taken it, meant to say, "God's gonna whoop you so get used to it! God beats all His kids. When He takes that belt to your backside that lets you know that you belong to Him." That is garbage! Here are tons of scriptures that show you why that view is the opposite of how God treats us. You will see that growing our understanding of His unconditional love for us (His grace) is the primary way God helps us & changes our behavior.

• God's love for us trains us to reject godless ways & worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. His love for us makes us eager to do what is good. He gave Himself for us to restore us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people who belong to Him as His very own dearly loved children. (Titus 2:11-12,14)
• God's kindness leads you to change your mind for the better. (Romans 2:4)
• Let us confidently draw near to the throne of God's gracious love for us so that we may receive kindness and find His love for us which helps us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
• God is able to make all of His love superabound to you. His love gives you everything you need & is more than enough for you to do every kind of good work. He simply makes you rich in everything and produces countless reasons for thanksgiving. (from 2 Corinthians 9:8-15)
• See to it that no one comes short in their understanding of how much God loves them. No root of bitterness will spring up & cause trouble if we understand His love for us. No immoral or godless person can stand the pure love of God without being sucked into it & freed or angrily walking away from it. (Hebrews 12:15-16)
• Allow the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father to comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word because He has loved us and given us eternal comfort & good hope by His gracious love for us. (2 Thessalonians 2:16)
• It is good for your heart to be strengthened by God's love for you. The love of Jesus Christ for you is the same yesterday and today and forever. He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we could confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?” The more you recognize God's love for you the less you will be carried away by various teachings. (Hebrews 13:5-6,8-9)
• Keep on growing in your knowing that God loves you. Learn of Him from Him & you will not be carried away by the error of those who seek the flesh, instead your mind will stand firm in the knowledge & love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18)
• Jesus said, "I will treat you with gentleness & humility. I will walk with you, work with you, & teach you. I want to give you rest, wisdom, enjoyment, & ease." (Matthew 11:28-30)

As we grow in the understanding of how much God values us & loves us as His children we will be able to see the difference between our feelings of shame & His voice. Our shame-filled & insecure self-centered pride will be displaced by God's proudness of us. God has a proud opinion of us. We don't need our pride, we need His pride. He loves us more than we could ever love ourselves & He has all wisdom to love us perfectly without harming us.

Listen to what I am about to say because it is reliable. "When the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of good deeds we have done, but according to His compassion. We have been made whole by the Holy Spirit's washing which restored us to who we were uniquely meant to be and changed us into children of God. He richly poured out His Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior and we have been made righteous by His love for us. We are now heirs with Christ to everything God has as we are holding onto the expectancy of continuing our eternal life with Him." When people who come to trust in God understand this they will seek to do good with eagerness & wisdom. (Titus 3:4-8)

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Seeing Mixed Covenant Teaching

Perhaps the reasons why churches teach mixed covenant, law & grace is because Jesus taught law & grace at the end of the old covenant. While we can benefit from them we must understand that Jesus' teachings were for a very specific 3 year period in history. Jesus was preparing Jews who were under the law for grace. The key words are "preparing" & "under the law." Grace has been here as long as we've been alive & we've never been under the law.

I dare say most churches teach Jesus like atheists would teach Jesus, as a wise historical teacher. The only difference is that Christians have "made Jesus lord" (something scripture never says to do) so they must obey Him & they think obeying Him means keeping commands He gave that scripture records. But those commands were to a very specific group of people (Jews under the law), at an even more specific time (3 year period before the resurrection), with a specific reason (to get people past sin, past the enemy, & past bad leadership to the resurrection so that they might be saved).

To teach law & grace mixed together today creates a non-reality where people work hard to receive gifts from God. That is not how gifts work! The most grace most mixed law & grace teachings give is "you get a free ticket to heaven." The truth is that people under this mixed teaching see grace as a bonus for work or an incentive to work. You get saved so you can serve God/the church.

Here's a list of things you will never see in scripture that churches teach you about salvation:
You give your life to God
You make Him Lord
You surrender to Him
You make a commitment to Him
You ask God to use you

I won't go into specific reasons why those aren't true but I will ask, "How many of those are grace?" All of them are about what you do for God. NONE, I say NONE of them are about what God did for you. Grace & the gospel are about what God did for you. All of those are works based salvation. They say YOU do the giving so God will rule over you so you can work for Him some more. 'nuff said!

Why Does Grace Have to Be Received?

Grace, as we have been told, means "unmerited favor." The problem is that when we've been told this it was probably by a preacher who just went on to his next point. There was no time to let what "favor" is sink in. Favor is "a disposition/attitude of loving kindness." When you see the term "loving kindness" in the Old Testament you could put the word "grace" there. Grace then can fairly & perhaps more accurately be translated as "unconditional love."

If grace is unconditional love why is trust the condition to receiving grace?
Imagine someone wants to take you on a date & has already paid for everything. When this person shows up at your door to take you out you have the option to go or stay. If you decide to stay it would be unloving for that person to force or even try to force you to go out with them. 1 Corinthians 13:5 says "love does not demand its own way." God is love. God does not demand His own way. If He forced His loving grace upon you it would no longer be love or grace. It is common sense that forcefulness & manipulation are not love. And we can easily understand this from the dating scenario above. Jesus says to humanity in Revelation 3:20, "Look, here I am, standing at your door and knocking. If you hear my offer & open the door, we will dine together."


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"This is love for God: to keep His commands" Uh oh! ...there goes grace!

"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and His commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:2-3)

Right off the bat people make an assumption about which commands John was talking about. They assume it includes either all of the commands of the old covenant, or the 10 commandments, or the 2 greatest old covenant commandments Jesus identified, or every command Jesus ever spoke (regardless of who He spoke it to), or every command in the New Testament, or even every command in all of scripture.

1 John 5:3 says, "his commandments are not burdensome." This tells us right away that John is not including the commands of the old covenant. How do we know this? From what happens in Acts 15.

Some of the sect of the Pharisees who had trusted stood up, saying, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” The apostles and older men met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them:
“Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and trust. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by trust. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We trust it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:5-11)

Here in the narrative of Acts Peter clearly says that Gentile Christians are not required to keep the law of Moses (including the 611 commands in it which includes the 10 commandments & the 2 greatest commandments). Peter points out that neither the Apostles, prophets, nor any Jew in history was able to bear the yoke of the law. Peter also said that it is testing God to require people to keep the law.

John was almost certainly there when this happened in Acts 15. Peter said all of the law of Moses was burdensome (unbearable) thus the commands John refers to in 1 John 5 could not have included any of those laws, 2 of which are the "love God with all that you are" & "love your neighbor as yourself" commands. Colossians 2:14, Ephesians 2:15 say the old covenant commands were "against us" & "stood opposed to us." Galatians 5:1 calls the law a yoke of slavery that Christ set us free from.

What Were the Commands?
John tells us earlier in his letter what the "commands" he speaks of in 1 John 5 are. In 1 John 3:23 he says, "This is God's command: to trust in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us." "As he commanded us" is "To love one another as He has loved us" (John 13:34). The commands he speaks of in 1 John 5 are "Trust Jesus" & "love one another as Jesus has loved us."

But John says, His commands aren't burdensome. He doesn't say the commands are unheavy burdens or light burdens. He says they aren't burdensome at all. How can that be? Are we supposed to "be good Christians" by pretending that they don't burden us? The mere fact that something is a command makes it burdensome. Well they are burdens but the burdens are carried by Christ not us! These commands are based on His love & His trustworthiness not upon our performance. While they are burdens, so to speak, they are not burdensome because the easiest thing ever for God to do is to be trustworthy & loving.

Galatians 5:6 says, "The only thing that counts is trust being expressed through love." The only thing that counts is trust in Jesus being expressed through loving actions by God in you. This is the natural product of trusting Jesus thus "His commands are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3). Our trust in Him naturally expresses love because He is the vine, He produces the love and love comes out of us as we trust Him. We don't need commands to tell us to love. We have LOVE HIMSELF living inside of us.

In John 6:28-29 some people asked Jesus, "What do we do to perform God's works?" Jesus told them, "This is the only work God wants from you: Trust in the one he has sent." This is deeply true. Trust is the only thing you have to do, everything else is done by God through you because you trust Him! Why do we trust Him? Because He loves us! How much does God love us? John 17:20-23 & 15:9 tells us The Father loves us just as much as He loves Jesus! Jesus loves us just as much as the Father loves Him!

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Love God?

Great Scriptures for All Christians & Christian Groups

God is Love. God is not self seeking. (1 Corinthians 13:5/1 John 4:8)
Jesus says, "I reveal Myself to you so that in knowing Me you may have peace." (John 16:33)
God has stopped counting people's sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
God the Father loves you as much as He loves Jesus. Jesus loves you as much as the Father loves Him. (John 17:23,15:9)
Since God is for us God cannot also be against us. (Romans 8:31)
The Lord says, “I promise to never be angry with you or offended at you.“ (Isaiah 54:9)
Jesus says, “I do not call you my servants. I call you my friends. You are not God's servants. You are God's children.” (John 15:15/Galatians 4:7)

Nothing, including yourself, can separate you from the love of God. (Romans 8:35)
Jesus says, "I will never leave or forsake you. Look for me in your life because I will always be with you." (Hebrews 13:5/Matthew 28:20)
There is no fear in love. Love gets rid of fears. Fear involves punishment. Love does not punish. (1 John 4:18)
Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and He knows He has made us innocent. (1 John 3:20)
Jesus says, "I will treat you with gentleness & humility. I will not make you feel like a slave & I will not make you fearful. I want to give you rest, wisdom, & ease." (Matthew 11:28-30/Romans 8:15)

Whoever trusts that Jesus is the Christ is born of God & is one spirit with Him. (1 John 5:1/1 Corinthians 6:17)
Because we have trusted in Christ Jesus who rose from the dead we are not in our sins, we are in Christ instead! He has perfected our spirits forever & is purifying our flesh by renewing our minds with His kindness. (1 Corinthians 15:17/Hebrews 10:14/Romans 12:2,2:4)
Because the Spirit of God lives in you, you are never in the flesh, instead you are always in the spirit. God will never identify you by the flesh. (Romans 8:9/2 Corinthians 5:16)
Your new spirit has been created in the likeness of God. You truly are right with God. You were made righteous, pure, guiltless, innocent, faultless, and holy. (Ephesians 4:24)

By his divine power, God has already given us everything we need for life and godliness. All we have to do is discover and enjoy those things. (2 Peter 1:3-4)
God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)
Do you want the riches of God's glory? Well the riches of God's glory is Christ in you! Jesus fills us with the hope of seeing God's glory unfolding throughout our lives. (Colossians 1:27)

Jesus abolished the Law of commandments contained in written rules. Those commands were against us & stood opposed to us. He took them away and nailed them to the cross (Colossians 2:14, Ephesians 2:15)
You cannot become righteous by keeping the commands in the scriptures. If you could then Christ died for nothing. Righteousness instead comes as a gift you receive from God by trusting in Christ. (Galatians 2:21/Philippians 3:9)
Trying to keep the law is like slavery & it is a burden too great for any person to bear, even the apostles & prophets of old. Christ set you free so you could stay free. Don't make yourselves slaves of the law by trying to keep the law. (Romans 7:6/Acts 15:10/Galatians 5:1)
You cannot be trying to keep the Law & be led by the Spirit of God at the same time. (Galatians 5:18)

Jesus says, "This is the will of God, that you trust Me so you can know Me forever." (John 6:40)
Jesus says, "The only work God wants from you is to trust in Me. Everything else flows from that." (John 6:28-29)
Love doesn't happen by us trying to love God. Love starts with God loving us & ends with us loving one another. (1 John 4:7-11)
Listen to God & value Him. You can be secure if you stop trying to make yourself feel secure. Instead of trusting yourself to bring about your own security know that it is God who works in you to desire & to act according to His heart's desire. His heart desires the best for you. (Philippians 2:12-13)

Do not let anyone condemn you by insisting on self-denial in the name of humility. (Colossians 2:18)
Rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, strict self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in stopping the harmful desires of the flesh. (Colossians 2:23)
You'll be happy if you don't condemn yourself by choosing what you think is good to do & bad to do. Trust God & then don't doubt yourself. If you doubt yourself you'll feel guilty. (Romans 14:22-23)
God's kingdom is not a place of demanding & forcing. God is a giver who rules over us by giving to us. He gives us freedom, purity, peace, & joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)
Satan cannot touch someone who is born of God. (1 John 5:18)

God does not live in buildings made by people (Acts 17:24)
We are God's House (Hebrews 3:6)
Jesus says, "You do not need to go anywhere to worship. If you do go somewhere to worship it is irrelevant because true worship is done in spirit and truth." (John 4:23)
Each person should give what he has decided in his own heart to give. He should neither give reluctantly nor give because he feels forced. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

The Lord God declares, "I myself will shepherd my sheep and give them rest." (Ezekiel 34:15)
Jesus says, "Do not be called leaders because you only have one leader, Christ." (Matthew 23:10)
Jesus says, "You shall not have authority over one another. You are all equal brothers." (Luke 22:25-26/Matthew 23:8)
Do nothing to seek an office for yourself but with humility of mind regard others as more important than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)
All who are in Christ are equally in Him. (2 Corinthians 10:7)
You do not need anyone to teach you. The Spirit teaches you about all things. (1 John 2:27/John 16:13)
No person is to act as your judge in regards to what you do. God accepts all of His children. He died for all of them. Don't judge your brother, only be careful not to stand in his way or cause him to stumble. All of you have been made complete in Christ. (Colossians 2:10,17/Romans 14:13,15)

The Gifts of A Great Father

Grace means "favor." Grace is God's love for you. "We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us." (Romans 12:6)

Some think this scripture means some people are superior to others because of the gifts God gives them but when we look at grace as God's love we see that is not the case. "We have gifts that differ according to the love given to us by God" (Romans 12:6). This means God looks at who we are & what we like. As a lovingly wise Father He gifts His children according to their personalities. Despite the insistence of religion He doesn't force you to be something you don't want to be. God has perfect unconditional love for His children but because His children are not all the same He loves each one of us differently for our benefit & enjoyment.
   
"Out of the immeasurable magnitude of the gift of Christ God has given each one of us His love with personalized gifts accompanying it." (Ephesians 4:7-8)

Grace is God's Love for You

When I think of the word "grace" I get a vague idea of some positive power & goodness that comes from God. Personally I think grace is a religious word because the unsaved & most saved can't quite define it. The word grace is best translated as "favor." Grace is God's love for you. I challenge you to look at scriptures and exchange the word grace with the phrase "God's love for you" & see how scripture explodes with God's love. I have done so below.

• The Law was given through Moses; but God's love for us and God's truth were made evident through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)
• Stephen, full of power and the knowledge of God's love for him, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. (Acts 6:8)
• When Barnabas witnessed God's love for the assembly in Antioch he rejoiced. (Acts 11:23)
• The people were urged to continue to recognize God's love for them. (Acts 13:43)
• We trust that we are saved & made whole through the love the Lord Jesus has for us. (Acts 15:11)
• I sincerely testify of the good news of God's love for mankind. (Acts 20:24)
• We have been made righteous by trusting God. We have unending peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through trusting Him we have obtained our access into God's love for us. In His love is where we stand. We rejoice with the expectancy of experiencing God's magnificent love throughout our lives. (Romans 5:1-2)
• Those who receive the abundance of God's love and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)
• Sin shall have no power over you because you are not under law but under God's love for you. (Romans 6:14)
• If salvation is by God's love for us then salvation is not based on our works. If it were based on our works then His love would not really be love. (Romans 11:6)
• It is because of God's love for me that I am who I am. (1 Corinthians 15:10)
• It is not I who labor but the love of God accompanying me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)
• You know the love of our Lord Jesus Christ for you. Though He was rich He became poor for your sake. Through His poverty you have become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)
• God is able to make all of His love superabound to you. His love gives you everything you need & is more than enough for you to do every kind of good work. He simply makes you rich in everything and produces countless reasons for thanksgiving. The love of God in you is transcendent, it is beyond everything else. Thank you God for Your indescribable gift! (from 2 Corinthians 9:8-15)
• The Lord said to me, "My love is all you need. My power brings an end to weakness." I will gladly rejoice about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may move in & take control of my weaknesses. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
• You who are seeking to be justified by law have made Christ useless to you; you have fallen from the awareness of God's love for you. (Galatians 5:4)
• In Christ Jesus we have salvation through His blood, the removal of our sins, according to the riches of the love which He has lavished upon us. (Ephesians 1:7-8)
• God is so rich in mercy He made us alive together with Christ while we were still dead in our sins. He did this because of the great love that He has for us. You are saved by God’s love for you! God has raised us up and seated us in heavenly places with Christ Jesus so He can forever show us the surpassing riches of His love for us & His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. It is by His love for you that you have been saved through trust. This salvation is God’s gift to you. It is not a result of any good deeds you've done, so there is no reason for anyone to brag about how good they are because it is all about God's goodness. He gives us enough value through loving us that we don't even feel like boasting in our deeds because we are so busy basking in His unconditional love. We are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to join Him in doing the loving things He has decided for us to do. (Ephesians 2:4-10)
•  God has given me the honor of dispensing to you His love for you. (Ephesians 3:2)
• Don't speak bad things but only things that are good for building people up according to the need of the moment. In short, remind people of God's great & giving love for them. (Ephesians 4:29)
• We all partake of God's love for us. (Philippians 1:7)
• The love of the Lord Jesus Christ for you is with your spirit. (Philippians 4:23)
• You truly understood the love of God for us all. (Colossians 1:6)
• Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity. Always speak of or with God's love towards mankind so that you will know how you should respond to each person. His love is like a fine seasoning that draws people to Him for more. (Colossians 4:5-6)
• Please recognize & remember that our Father always has love towards you & that the love of our Lord Jesus Christ is always with you. (1 Thessalonians 5:28)
• The name of our Lord Jesus is glorified in you, and you are glorified in Him when you confidently live knowing that He loves you. (2 Thessalonians 1:12)
• Allow the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father to comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word because He has loved us and given us eternal comfort & good hope by His gracious love for us. (2 Thessalonians 2:16)
• God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and His love for us which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the good news. (2 Timothy 1:9-10)
• Be strong in the love that Christ Jesus has for you. (2 Timothy 2:1)
• The love of God for mankind has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. His love for us trains us to reject godless ways & worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. His love for us makes us eager to do what is good. He gave Himself for us to restore us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people who belong to Him as His very own dearly loved children. (Titus 2:11-12,14)
• Listen to what I am about to say because it is reliable. "When the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of good deeds we have done, but according to His compassion. We have been made whole by the Holy Spirit's washing which restored us to who we were uniquely meant to be and changed us into children of God. He richly poured out His Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior and we have been made righteous by His love for us. We are now heirs with Christ to everything God has as we are holding onto the expectancy of continuing our eternal life with Him." When people who come to trust in God understand this they will seek to do good with eagerness & wisdom. (Titus 3:4-8)
• Because of God’s love for us, Jesus tasted death on behalf of everyone. (Hebrews 2:9)
• Let us confidently draw near to the throne of God's gracious love for us so that we may receive kindness and find His love for us which helps us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
• See to it that no one comes short in their understanding of how much God loves them. No root of bitterness will spring up & cause trouble if we understand His love for us. No immoral or godless person can stand the pure love of God without being sucked into it & freed or angrily walking away from it. (Hebrews 12:15-16)
• It is good for your heart to be strengthened by God's love for you. The love of Jesus Christ for you is the same yesterday and today and forever. He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we could confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?” The more you recognize God's love for you the less you will be carried away by various teachings. (Hebrews 13:5-6,8-9)
• God loves all of you and His love is with you all. (Hebrews 13:25)
• If you humble yourself, resist the devil, & engage God you will experience His love for you in greater & greater ways. (James 4:6-8)
• May you experience God's love for you & His peace to the furthest extent possible! (1 Peter 1:2)
• Fix your hope completely on the love that God has for you. (1 Peter 1:13)
• Show your wife that you value her as an equal partner in the life God loves to give you both. (1 Peter 3:7)
• Use the special gifts our Father has lovingly given you to serve one another. Be good at directing the beautifully multi-colored love of God for us to the right people at the right time. (1 Peter 4:10)
• If you value yourself & others as God does you will see God's love for us everywhere. (1 Peter 5:5)
• Though you suffer for a little while, the God of all gracious love has called you to His eternal glory in Christ and He will Himself completely mend you, make you stable, strengthen you, and settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)
• Stand firm in the true love of God! He loves you! (1 Peter 5:12)
• Your experience of God's peace & His love for you multiplies through your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. Know this, the Lord, by His divine power, has already given us everything we need for life and godliness. We can only take advantage of what He has given us by having knowledge of Him. (2 Peter 1:2-3)
• Keep on growing in your knowing that God loves you. Learn of Him from Him & you will not be carried away by the error of those who seek the flesh, instead your mind will stand firm in the knowledge & love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18)
• God's gracious love for us, His compassionate kindness, & His indescribable peace will certainly be with us forever in the truth & love of the Son & the Father. (2 John 1:2-3)
• May all have God’s loving-favor. Trust and let it be so. (Revelation 22:21)

See Also
God's Love in The Old Testament
God's Love in The New Testament

Does God Abort His Children?

Hebrews 7:25 tells us that "Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." "God is not wishing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9).
So not only is He able He is also willing. Thus how can you not be saved completely if God is willing and able to save you completely?

"Nothing can separate us from the love of God" (Romans 8:39). God is love, if we can't be separated from His love how can we be separated from Him?

If somehow a Christian can become "unborn" based on their behavior after being born again that would mean sin is more powerful than God which is utterly false. Believing sin is more powerful than God really misses the point of the cross. We've already been totally forgiven at the cross. God does not count anything against us because of it (2 Corinthians 5:19).

Christ is the one who causes perseverance (see Hebrews 7:25 above). We abstain from bad behavior because God loves us not because we are afraid of Him casting us off.

If salvation is dependent upon human behavior Christ died for nothing. Why would there be a sacrifice for us if we could have saved ourselves? If you think you can lose your salvation based on behavior you, knowingly or not, believe the cross has no power and it is all our righteousness that saves us. That is not the gospel at all.

A Christian losing salvation essentially would be God aborting His own child.

Christian Persecution & America

I've heard many American Christians sorta wish that American Christians were persecuted more & that we would suffer more. They look at the stronger faith of people in other countries where persecution & suffering is the norm. They think that if America was persecuted, Christians here would have a stronger faith. First, I wonder how many of those theorists have actually been persecuted? Secondly, I recall that this mindset is not confirmed in scripture.

"The seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away." (Mark 4:16-17)

It isn't persecution that draws you to God, It is God's love. If you don't already know His love Jesus says you will quickly fall away when persecution comes. Enduring persecution does not make you stronger, it only taps into the strength you already have. That strength to overcome is your trust in God (1 John 5:4). The more you know God loves you the more you will trust Him.

Persecution is Satan's way of stopping the gospel. When people don't know or believe the true gospel there is no need for persecution. Galatians 6:12 even suggests that those who try to live by law or by their own strength will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. In my opinion Christianity in America would virtually end if major persecution came because people are not "rooted and grounded in God's love" (Ephesians 3:17).

One of the easiest things, knowing that God loves you and letting Him love you, has become one of the hardest things because the traditions, false teachings, & false authorities of mainstream American Christianity. Its sin focused, mixed covenant, cross-ignoring teachings already have people barely hanging onto, not God, but a false picture of God. A picture that paints God as an utterly selfish, human hating, Christian hating, nagging, shame exploiting, greedy, & abusive monster who treats them worse than probably anyone they know & is 1,000 times more easily offended than any human being to ever walk the earth.

Because people believe God exists & believe the most basic gospel they honestly want to follow and serve God. But thanks to thousands of years of scripture twisting doctrines, man made traditions, and satanic deception people are told to follow this false picture of God whose abuse and constant fault finding are taught to be His "love." Or they are taught to serve & follow the preachings of an unbiblical religious system called "church" that pictures God as a distant CEO who you have to beg to show up in a "church service" to receive any recognition from him for all of your hard work for him.

Fear not, and engage the God who longs to unravel the lies you've been told so you can experience His love as He has always wanted. God loves you enough to accept you as you are. He is big enough & has shed enough blood to never be angry with you. He is who He says He is, God is love. Love that is easily identified by anyone who has ever wanted to be loved.

Plates of Faith

Most think God is like a waiter at a restaurant. You give Him your order and He brings you what you want. When God doesn't answer you try to pay, bribe, charm, and beg God to give you what you ordered.

Reality in Christ is more like a buffet. Everything is provided & God has already paid for you, you just have to get up and take from what is there. God's not taking orders because He already has everything ready & out. Your plates are made of faith. Faith is not the currency you use to pay God to deliver your orders. Faith is what you use to take what is already there. God's grace is all you can eat and more abundant than you could ever handle.

The Meaning of "Fallen from Grace"

"You who are trying to be justified (made right with God, made righteous) by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace." (Galatians 5:4)

Falling from grace means we try to merit God's favor and love by our own works. Many think that not trying hard to please God is falling from grace but in fact it is the opposite. Falling from grace is used once in the scriptures and refers to "trying to gain or maintain your own righteousness." Falling from grace isn't the loss of salvation it is a practical reality that means you don't receive God's grace in your life because you are trying to earn a gift, you are too busy working to stop, rest, and receive Christ's gift. When you have fallen from grace it is not because you have done something wrong but because you are not receiving God's grace in your relationship with Him.

We nullify the grace of God when we try to be good on our own. It is not that His favor for us ends. It is that we live as though His favor/grace does not make us right with Him (justified or righteous) so we try to earn God's favor by doing for God instead of trusting in God. Law (principles, rules, requirements, expectations) points you to yourself and your own efforts. Grace points you to Christ and His efforts on your behalf.

It is sad that almost 100% of how Christianity is preached/taught is to live in that fallen from grace state. That everything depends on you and if you mess up you are separated from fellowship with God and you've got to strive to do great things for God...

Those things sound good and right. But God's ways are far above our ways. We don't have to earn God's favor to be saved and we don't have to earn it to continue in life. We have it. We do not have to earn God's approval by what we do anymore than an infant has to earn his or her parents' approval.

Expectations breed guilt and shame because if you think you have a measuring stick you will measure yourself. The only thing we need to be measuring is how much God loves us. His love transforms us and gives us far more than we can even ask or imagine.

Psalm 5 in the Light of The Messiah

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to You I pray." (v1-2)
We never need to beg God to hear us. While God doesn't always answer us in the time frame we desire God does answer our prayers. Jesus and the Spirit are always participating in and contributing to our lives (Hebrews 7:25, Romans 8:26).

I recommend that you write a letter to God once a year telling Him your desires for your life. Look back on it 6-12 months later and see how God has answered your prayers. I did this once and I couldn't have imagined at the time of writing the letter how God would answer my prayer but He did and I am still amazed.

"You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness." (v4)
God is never pleased with wickedness (harmful behavior). On the cross God separated the wickedness from each person. Jesus took away the sins of the world (John 1:29, 1 John 3:5). That means His eye is on persons not deeds. He doesn't take sins into consideration when looking at anyone (2 Corinthians 5:19). His displeasure & anger towards all sinful deeds (wickedness) was taken out on the body of Jesus on the cross. He now relates to people as people. He sees us as persons to be loved that He wants to help.

How blessed we are that God predicted our debts & paid them before we were even born! In this life everyone's sin account starts out blank and stays that way unless they ultimately reject Jesus. When we are saved God closes our sin accounts forever so we have no need to fear punishment from God in the afterlife.

"No evil dwells with You God." (v4)
Those who dwell with God are the ones who know Him. God has given those who know Him perfect, righteous, and holy spirits. Truly no evil dwells with God because God removes the evil and possibility of evil from His children at birth. This doesn't mean their behavior is perfect but that God identifies & relates to them by their true identity which is their spirit. It is like a father of an ex-con calling his son "son" rather "thief" because the debt is paid and forgiveness has been received.

"You hate all who do iniquity. The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit." (v5-6)
As shown above God no longer hates people and His hatred has been expended for iniquity, deceit, & bloodshed by the bloodshed of Jesus. He took all sins for all time into the body of Jesus and condemned them there. God was so serious about sin that He took care of it as a barrier between He and us. God still loves compassion and wants to help the abused and to turn the abusers to loving ways.

"For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield." (v12)
Favor is the literal meaning of "grace" in the New Testament. It means "a predisposed disposition of love and kindness towards someone." All Christians are righteous because of Jesus so all Christians are surrounded with God's favor. We are protected by His love!

"You always hear me Lord. You comfort me, watch over me, and help me. You despised wickedness so you agreed with your Son to take your anger for sin out on Him to remove the barrier of sin from the world. You purify those who choose to dwell with you. You help the abused and seek to turn abusers to your loving ways. By your abundant lovingkindness you have made me your home. I am now your holy temple and I bow my heart in awestruck reverence for you. O Lord, lead me in your just ways. Make me aware of how your Son is always with me.

Your forgiveness & love turns liars into honest men. You, by your blood do not hold them as guilty. Instead of letting them fall you lift them up & pull them close. You capture the hearts of rebels so they choose to be your companions. All who put their security in you are glad, you let them sing forever because of joy. You shelter them. Those who love your nature rejoice in you. For it is you who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, you surround him with gracious favor as with a shield."

Part 4 in a Series

Jesus and The New Covenant Exposed in Zephaniah 3

Zephaniah 3 presents an amazing picture of Christ's first coming and what it is like for Christians because of it.

Excerpts from Zephaniah 3
“Therefore wait for Me,” declares the Lord, “For the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour on all My anger, All My burning wrath; For all the earth will be devoured By the fire of My zeal. For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, That all of them may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him shoulder to shoulder. In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me.

I will leave among you a humble and lowly people, and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel will do no wrong and tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths; For they will feed and lie down and no one will make them tremble.

Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away His judgments against you. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more.

In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands fall limp. The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with dancing & shouts of joy."

I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth."

Zephaniah 3 Through the Jesus Lens
Notice God says that "I will rise up as a witness" that is talking about Jesus, God in the flesh. Revelation 1:5 & 3:14 call "Jesus Christ the trustworthy and true witness." Jesus said in John 18:37 that "He was born and came into the world to bear witness to the truth."

"I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth." We know that Jesus healed the lame & associated with outcasts. The crippled, the lepers, and the other outcasts lived in shame day to day because of their sin & physical problems. Jesus sent so many people away praising God when he healed them or forgave them. Because of scripture these people are still renown all over the world to this day. Interestingly the word "save" in the New Testament can also mean "heal" or "make whole."

God gathered the sins of "all nations and kingdoms" into the body of Christ and "poured out all His anger and wrath." The "sins of the world" were taken away (John 1:29), devoured by the fire of His passion against sin.

After that (the cross & resurrection) God gives everyone the ability to "call on the name of the Lord" without any barriers. He makes men righteous with His own righteousness so they now have "purified lips." We can "serve Him shoulder to shoulder!" That speaks not only of the indwelling Spirit of God but also the friendship between us and Christ. It also speaks of the equality of peoples in Christ's kingdom, no one is above another.

"In that day you will feel no shame(!) because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me." This refers to our experience of trusting that Christ took away our sins and holds nothing against us. There is no need to feel guilt or shame. Thank you God!

"I will leave among you a humble and lowly people," This is how Christ walked on the earth while "taking refuge in the name (character, person) of the Lord."

"The remnant of Israel (Christians) will do no wrong and tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths" This speaks of the sinless spirits born into children of God. Our true identity in Christ is our sinless spirits who do no wrong. 1 John 5:17-19 says, "All wrongdoing is sin. We know that anyone born of God does not sin (does no wrong). We know that we are children of God." Only our spirits are "born of God." We didn't physically crawl into another womb so this all refers to our "new creation," the spirits God has gifted us with.

"For they will feed and lie down and no one will make them tremble." This speak of Jesus becoming our Good/Great Shepherd, the guardian of our souls (mind, earthly life). This also reminds me of the boldness of those in Acts. They had no fear in spreading the Good News of what God has done for us through Jesus.

"The Lord has taken away His judgments (ordinances) against you." Colossians 2:14 tells us that Jesus, "Wiped out the written ordinances (God's Old Covenant laws) that were against us and that stood opposed to us. He took them away and nailed them to the cross." Ephesians 2:15 also tells us that "Jesus abolished in His flesh by His death on the cross the Law of commandments contained in ordinances." Not only was the requirement to keep the law taken away but Jesus also took God's punishments (judgments against us) for our sins.

"The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst." This speaks of Jesus coming to earth to live among people. The word "midst" here can not only mean "among" but also "in," "within," "in the inward/inner part," and even "in your body." So this also speaks of the miraculous indwelling of God in His people because of Jesus.

"You will fear disaster no more." 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment." We who have the Spirit of God living in us do not need to fear disaster or punishment from God. Romans 5:9 says, "Since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment."
But the "disaster" spoken of here may mean "evil." We no longer have to fear evil. 1 John 5:18 says, "Jesus keeps His people, and the evil one does not touch them." 1 John 5:4 says, "Whoever is born of God overcomes the world through trust." 2 Thessalonians 3:3 says, "The Lord is trustworthy & loyal. He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one." 1 John 2:13-14 assures us that evil can be overcome.

"The Lord your God is a victorious warrior." Notice it says, "victorious warrior." Christ achieved that victory over sin and death on the cross!

"Shout for joy.. Shout in triumph.. Rejoice and exult with all your heart.." There are so many reasons just listed above for us to do this! What a foretelling of the grace and favor of God, but that is not all..

Behold God's View of You because of Jesus:
The Lord your God is with you. He takes great delight in you. He will comfort you with His love. In His love He will no longer mark you as immoral. He rejoices over you with singing and shouts of joy! He is so glad about knowing you that He twirls around dancing!

Recap

Things Taken Away Because of Jesus:
The sins of the world
God holding sins against mankind
God's anger towards mankind
God punishing us
Shame & Guilt from past sin and rebellion against God
Shame & Guilt in General
God's Old Covenant Laws
Fear of punishment from God
Fear of evil
Fear in General
Physical problems
Loneliness

Things Given Because of Jesus:
Jesus Himself
Freedom for all people to call upon the Lord with no barriers
We are born of God, children of God, with a new righteous, sinless spirit (our "new man" or "new creation")
God lives inside us & is always with us
We work with God "shoulder to shoulder" in a cooperative walk of loving others.
We work with others "shoulder to shoulder" in a cooperative walk of loving others.
Equality of all God's followers
The spiritual traits of humility & honesty
Protection and security because of God's character
Jesus as our Great Shepherd who feeds us, gives us rest, guards us from fear, & guards our minds and lives
Boldness concerning our God
Reasons to thank God and rejoice
Victory over sin, the world, the evil one, and death
Comfort
Healing
God's grace, His favor. He loves us so much He sings, shouts, and spins with delight over us!

---

Get the T-Shirt?
I don't intend to shill but I came across some of this scripture last year. I made and gave my wife's cousin this shirt for Christmas. So since I already made and its related I'll offer it here. You can get this women's shirt for around $21. Click on the image below to buy.

Our Perceptions Do Not Change God's Realities (Galatians)

Sin is defined by the law. Sin means "to miss the mark." Jesus took away that target, the law, by His death on the cross. "Jesus canceled our debt to the law that that stood against us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14). Romans 4:15 says, "Where there is no law there is no sin." Galatians 3:25 tells us that we who trust Christ are not under the law. The law condemns (2 Corinthians 3:9). It judges us as guilty. God removed us from under the law and put us under His grace (Romans 6:14). In Christ we are no longer found guilty of sin, condemned because of sin, or even charged with sin (Romans 5:13). We are not sinners. This is one reason why 1 John 3:9 says, "Every child of God cannot commit sin and is not able to sin." With this in mind let us look at Galatians 2 and what it means for the Christian to "find himself to be a sinner."

The Law Views Every Man as a Sinner Even If God Does Not
Galatians 2 talks about how Peter, who lives by trust in Christ, compelled the Gentiles to live like the Jews by putting themselves under the law. Galatians 2:14 tells us that Paul said to Peter, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" Paul goes on to say, "We know that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through trust in Christ Jesus. We have trusted in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by trust in Christ and not by the works of the Law since no one will be justified by the works of the law." He then says "If, while seeking to be justified in Christ (as Peter does), we ourselves have also been found sinners (by putting ourselves under the law), is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! If I rebuild what I have once destroyed (the law), I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God" (Galatians 2:16-19).

When we put ourselves under the law we rebuild what was once destroyed, the target of the law. Today we can set up our own target which is usually made up of old covenant laws, new testament commands, extracted principles, traditions, & personal obligations & expectations. Colossians 2:23 tells us that "These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, self-denial, and severe bodily discipline but they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires."

When we put up a target (put ourselves under law) we "find ourselves to be sinners" (Galatians 2:17) and "prove ourselves to be transgressors." Peter was in a sense making sinners out of Gentile saints by requiring them to keep the law. They became sinners in their own eyes. This is talking about our perception and how our life will be lived out but not God's perception. What this scripture tells us is that if we judge ourselves by the law we will always find ourselves to be guilty because as James 2:10 says, "The person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws."

Remember God does not judge us by the law but by our trust in Jesus. That is the point of what Paul is saying here. Paul was not charging Peter with sin. Galatians 2:17 was not saying, "Just because Peter, who seeks to be justified by trust in Christ, sinned doesn't mean Christ is a servant of sin." The story Paul told could be exchanged for any example of a Christian sinning if that was his point. Paul was addressing the fact that if the law charges you with sin because you put yourself under it that does not mean God is charging you with sin. Being under the law does mean you will live like a transgressor (sinner) because you cannot keep the law and not keeping the law will cause you to feel condemned. This is how our lives play out under the law but it is not our spiritual reality in Christ. In Christ we are not condemned and we are not found to be sinners. If you put yourself under the law Christ will not ignore His own blood and put you under the law too. That cannot happen!

If we who trust in Jesus don't rebuild the law we prove ourselves not to be transgressors (sinners) because we are under grace & not under the law (Romans 6:14). If we count ourselves as sinners by putting ourselves under the law that does not mean that "Christ is a server of sin" (Galatians 2:17). Sin does not come out from Christ and we are in Him! Our perception does not change God's reality. Our perception can make our lives miserable but it does not change the truth of the cross! We do not become unborn. The new creation of our spirit is still sinless.

Nullifying Grace
"I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by trusting in the trustworthiness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God (by putting myself under the law), for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died for nothing” (Galatians 2:19-21).

To "nullify the grace of God" means to not live by it. Grace becomes null, nothing, in your life if you put yourself under the law. It doesn't change the fact that God has grace (favor) for you. Putting yourself under the law doesn't remove the true power of the cross to save and make you righteous before God but it does empty it of its power in your day to day life.

People throw around the term "cheap grace" referring to a message that doesn't talk about the "need for repentance" by which they mean turning from sin. How do I turn from something Christ already took away? All salvation requires is that I trust Christ and receive His forgiveness & grace which He bought for me at the cross. The true "cheap grace" is that which says, "What Jesus paid was too cheap. I have to add to it." We are the pearl of great price because Jesus gave all He had, His life, to get us. That is a parable of His love not of our obligation. If I'm still indebted then Jesus didn't pay it all. Paul was pointing out that trying to be justified by the law for salvation or for daily living ignores the grace of God and the cross of Christ. This is why he says in Galatians 3:3 "Are you so foolish to think that having begun by the Spirit that you are now being perfected by the flesh?"

Paul continues in Galatians 3 and tells us why the law was given and how it is no longer of use to those who are children of God. Paul points out that the Galatians are sons born of the Spirit of God (Galatians 4:6) but they have turned back to the law and the weak and worthless things which bring them into bondage (Galatians 4:9). Galatians 5:18 tells us that a man cannot be led by the Spirit if he is under the law. This is because by default they follow the law rather than the Spirit. They, as Romans 7:6 speaks of, live by the old way of the letter (external rules) and not the new way of the Spirit (internal relationship with God).

"Stand firm in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Every man who receives circumcision is a debtor to do the whole law. You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. Christ will profit you nothing" (Galatians 5:1-4).

The person who gets circumcised desiring to be justified by the law views himself as a debtor to God. God does not want to relate to us as debtors who try to pay him back. God wants us to live free by recognizing He paid the whole debt. Notice this is about how we live our lives not our spiritual reality in Christ. Galatians 5:6 says, "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but trust working through love." Paul's point is that physically receiving circumcision isn't the issue (Timothy was circumcised in Acts 16:3). The condition of your physical body doesn't matter to God. Only trust working through love matters to Him and that comes by the Spirit and not by the law because the law is not based on trust (Galatians 3:12). If you put yourself under the law you walk by the flesh and not by trust in Jesus. This is why Paul says, "If we live by the Spirit (are reborn), let us also walk by the Spirit (put our minds on and trust in Jesus)."

Again this is about how we live our lives not our spiritual reality in Christ. Galatians 6:15-16 says, "In Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. As many as walk by this rule (that only new creation counts), peace and mercy be on them." Christ doesn't care about your flesh. Jesus said in John 6:63, "The flesh counts for nothing." What matters is if your spirit is a new creation. When you understand that then peace and mercy will be upon you. You will experience peace and have mercy when you "no longer regard anyone (including yourself) according to the flesh" (2 Corinthians 5:16). Trust Jesus using the spirit of your new creation. This is the only kind of trust because your spirit can relationally communicate with Jesus as it is seated with Him beyond what we can see.

The spirit of the Christian is sinless (1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:18, Romans 7:17). Putting yourself under the law makes you count yourself as a sinner. If you think you are a sinner you will act like a sinner. You will feel guilt, shame, and condemnation. You will be burdened with obligations and feel inadequate. You will think you owe God and if you don't pay He won't like you or relate to you. Your new creation, your new man, is designed by God to let Jesus live through it as you trust Him. The Good News is Jesus has already hit the bull’s eye for us! We are Christ’s and God is forever pleased with us.

Transformed by The Light of His Glory & Grace

God has made us competent as servants of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the service that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the service of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the service that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the service that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being changed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:6-18)

• The veil symbolizes the barrier between us and God, our shame.
• When Jesus died the veil on the temple was torn from top to bottom. God Himself tore it. It is only removed by Christ. But after it was torn the keepers of the temple sewed the veil back up!
• Even today we attempt to sew the veil back together to limit access to God for ourselves or for others. We consistently corrupt the simplicity of access to God by developing complicated formulas that supposedly make us finally acceptable for fellowship with God. Whole doctrines and denominations have been formed around the concept that "in order to reach God you must do these things.."
• Jesus has already granted all of His followers access to the Holy of Holies, to God Himself. The veil has been removed, don't put it back.

We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being changed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

• We expose ourselves to God (come to Him with unveiled faces). God shines His glory (grace, compassion). We reflect God's work in us to others.
• In addition to the spotlight of His grace we find that we are being changed. "We are being changed" is a passive statement. It means that we are not doing the changing, it is happening to us! God is doing the changing!
• Not only do we have the spotlight of His grace shined upon us, not only do we find ourselves being changed, but we know that we are being changed into His likeness. We know the destiny of our change. We are being changed into the likeness of Christ. Now we know why God has to do the work. We could never accomplish this on our own.
• We refuse to wear a veil, He makes us like Christ. Who else would you want to be like? What other goal would you prefer? God doesn't just agree to make us better or not as bad, instead God offers us the incomparable likeness of His Son. We only need to reveal ourselves to God and not sew the veil Christ tore back up. never accept separation from God as valid. Saying, "There has to be something more I must do," only sews the veil back up.

God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
(2 Corinthians 4:6)

Notes and quotes from The Father Style by Gayle Erwin

Shame, Guilt, Grace, and Motivation

“Everyone who trusts in Jesus will never be put to shame.”
(Isaiah 28:16, Romans 9:33, 10:11, 1 Peter 2:6, Joel 2:26-27, Isaiah 45:17, 54:4)

Shame means disgrace, dishonor, disfavor. It is being out of favor; a loss of favor. Shame is literally the opposite of grace.

Shame carries the idea of "turning in upon oneself" thus guilt/shame is like a pity party where you devalue yourself or think that God devalues you based on your behavior/actions. From my experience that type of guilt does not result in positive motivation or actions. That guilt does not produce hope or peace. It makes you not want to go to God. That shame barrier is what Christ removed on the cross.

The people of the Old Testament always lived with shame.
"The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt and consciousness of sin would have disappeared." (Hebrews 10:1-2)

People in Christ are free from having that shame. "Behold, your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for" (Isaiah 6:7). Now that Jesus has been the perfect sacrifice He provides for us "perfect cleansing & purification once for all time." He makes it so our feelings of guilt and our consciousness of sin are no longer absolutes. We are free from them.

Everyone who trusts in Jesus will never lose grace, they will never lose favor with God. A Christian cannot be out of favor with God. When you feel shame, when you feel guilt, you feel like you have lost favor with God but that is absolutely not the case! Once you are saved God will never put you to shame.

There is also a practical reality here. Everyone who trusts Jesus, with a personal present tense trust, will never feel shame. As long as you are trusting Him and His love you will not feel shame. Why? Because you are living in the reality of God's love and grace. From my experience this is completely true. If I am not trusting God I am susceptible to feeling guilt and shame by believing in the lie that I have lost favor with God. While I am trusting that God only gives me grace (loving kindness) and never gives me disgrace (shame) I will never feel shame.

Are You Motivated by Guilt?
Shame is what caused Adam and Eve to hide from God in Genesis 3:8. Before they ate from the tree in Genesis 2:25 it says that they were not ashamed. In Genesis 3:10 Adam says they hid from God because they were afraid of God. Shame/guilt causes you to hide from God. If you have "bad" feelings that do not cause you to hide from God or devalue yourself I would not call those feelings guilt. Shame and guilt lowers a person in their own estimation, weakens them, and causes them to yield to sin more.

If I don't want to feel bad (guilt) I am going to try to do better so I won't feel bad (guilt) anymore. Being motivated by that idea of guilt is not love or compassion based, it is for the selfish removal of my negative emotion. It isn't about benefiting the other person (love). It is about me feeling better about myself. If I do something because I'm going to feel guilty if I don't then it is still about me, its not about others.

When the result of your emotions, even if they feel negative, is care for and the benefit of someone else I would say you are motivated by love and compassion and not by guilt.

We Are Loved as He is Loved

In John 17:20-23 Jesus prayed, "I am not praying only on their (the apostles) behalf, but also on behalf of those who trust in me through their testimony (us, all Christians throughout time), that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will trust that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them (God does share His glory, with us), that they may be one just as we are one – I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me."

Jesus explained in John 17:23 that God the Father loves you just as much as He loves Jesus. Jesus prayed this as He was pouring out His heart to the Father just before He went to the cross. Jesus said that He wants the world to know that the Father loves you just as much as He loves Jesus. So certainly He wants you to know that also.

God's purpose for us all is to grow in the understanding of how much God loves you. You can pray to God daily something like "God make me aware of how you are loving me today and what you are giving me today. Show me yourself so I can get a grip on what your love looks like in the middle of whatever I am doing."

God intends for you to experience His grace both for your salvation and daily for your life. His grace is His permanent disposition of love for you and His gracious kindness towards you. Grace is the basis for the way we live in Christ. It is understanding that He is loving toward us and that He is giving. When we look for His loving and His giving that is the best way to be living.

Trust and Works

God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through trust/faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

You cannot earn God's grace, His favor, His approval. We receive God's grace by faith (trust). Now that we have trusted Him and received His grace we can and will do the good works that God intends for us to do. Not only are you not saved by works but you are not approved by works. The works are the result of trusting God's love for you and partnering with Him in life under His yoke.
   
Just like the evidence of life is a pulse the evidence of trust (faith) is loving works. Works without God is like synthetic life. There may be a pulse but there is no true life. Trust brings life. Jesus said in John 6:47 "Truly, truly I say to you, He who trusts in me has eternal life." Works are the result of having life. If you live then you will do. If you live to God because you are alive in Him you will do the good works He has prepared for you. The burden is on God. Your response to His love for you is trust.
   
God's great love, His grace for us, comes first. Trusting that He first loves us brings salvation, we knowingly know Him. Good works come third but they don't come without God's continued love, which never ends, and your present tense trust.
   
Jesus talks in Matthew 7:21-23 about people doing "good works" in His name yet not knowing Him. So it is true that works without trust is dead. If you have dead trust (faith) then you do not trust God because God is life and knowing Him is life and trusting Him is how you know Him. What James (2) talks about is false faith, false trust, because trust in Christ cannot be dead!
   
What James was saying was "You think you know God, you think you trust God? Where is the evidence? Abraham proved that he trusted God by offering up Isaac his son on the altar. The scripture was fulfilled that says "Abraham trusted God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
   
How did Abraham trust God? He did it by action. Trust includes action. Scriptures simplify when we think of them relationally. If you asked me "Do you trust me?" and I said "Yes" then you asked me for help and I said, "You're lying you don't need help" it would be obvious that I don't trust you.
   
God is Spirit so in order for us to know God in this day we have to "trust that He exists and rewards those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). Because Jesus isn't physically on the earth we have to trust Him in order to meet Him. But that also makes it easy for us to talk about Him without actually trusting Him or knowing Him.
   
Excerpts from James 2 in The Message: "Does merely talking about trust indicate that a person really has it? Does merely talking about Jesus indicate that a person really knows Him? Isn't it obvious that trust and works are yoked partners, that trust expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of trust"?"
    
Galatians 5:6 says, "The only thing that counts is trust expressing itself through love." God counts nothing against you but the only thing that counts for you is trust expressing itself through love. Remembering that God is love we could say, "The only thing that counts is trust expressing itself through God." This means your trust in God causes His goodness to come out of you. It is your trust expressed through God inside of you resulting in His love coming out of you.
   
Jesus said in John 6:28-29, "This is the only work God wants from you: Trust in the one he has sent." Dead trust, dead faith, means you don't know God at all. Dead works means, at best you are acting without communicating with God in a trusting relationship, and at worst you also don't know God at all.
   
The issue isn't about worrying to balance separate items. It is all a single unit of God and His love that consists of distinct yet flowing portions. At the beginning from love blooms trust and from trust blooms loving works but it lives on as one organism. He first loved us so we trust Him. We love because we trust in His love. God works with us when we trust Him because He loves us. "For in him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).