Monday, September 15, 2008
The "Nowness" of Our Calling
I chuckle every time I see the words on the side of Joe's Crab Shack restaurant: "Free lobster tomorrow." Well, we get it...tomorrow never comes. I have been driven by a fresh revelation lately from a most powerful and profound verse in the Bible. Romans 8:1 says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." There are too many followers of Christ that have crossed my path struggling over past issues, sins, failures, mistakes...whatever you want to call it...the stuff in our yesterdays that can really get us down when we dwell on it. Here's the profound truth of Romans 8: The minute we say YES to Christ, the "NOW" of no condemnation begins. This means that God has no unfinished business with us. Our past is not an issue to Him. Therefore, the "yesterdays" and "tomorrows" are dealt with in the reality of the spiritual NOW... I don't have to worry about if I'm ever going to amount to anything or measure up for God to use me (tomorrows) because of my past (yesterdays). I amount to a whole lot right NOW because of what Christ has done for me and in me. I'm free to be and do all that God wants for me in Christ. Everyday and every moment is NOW. AMEN!
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I love it...I am in the midst of Eldridge's book The Journey of desire... where he mentions that our culture is consumed with the idea of "sin management" (from Dallas Willard's Book -Divine Conspiracy-) Anyway, the idea is that our faith becomes entirely about the guilt and obsession with taming sin rather than realizing the freedom and GRACE in Christ. In fact, he states that our faith becomes all about controlling the sin rather than desiring God or Life. While recognizing the danger of Sin, the NOWness that you mention is so readily applicable to today and for life! NOW, I am gonna be real transparent. I am all the way over here in Israel, and I have heard a few great things going on back home. But through your blog, and even in my Heart I feel that GOD is really working in hearts of Lakeside (including my self) to transform the way we see the Gospels and realize our calling to embody the same love, acceptance, and grace IN TRUTH that Jesus did...Hope this rings true!
It does ring true! The unadulterated gospel transforms and brings freedom. I'm reminded of John 1 - "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us...We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only full of GRACE and TRUTH." Jesus Christ is a grace and truth message and is meant to revolutionize the way we think and live. And, this message works in any culture and any situation. Thanks, Craig.
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