Tag Archives: His righteousness

Freedom in Christ, Joy in Failure

The Joy of Complete Forgiveness

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Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. (Psalm 51:7-9 NASB)

We all have stories. Imagine yours including adultery, murder and deceit. What would it be like waking up each morning with a hidden blanket of guilt and shame to drag around your day? The coverup would require you to live separated from your heart, the wellspring of your life.[1] The flow of courage would be clogged, Dis-couragement would set in. This was David’s story before he wrote the verses above.

If we’re honest, we’ve all dealt with some level of guilt and shame involving our choices. We may not have physically committed adultery and murder, but in our pursuits of personal happiness and fulfillment we’ve chosen us over God.

What do we do? Do we try really hard to do good, hoping our deeds will tip the scale and outweigh our dirty hands? Some religions suggest this path of salvation. But trying to earn a right standing with God leads to joyless self-effort and striving. We can never become clean on our own.

But there’s really good news, “holiness is not something you achieve but something you receive.”[2]

What we can’t do, God did for us through the sacrifice of His only Son. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (II Corinthians 5:21 NASB)

But to receive forgiveness, we must believe in the timeless work of Jesus. He died on our behalf, washing us clean. “Come now and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; though they are crimson, They will be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18 NASB)

After committing adultery with Bathsheba, David tried to cover up his transgression by having her husband, Uriah, killed in battle. Psalm 51 is his confession. Though he lived before Jesus, David too was saved by grace, through faith. David trusted in God’s goodness and forgiveness, even in the midst of being responsible for a man’s death. David received complete forgiveness and it gave him great joy. How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How joyful is the man the Lord does not charge with sin and in whose spirit is no deceit! (Psalm 32:1-2 HCSB)

David’s life was not perfect after he wrote Psalm 51. He struggled. But what made him a man after God’s own heart was his quick confessions and repentance, walking in God’s forgiveness and Christ’s righteousness.

We can wake up each morning with no guilt and shame, because of what Christ has done for us. Pursuing holiness, we walk in the goodness and mercy of God. Leaving the past behind, we can experience the joy of complete forgiveness, continually giving glory to God for the grace He’s lavished on us, even when we fail.

Lord, this truth of complete forgiveness has alluded me. It’s easy to unconsciously think it’s still up to me. But You’ve made it clear. In You, my heart is wiped completely clean. Please continue to reveal idols of self that I might quickly confess and repent. Teach me the Joy of Your complete forgiveness.  

[1] Proverbs 4:23

[2] Jeff Shipman in a Sermon on Isaiah 1 at Columbia Crossroads Church

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures. Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post once a week. Thank you for reading. 

 Novels by the Author:

Beyond Time

Hope Remains

Wrapped in Love Peace and Joy

Hidden with Christ in God

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For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3 NASB)

On a long weekend away at one of our favorite places, Wrightsville Beach, NC. It’s not only because of the turquoise surf and pristine sand, but also for how private and secluded it feels. When the kids were growing up, we enjoyed many summer weeks with their cousins at my brother in law’s beach house on the south end of the island. Today we’re at Shell Island Resort, close to where Mason Inlet, fed by the currents of the Atlantic Ocean, forms a sandy semi-circle at the northern end.

I read that I died and my life is hidden with Christ in God. I want to understand what this means. The thought of being hidden with Christ in God is extremely comforting. Hidden in His righteousness, His peace, His protection, His joy. I want to walk around clothed with Christ, fully understanding my spiritual death[1] and union with Him in every aspect of life. This makes me feel glad.

Lord, please show me more.

As a kid, my siblings, cousins and I would make up games around thick hedges we called the enchanted forest. Nestled on either side of our grandparent’s side porch, below towering circular white columns, were nicely groomed holly bushes with red berries. Whether we were playing hide and go seek or fleeing an approaching giant, we would slip in between them into an open area, completely hidden from view. Lost in our imaginations, we were safe and protected from any outside harm.

Hidden with Christ in God.

The verses before read:

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth (Colossians 3:1-2).

In order to walk out being hidden with Christ in God, I need to keep seeking (require, aim at, strive for) the truths of eternity. I live in time and space, but God isn’t bound by time. Right now, I’m spiritually positioned with Christ in God. Paul is telling me that if I want the peace, joy and security of being completely surrounded by Jesus, I must orient my life around the eternal, unchangeable spiritual fact that I died and Christ is now my life.

Outside of the enchanted forest, life can be brutal. People I love are deeply hurting. There’s critical illness. Relationships are strained. Marriages are splintering. But in the midst, God is asking me to rest in His nearness and trust His process. He tells me how my story ends: When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with Him in glory.[2]

Lord, I read these truths and believe them. I want to always keep an eternal mindset, rejoicing in Your continual nearness, even during very hard times. As I look out at the spread of Your ocean before me, I remember Your love for me is beyond knowledge – wider, deeper, longer and higher than the expanse of water and sky before me.  Please show me how to keep this very real eternal orientation even in the midst of sadness and loss.

Just walked to the end of the island and dipped our feet in Mason Inlet. By the pool now enjoying the breeze before a late lunch. A black bird keeps returning to the ladder to drink and bathe. I catch a whiff of a white lantana beside the lounge chair. The rhythmic sound of the ocean surf sooths my soul. God has created so many things for me to enjoy, all reminders of His presence and love for me.

If I’m to understand what it means to walk around, hidden in a Jesus hug, I need to come to full terms with my spiritual death. Paul tells us Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.[3]

Knowing and reckoning my spiritual death, truly frees me from much of life’s angsts. For example, if I died:

  • Can I be offended?
  • Can I seek after my own glory?
  • Can I push my own agenda?
  • Can I insert myself into situations I haven’t been invited?
  • Do I need to worry about fighting for my own satisfaction and joy?
  • Do I need to do anything to try and earn love from God or any person?
  • Is there any situation which comes up which is a surprise to God or is too hard for Him to handle?

Wow! Lord, I see it now. Knowing I died, must come before walking in the safety of Your embracing presence. When self rises up, in any flavor, it’s a direct pull against the abiding life You want me to live. Thank You for opening up to me the freedom of not having to worry about me anymore. For I died and my life is now hidden with You and in You. I walk out of the enchanted forest holding onto truths I do not see, but believe with all my heart. I need You. Please help me to keep me believing and trusting as I face the storms ahead. Amen.

Novels by the Author:

Beyond Time

Hope Remains

[1] Romans 6:4-11

[2] Colossians 4:4

[3] Romans 6:11

Art by Glenn Coker

God Doesn’t Want us Better; He Wants us Dead

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Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

John 12:24

We won’t experience true life until we embrace our death.

Imagine your shock, if while walking through a grave yard, you came across the following tombstone:

Here Lies your name

Born your birth date

Died Approximately 2000 years ago (exact date unknown)

 As disciples of Christ, embracing our spiritual death is critical to the flowing of Christ’s life.

When Christ died on the cross two thousand years ago, as believers, we were crucified with Him. Our sin nature and every sin we would eventually commit were put to death in Him. This was a complete work, performed by the only person worthy to undertake it. When Christ cried, “It is Finished,”[1] all human striving for religious achievement was put to rest; all sins washed clean in the flowing of His life blood.

The reality of our death with Christ is worked out day to day by denying ourselves. Jesus says to follow Him, we are to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him.[2]  Denying ourselves has to do with avoiding evil, but it also has to do with avoiding good.

Evil:  Denying evil is about remaining in the love of Christ. We are able to love God and our neighbor because God first loved us. When we are saturated in the satisfying love of Christ, we have no need of anything vile. His power in us allows us to consider ourselves dead to any evil.

Good: Denying good is much harder to understand, but  just as vital. We are to avoid “religious” activities rooted out of a desire to live a “good” life for God. We are to deny any attempt to earn God’s love with our own righteousness. If righteous could be obtain by our efforts, Christ died for nothing.[3]

The Christian life is not about us trying hard to avoid being evil and striving to do good. It’s about bringing ourselves to the cross of Christ, reckoning ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus; dead to the sin of evil and dead to the sin of trying to earn a righteousness of our own by living a good life. Out of our death flows His life.

The Christian Life can be summarized in one very powerful verse:

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 life by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.

 Galatians 2:20

Challenge: Pick a failure area of your life. Bring it to the cross of Christ and consider it dead. Depend upon the life of Christ in you with that area.

Lord, I’m sorry for trying to do “good” things for you. It seems the more “I” try, the more I’m prone to evil. Please show me every time I slip back into relying on myself, that I might deny me and depend upon you. I must decrease and you must increase.[4]

 

[1] John 19:30

[2] Matthew 16:24

[3] Galatians 2:21

[4] John 3:30