The proper balance between the “feeling ugly” and the truth of “being righteous” is at times extremely elusive for me. I tend toward submersion within the ugliness, when in God’s sight I am found to be the very righteousness of Christ! The part of me that was once deserving of wrath is not a pretty sight at all, but then the flip-side is the beauty that is found through our identity IN CHRIST!
My desire is not to be fatalistic, self-pitying, or morbid, but to recognize my wretchedness apart from Christ for what it is. It is absolutely imperative that I see who I truly am apart from Him because the moment I start thinking I have got it "going on" or that I have one ounce of “self worth”, then I better look out. I have been through enough counseling and “recovery” meetings over the years to be inundated with “self worth” talk. The worth of Philip B. Fidler is far from “self” and only in Jesus! He is and must be the one and only source of worth!
So, when I mentioned before that I wanted to discuss ugliness, that I really do “feel” that way often (more often than I should), I do not want to throw it out there as something to be acceptable for the Christian as a way of life or mindset. My heart is to express that I struggle with living my life as one who has been adopted by the very Creator of the universe. I was adopted into my earthly family and very blessed in that regard, but what about my adoption to “son-ship” by the Father because Jesus satisfied the wrath that I deserve? That is what Romans 5 ends up being all about.
God’s wrath that my stench and ugliness deserved, is satisfied through the justification that ONLY comes through the substitution of Jesus by death on the cross. Christ died for us while we were still sinners (v. 8), we are now justified because of His blood that was shed (v. 9), we were enemies of God, but have been reconciled to God and saved (v. 10) and as verse 11 states, because of this we rejoice! I hope that you do a better job than I do at "lookin' saved". My redeemed spirit and new heart does not always tell my face, my actions or my attitude the good news!
How about we all make a much more concerted effort to conduct ourselves like we are who God says that we are! He are ugliness overcome by beauty! We are sin overcome by righteousness! If we have truly been converted, then we were once enemies that have now been completely reconciled!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment