CP 211 What agitated Fred...

CP 211 What agitated Fred…

Every now and then I come across something about the way Christians think which agitates my spirit in much the same way as a pebble in my shoe agitates me while I’m walking. So consider me agitated. Why? I’m reading a book at the moment called Undefiled. (Harry Schaumberg, Moody Press 2009) Each chapter of this book commences with an excerpt from The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions.

Here’s one of those quotes:

O my crucified but never wholly mortified sinfulness!

O my life-long damage and daily shame!

O my indwelling and besetting sins!

O the tormenting slavery of a sinful heart!

Destroy, O God, the dark guest within

Whose hidden presence makes my life a hell. Page 43

I wonder, I wonder, I wonder. Those of you who trust Jesus Christ’s promises of word and deed, do you see yourself in the same sad and negative way of the poet? Do you seriously live with a sense of ‘life-long damage’ and ‘daily shame’? I sure hope not. Is your daily walk with the Lord ‘a life of hell’, marked by ‘tormenting slavery of a sinful heart’? Well, if it’s like that then the gospel hasn’t got hold of you yet!

That poem / prayer is depressing, doubly so because the man is clearly misreading the scripture. What does Paul say? “If anyone is in Christ he/she is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17) Get that? New creation… new heart… new spirit… Jesus’ own peace… Jesus’ own joy… Christ’s own Calvary love poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit… no condemnation now for those in Christ Jesus… not an orphan… reconciled to the Father… I will remember their sins no more… abiding in Christ… transferred from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son… seated ‘in Christ’ at the right hand of the Father… inseparable from the Father’s love… Jesus advocating for us, and the Holy Spirit interceding for us… baptised in the Spirit, led by the Spirit, fellowship with the Spirit… faith by the same Spirit… Jesus is Lord… He has the keys… the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin… We have the mind of Christ… Christ in you… How many more do you want? That lot tumbled out of my head as fast as I could write!

Hey Fred, what about the darkness I know is in there? How do I get around the truth that sin / rebellion / selfishness are always with me?

Yes of course. Here’s a clue. The Apostle Paul calls us to ‘put on the new self’ as we are being ‘created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness’. (Eph 4:24) He says that because what he calls ‘the old self’ is still there too. The bad news is that the ‘old self’ will be in us like that until we cark it. The good news is that, by grace through faith in Christ, Father God only recognises the lovely holy purity of Christ in us. Our trust is that our Father can only ‘see us’ as clean because all the sin, yes all of it, from the womb to the tomb, is forgiven!

So here’s the challenge. Will you see yourself before the Father ‘in Christ’, or will you let the devil get away with making you think you stand before the Father ‘in Adam’, ie in utter sin?

That’s it you know. We easily speak of what happens ‘in the heart’. The truth is that every single believer in Jesus Christ has two hearts. By our natural birth we have the heart we inherit from Adam and Eve. By the ‘new birth of water and the Spirit’, we have the heart of the second Adam… none other than that of Jesus Christ. My constant challenge and choice is which heart will I bring to bear on all I do. And that’s why I need the Holy Spirit’s clarity and charity with his nudges and prompts all the time. Come Holy Spirit!

Jesus said: “If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” NIV John 8:31-32

Be blessed in HIM.