Sep 25, 2019
by Daniel Lovelace
Many of you have known me as I’ve grown up. Perhaps I served with your church in SCSC, maybe we’re Facebook friends, or we’ve had a conversation at Conference sometime. But what I’d say has been less known about me is that for the majority of my life, while I may have given a nice appearance on the outside, I lived a life weighed down by a number of things on the inside. I was a believer and did all the “good Christian things,” but constantly lived under a legalistic pressure to perform for God to like me. I carried a deeply critical viewpoint of most everyone, myself included. Further, I struggled with cycles of hidden sin that just made me feel broken, ashamed, and undeserving of God’s blessings.
Humankind is made in God’s image. We will reflect His image whether we have an accurate understanding of Him or not. I believed God was very critical and judgmental towards me, so (underneath a mask of politeness) I reflected the same towards others, too. I also believed God didn’t like me when I messed up, which robbed my hope and joy, leading me to seek satisfaction either in more sin or with promises to “do better” for God—which is self-righteousness. The key to freedom from those bondages has been found in deepening my understanding of the Gospel—the message of God’s love for me—and you.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
—Romans 5:8
Let’s unpack a bit on this key verse which highlights the love of God for humanity, starting at the beginning of time. At creation, we see where God places Adam and Eve, the first two people, into the incredible Garden of Eden. Now in addition to all the other amazing things there, there are two central fruit trees in this garden—the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warns Adam about the second one’s fruit. Essentially saying—“Don’t eat that one, you won’t like it. You aren’t meant for that way of living. It’ll pull you away from My way of life, and into corruption, brokenness, and death.”
Well, we know the story. Adam and Eve thought about that for a moment, and then decided to give it a whirl anyway. Whoops, wrong decision. God actually knew what He was talking about. Humanity isn’t designed to live primarily under a system of knowing good and evil, because in that place we’re always trying to become good by our efforts, always crushed by the weight of our failures, and always weary in trying to be our own source of life, purpose, and direction. But the deed has been done, and here we are, stuck in a life pattern of sin—which is separate from what God intends—and the countless forms of brokenness because of it.
“…His own love toward us—sinners…”
God didn’t reject us in our turning from Him though. No, He came to Adam and Eve in the moment of their sin, and they, in feeling guilt and shame, ran from Him. Humanity has been running ever since. It’s in this place that we’re always running away from the Source of goodness and life, spinning ourselves into cycles of corruption, because we fundamentally believe that He hates us and isn’t safe for corrupted creatures like us to be near. We’re never able to free ourselves from this, never able to clean ourselves up, and never able to come back into what God designed us to be. In the moment we ate from the tree, we separated ourselves from Mr. Life Himself. We became alienated from Him, not by His choice, but by our own choice which blinded us to His love. (Ephesians 4:18, 2 Corinthians 5:19)
The Trinity designed us for deep, intimate and beautiful relationship in life with Them, and They would pave the way for us to come back into it. They weren’t surprised by our sin, and in Their value of us They actually planned to bring us back before we ever left. So according to that plan, Jesus, God the Son, stepped into our world as one of us—a human. In Jesus, we see clearly where God has forever connected Himself to humanity. He lived a life limited by our very weaknesses and temptations, yet never took His perspective off the Father’s love for Him in them. He lived in right relationship with the Trinity as humanity was designed to (which is righteousness), and taught others about it too. He built relationships with them in their sin, loved them where they were, and freed many from its corrupting influence in various ways. He explained to people that they will never rest in God through their efforts to be good enough, but only through trusting the goodness and work of Another. He revealed that God’s nature is one of a Father yearning for His children to come home, and also that of a Shepherd who does all the work necessary to bring them home. And He didn’t stop there.
“…Christ died for us.”
Jesus died for us. When He died, He died because humanity didn’t recognize Him, hated Him, and killed Him. But as He died in His connection with humanity, He died as us. Jesus experienced our curse—what you, I, and the rest of humanity experience in innately believing that God is untrustworthy, that He rejects us, and we must be our own source of life. He felt the crushing weight of brokenness we experience in that—including our guilt, shame, fear, depression, and self-hatred. His body also tasted the corrupted influence
of diseases, disorders, pains, cancers, and all other curses. Jesus even experienced our blindness to the Father’s closeness on the cross when He cried out
“My God, my God. Why have you forsaken Me?” But the Father never forsook Jesus! He is not scared of our corrupted bondages and brokenness from sin! No, He was there with Him just as much as always, loving Him, and paving a way to bring us back home in Him.
(2 Corinthians 5:19, Psalm 22:24).
Jesus died as us, along with the corruption we know in sin. He was raised back to life as us to carry us into life as it’s intended! Life seated back with the Father! Life free from the weight of knowledge of evil in our hearts, and restored to never needing any reason to ever pull away from God. God—Father, Son, and Spirit—the Triune Source of goodness, life, and love, did this out of Their immense love for you, and deeply delighted intentions to have you back close with Them. From the moment Jesus cried “Finished!” that work has been finished! So are you resting in that?
How do we rest?
Do you believe you are pure? Do you believe your sinful nature, a mindset opposed to living as God intends, was crucified in Jesus’ death? To not believe this will always keep us from resting in God’s love, because deep down we believe God hates something about us. In that we’ll stay trapped in a cycle of constantly working to make ourselves more pleasing to God. As Romans 7 explains, sin will have dominion over us in that place. It’s this place of unbelief where temptation will primarily be marked with defeat, and various skeletons of sin will linger in the closets of our hearts. It’s in this place where our broken internal worlds will find excuses to stay corrupted. The good news of the Gospel is that the doors to your freedom, restoration, and life are flung wide open in the Person of Jesus Christ!
“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
—Romans 6:11
If you’re struggling with sin, know that Jesus carried the full burden of it so you can enjoy His very freedom. In Him, you are made pure with the purity of God Himself. That old thing does not define you, it is not your norm, and its chokehold on you is over! You don’t have to live as a “Romans 7 man,” stuck in a mindset of trying to make yourself pleasing to God. No, you are already fully pleasing to Him, and free to live and grow into what He’s intended for you! Whatever your struggle, don’t let it pull you away from Him. So if you’ve stepped into something you shouldn’t, simply agree it’s not good for you, and run back to Daddy’s lap. He’s already made you righteous, and now you get to live in it.
Consider yourself alive to God! You’ve been brought back into life as God intended it. You are blameless, innocent, and above accusation—free to nestle in the arms of the Father and live in His beauty forever. Don’t focus on what you’ve done, simply rest in what Jesus has done.
The more we understand the Good News of His love, the more our hearts unlock with love back to Him, ourselves, and others. Sin also vaporizes as we rest close in His embrace and know we get to enjoy pleasures directly from His hand. Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit is the fruit that naturally grows as we live in love relationship with the Lover of our souls.
This message of God’s love may seem a bit too good to be true; it has for me even as I’ve shared it. I think that’s okay though, as it is a sign we are starting to actually encounter the vast mountain of God’s eternal love. This message doesn’t mean we won’t encounter hardship in life, but it absolutely does mean God is with us in every step of it, that He wants to shepherd us through it, and that He has something good to bring beyond it.
So do you know how loved you are? The work is finished, God delights in you so deeply, and you’re safe with Him. Rest in and enjoy that. The deeper you do, the more you’re freed to breathe, rest, and live with Him and others as He’s designed.
(Ephesians 3:19)
