Month: March 2018

 

It has come to my notice that we turn to be inclined on an emotional side of ourselves. We are human i do agree but having been transformed into this glorious image we now are, we should live after this new man.Romans 6:4 ,” We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life”. This clearly urges us or rather makes us aware of our new self.

I know one thing for certain that there are times whereby we feel so disqualified to stand boldly before the our Father, but He certainly did not model it to be this way after our last Adam. Jesus is our Adam, our last Adam. He is the city of Angels, He is the wealth of heaven, He is the beauty of heaven , Jesus is the primary existence. How glorious and deity is He, Colossians 1:18-19, “…And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” 

Just take a look this, “He is the head of the body, the Church”. Paul had such a profound revelation of Jesus. I believe if we could tilt more on being aware and acknowledge the Holy Spirit, we can have such impeccable revelations of the deity of Jesus. Going forward, my emphasis was on verse 19, God found it befitting for his whole being to fully enhance the being of Jesus. A man who had such glory, died for you and I, as He died He took with him the filth and injustice of our being. So how can we let ourselves be downgraded when such superiority gave Himself up for us.

Read More: Jesus : 90 Days with the One and Only 

God can not and will not let His only Son to die for our freedom and then joy when we live according to the condemned old self. Let us not let our feelings try to disqualify ourselves to enjoy the pleasures of the heavenly experience here on earth. I know also there are times when we feel so spiritual and so good and we think that when we feel that way, that is when we are most close to God that is when God is most pleased with us. NO! That is not so, lets not in way let our feelings to manipulate us into feeling like God is pleased or that they qualify us for His face to shine more. Yes it is not good when we feel depressed, condemned, down in the dumps and many other negative feelings; and let these emotions make us feel a bit less qualified for the favor of God.

Read more : Jesus Is _______. : Find a New Way to Be Human 

In the very same token, it is proportionally carnal when we feel so good or so spiritual and think we qualify for the favor of God. Yes it is so good, in fact it is such a glorious feeling when we feel happy, rejuvenated, refreshed, at leisure, spiritual and many other exciting emotions we feel; but let us not think our feelings or emotions either make us qualified or that God is pleased with us because of our ecstasy.

You are qualified, You favored, You are God’s delight, You are at peace with God Because of the HEAD of the Church. JESUS CRUCIFIED, JESUS RESURRECTED  AND JESUS GLORIFIED.

 

I remember being in primary school, in standard 5 to be precise. The teacher was not around and the class was earsplitting like it was inevitable. Just in the mist of the delinquency of the pupils, out in front were boys being boys. A game had trended, it was a really juvenile game where at the end of the game, one person would have to be ripped their pants to the sole of their ankles. As it went forth, a friend of mine was among-st these self-indulgent activity, and when he turned around, his trousers were pulled down. Not only his trousers went down but his underwear was gripped as well. His modesty was on display. He was so ashamed, as he pulled his garments up. The shame was so visible on his face as people burst in an irrepressible laughter and glee. This shame was as the noonday.

Read more: Killing Jesus – A History 
This bridges me to my point about nudity and where I want to drive my point across. Genesis 3:7, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”The two habitats of the Garden of Eden were all the time naked but didn’t really see it or consider the matter. So after having eaten the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, they became really aware of their nudity and in what state they were in. It was only the two of them and yet they were blanketed by shame as they realized in what state they were in. They did not know they would be naked and as reality struck, it brought intense shame to these two. Genesis 3:10,“,” even when God inquired about where they were, they confirmed that they were afraid. There weren’t any people with them yet they even had to hide from God. They felt the shame. Nakedness brings shame when done without intention.

Read more: Exalting Jesus in Genesis 
Death on the cross was an ultimate humiliation. Some scholars and ministers have the idea that Jesus was crucified uncovered, totally naked. They believe this was done so as to humiliate Jesus to the highest level. Steve Ray on his April 12 2017 post on “Was Jesus crucified naked?” says that there was no limit in actually having to punish Jesus. He believes the painters that portrait Jesus’s crucifixion could not envision Jesus in complete nudity hence they portray him with the cloth covering him. This is done just for the modesty of Jesus. Steve Ray was just trying to drive the point home about the shame that was taken by Jesus for us. I may not be directly sure about this scenario but the fact that Jesus was such a perfect reconciliation savior that He would be crucified naked so that he would take my shame on the cross so that today I might live with such confidence, I could not be grateful enough.
I may not speak for all people in saying once in a while we walk in shame even when there is nothing wrong we did but I know for certain it happens to me. So knowing that Jesus felt the shame that was supposed to have come to me, I should, today walk in such outstanding confidence and not feel an ounce of shame. Romans 5:5 says, “And hope addeth no shame because the love God was shared abroad in our hearts by the Holy spirit that was given to us.”Shame does not exist anymore; Jesus dealt with it on the cross. Whenever you are tempted to wallow in shame, remember the Jesus that hung on the cross in the nude. That enough should speak volumes to the fact that Jesus is so good that he would hang to own our shame so that we might have hope that adds no shame.

Read more: The Jesus Storybook Bible : Every Story Whispers His Name 
One instance I remember was when I was in church and we were worshiping and my hands were high in the sky. In that moment I got aware of myself and immediately felt a rush of shame in my heart because I realized that some people were not lifting their hands up. In that moment I realized that wasn’t the Lord shaming me. In my heart I could hear God say, “look at the cross, what you are feeling now was dealt with by your savior, own the confidence and worship with freedom and confidence.” In that moment, confidence and assurance enveloped me and I enjoyed my freedom and my perfect right to stand before the father and enjoy singing praises to His name.
The bottom line is that we should confidently own the freedom and the assurance. Jesus paid too much of a price on the cross by letting our shame, the shame of the whole world to punish and burden Him. He was shamed, being left to die on the cross naked. Let’s own our right and enjoy him  a friend and a father who took our shame. We don’t have to feel shame today.

 

Last week during the week I was feeling rather condemned by something and had a tough time dealing with the forgiveness that God has given me through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then on Sunday when I got to church, my pastor was teaching on forgiveness. That was a love story of God to me. Forgiveness has been dealt with by the purifying blood of Jesus. Redemption is in his blood and by grace we have been reconciled unto God by the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.

So through the week when I was feeling rather condemned and beating myself down, I was not able to have the freedom that I have in God through Jesus. Not that the freedom was not available anymore but me being conscious of my wrong, ripped me off the peace and freedom that has already been provided for. As I felt a bit uneasy about  what I did, I could hear God in my spirit saying in my heart  that if I am going to let myself be condemned about that, I should not let myself be condemned, if He would condemn me, He would not only condemn me of that one thing but many other things I was not being conscious of. We turn to elevate our sin consciousness more than we elevate the cleansing blood of Jesus.

Romans 6:5 “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.” So let’s look at the form in which Jesus died in, He died having being burdened by the sin of the world. All our sins were flung on Him. All our sins taken together swirled like a hurricane, swirling and absorbed into Him. He became like a vacuum cleaner. Sucking all the sins of the world, sucking us clean. In  that moment, the only thing that was left was for him to resurrect, defeating death and the sting of sin. Romans 6:11 says, “Likewise reckon ye also yourself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” This clearly encourages us to be living with deliberate head knowledge and be firm about knowing that we are indeed dead to sin, we are now in the perfect state.

If God has the decency to intentionally decide to go amnesia on our sin, why do we repeatedly punish ourselves or let ourselves to be condemned when we fall short. I do agree that when we do something wrong or sin, we should be aware of it and acknowledge that we screwed up but we should not dwell in it and make condemnation our habitation. 2 Corinthians 5:9, “Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” God has really reconciled us to Him because of the justification that He set for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. If only we could be aware of the permanent saving Grace of Jesus and willingly think on it, our spiritual life would take a major toll.

Jesus didn’t only take our sin to be reconciled unto God but also to enjoy a life of a totally free condemnation conscious.  Whenever we feel the need or that urge that comes to condemn ourselves, we should know that is totally not from God but from the enemy. John 3:17, “For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” This is the real purpose why Jesus came in the world.