Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Failing God: an excerpt from my book Understanding Paul: freedom in Galatians


Galatians 2:20

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me

If Gods life is living in us and we are His how do we still fail?

God’s gifts are without repentance. He gave Adam choice between life and living as he determined for himself and that choice is still Adams through us His progeny.

Two trees for Adam contain His choice. In one the self does not exist but instead a oneness with God’s shared life. In the other the self determines and makes its own life but is separated from God. We know which one Adam chose.

The death that Adam called life affected him to the core even his seed that would become every soul on the earth. As I write this there are more than seven billion selves living on this earth.

For these children of Adam there is still a choice; the self they have inherited from their father in the earth or a loosing of self and gaining a shared life with God by faith in the redemption of Jesus.

However what if we have chosen to give our life to Jesus but still see failure?  This is the result of strongholds in our mind. These strongholds are areas where we are still placing trust in ourselves and reaping a harvest of sin.

We are children of adoption. We have been adopted from a horrible darkness. Consider this as way of illustration.

A child raised in an abusive home will learn that abuse is normal and adjust their thinking and actions as best they are able to survive what they consider to be just life.

If this child were to be adopted into a kind and loving family they would experience great joy at the love and kindness. At the same time the ways they have learned about life would take time and experience to be dispelled.

They may horde food instead of sharing with their new siblings because of fear their new father may leave them without. When their new father corrects them they may fear he will punish them without mercy. They may mistrust instructions from their new father as being to take from them instead of to give to them. In all these things they will act in ways that are contrary to the new life their new father is trying to share with them.

Make no mistake; if you have desired to be adopted into His family your heavenly Father will not cast you out. If you act against His ways but desire His ways He says

 trust me,

I love you,

I will show you my ways,

 I will make you to become as I am,

 you need not fear anything,

I am with you and nothing can take you from me,

Rest from your worries and cares because I care for you

All who trust in me are made as I am; none of them are ashamed of trusting in me because I do not fail.

I know what you need; it will make you uncomfortable sometimes but you will see it is for your perfection.

When you see your fear dissolve help your adopted brothers to trust me too.

My love cast out fear and I am with you always even to the ends of the earth.

We fail because we fear to trust ourselves to Him completely. We fear because we do not believe He can love us completely without conditions. We set conditions because we cannot see that He is changing everything in our life.

He provides for us, He nurtures us, He teaches us, and He chastises us that we may mature. Not to make us a better child but that we would know we are His child.

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