For our Freedom He Died.
The openness and freedom we are to enjoy as
children of God by the provision that Christ secured by His finished
work on the cross is unattainable by our sewing together fig leaves to
cover our openness as we hide in the bushes of religiosity that shields
us from having a honest, open and love relationship with God our Father
and Jesus His Son.
As Adam and Eve busied themselves sewing fig leaves together to make them feel they were now worthy to stand in God’s presence, thinking the God could not see through the fig leaves, we busy ourselves obeying and doing religious duties to be clothed in righteousness so we are worthy to stand in His presence.
The freedom of being ourselves before God and people is masked by the doing of religious performances, using “Christian” vernacular, covering our humanity with religious spirituality thinking we are revealing a part of ourselves to others that we deem worthy of their acceptance. We go even so far as thinking our religious works and duty gives us the privilege to stand in God’s presence while thinking our religious performances hides our true self from Him. Such is the folly of deception!
Our trying to determine what is good and evil and judging or condemning people by what we have determined to be good and evil, we too are eating from the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” rather than the “tree of life”.
God wanted to be the total source of supply for Adam’s knowledge and He was when He placed Adam and Eve in the garden. But, after eating from the knowledge tree Adam became as God able to determine what he though was good and evil...not what God thought was good and evil! The proof of this is that before the eating they were naked without the idea that it was wrong and evil. After the eating they thought it was wrong and evil to stand in God’s presence naked. Why? Because they forfeited their innocence and their total trust in God’s ability to be their source as to what was good or evil.
In the cool of the day God came as usual, to commune with them, but instead of walking confidently and talking openly with Him, fear filled their hearts and the practice of playing the shame and blame game and becoming guilt ridden began.
Today as God’s children we still play the shame and blame game blaming others for the condition we find ourselves in and hiding from God under the bush of religion. Wearing our self-made masks of denominationalism we build denominational walls to keep those of like faith from seeing who we really are by the facade we put on while together in the building, all the while thinking our religious persuasion makes us acceptable to stand before God, when if fact, it shields us from God’s fulness and unable to participate in the freedom He offers.
We believe God do not love us as we are; so we practice the art of performing religious rules and keeping the law hoping to to earn our right standing in Him and our acceptance by the religious hierarchy. Our behavior betrays the fact that Adam’s eating from the tree of knowledge has left us with basis emotional and spiritual issues that that prevents out freedom in Christ from manifestation in our living. We fear man more that we respect God, evident by our religious hiding places. We suffer from spiritual inferiority complex, borne out by our believing that seminary learned people are more spiritual and higher on the spiritual ladder that we are and that they are the pipe-line that feeds the message God wants us less spiritual to hear. We ascribe religious cliches to our religious living and hide behind them hoping that people will not see the true person we are. Religion not only isolates us from people is also isolates us from God through religious filters that paint God with the colors of the the denominational flag they fly.
As people of God we should be free from the concern of self-acceptance, being self-righteous, self-agendas, self-pleasing and religious selfishness. In the sweet innocence of the Gospel of Grace and freedom we can without the guile of religiosity or the deceit of performance fully expose ourselves to all and stand unashamed before man in the presence of God. We can be immune to the rejection of religion by being consumed with the Gospel of God’s grace.
We can be assured we are safe and secure in the shelter of God’s mercy, kindness, forgiveness and love that is wrapped up in His Gospel of GRACE as we bask in His AMAZING GRACE and His LOVE DIVINE so GREAT and WONDROUS!
As Adam and Eve busied themselves sewing fig leaves together to make them feel they were now worthy to stand in God’s presence, thinking the God could not see through the fig leaves, we busy ourselves obeying and doing religious duties to be clothed in righteousness so we are worthy to stand in His presence.
The freedom of being ourselves before God and people is masked by the doing of religious performances, using “Christian” vernacular, covering our humanity with religious spirituality thinking we are revealing a part of ourselves to others that we deem worthy of their acceptance. We go even so far as thinking our religious works and duty gives us the privilege to stand in God’s presence while thinking our religious performances hides our true self from Him. Such is the folly of deception!
Our trying to determine what is good and evil and judging or condemning people by what we have determined to be good and evil, we too are eating from the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” rather than the “tree of life”.
God wanted to be the total source of supply for Adam’s knowledge and He was when He placed Adam and Eve in the garden. But, after eating from the knowledge tree Adam became as God able to determine what he though was good and evil...not what God thought was good and evil! The proof of this is that before the eating they were naked without the idea that it was wrong and evil. After the eating they thought it was wrong and evil to stand in God’s presence naked. Why? Because they forfeited their innocence and their total trust in God’s ability to be their source as to what was good or evil.
In the cool of the day God came as usual, to commune with them, but instead of walking confidently and talking openly with Him, fear filled their hearts and the practice of playing the shame and blame game and becoming guilt ridden began.
Today as God’s children we still play the shame and blame game blaming others for the condition we find ourselves in and hiding from God under the bush of religion. Wearing our self-made masks of denominationalism we build denominational walls to keep those of like faith from seeing who we really are by the facade we put on while together in the building, all the while thinking our religious persuasion makes us acceptable to stand before God, when if fact, it shields us from God’s fulness and unable to participate in the freedom He offers.
We believe God do not love us as we are; so we practice the art of performing religious rules and keeping the law hoping to to earn our right standing in Him and our acceptance by the religious hierarchy. Our behavior betrays the fact that Adam’s eating from the tree of knowledge has left us with basis emotional and spiritual issues that that prevents out freedom in Christ from manifestation in our living. We fear man more that we respect God, evident by our religious hiding places. We suffer from spiritual inferiority complex, borne out by our believing that seminary learned people are more spiritual and higher on the spiritual ladder that we are and that they are the pipe-line that feeds the message God wants us less spiritual to hear. We ascribe religious cliches to our religious living and hide behind them hoping that people will not see the true person we are. Religion not only isolates us from people is also isolates us from God through religious filters that paint God with the colors of the the denominational flag they fly.
As people of God we should be free from the concern of self-acceptance, being self-righteous, self-agendas, self-pleasing and religious selfishness. In the sweet innocence of the Gospel of Grace and freedom we can without the guile of religiosity or the deceit of performance fully expose ourselves to all and stand unashamed before man in the presence of God. We can be immune to the rejection of religion by being consumed with the Gospel of God’s grace.
We can be assured we are safe and secure in the shelter of God’s mercy, kindness, forgiveness and love that is wrapped up in His Gospel of GRACE as we bask in His AMAZING GRACE and His LOVE DIVINE so GREAT and WONDROUS!
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