I am Content

Words of Grace  

 

Over the past several weeks I have shared words of affirmation that proclaim what the Bible says about you and me, even though we often forget or don’t understand these truths. I want to push a little beyond that in these posts to address the emotions and feelings we are supposed to enjoy, even while we struggle with them.  Last week I wrote about being confident even though we don’t feel confident. I mentioned the disconnect between our reality and our emotions.

When the Lord tells us to move in confidence, but we don’t feel confident, what is happening? The flesh is speaking up against the move of the Spirit. The old ways we learned to live apart from the Lord assert themselves against the reality the Spirit has created in our lives. Some people think this is two natures battling within them, but it is simply our emotions slipping into the default mode of what we have lived for so long.

Here’s another one: be content, the Spirit says. You know the verse. Hebrews 13:5, “be content with such things as you have.” Easier said than done, right?

When the Spirit calls me to a certain emotion or attitude, He is not telling me to create that attitude in my heart. He is telling me to live according to the attitude which is already present in my heart. Being content is already a part of me because I am in Christ and Christ is in me. I have all I need in Him. I need nothing more than Him. The Spirit is simply calling me to live in the satisfaction and contentment that are already mine.

The flesh, on the other hand, is never really content. It needs affirmation and never finds real satisfaction. Have you noticed how the things of this world never satisfy? You need a new car, you think. You become so discontent with your old one. More and more your flesh longs for a new one. Then, when you get it, your flesh begins to need something else. It never gets enough.

Understand that the flesh is simply the old way of thinking. It is not you. The flesh is fading away as you learn to walk in the Spirit. But there are many things to unlearn, and a process of transformation that will take some time. The Scripture refers to this process (Romans 12:2, 2 Cor 3:18). It is simply learning to walk according to the Spirit now that we no longer walk according to the flesh (Romans 8).

So you—the you that Jesus knows, the you that will live eternally, the you that is real and complete and right—you are content. There is no other you. But you don’t fully know yourself yet. You are being transformed in your thinking so that you are beginning to conform, in your thinking, to the reality Jesus has given you.

Wow! If that makes sense, you can see how freeing it is. We are becoming who we are. So you and I can say:

 

I am content.

Jesus is enough for me.

He is the source of all blessing and good in my life.

Jesus is with me always.

I am content.

I am confident

Words of Grace  

 

For many believers, perhaps most, there is a disconnect between the way they feel and the truth. In other words, we often don’t feel strong, even if Jesus is our Strength and in Him we are strong. We often don’t feel free, even if Jesus has set us free. And we certainly find it hard to feel righteous or good or even forgiven most of the time.

That disconnect is normal. For so long the flesh has told us what we are supposed to feel and then has shown us that our feelings reveal the reality of our lives. If we find ourselves in trouble, for example, the flesh tells us to be afraid. Then our flesh tells us that the fear proves our weakness. In fact, a great deal of evidence could be shown that in these circumstances we find ourselves to be strong, and we would still think of ourselves as weak because we felt fear.

The message of the flesh is a lie. Yes, it feels right. Yes, it feels normal and familiar. Yes, it is what we have always felt. But it is still a lie. The message of the flesh is designed to keep us walking according to the flesh. But you and I, and all those who belong to Jesus, live according to the Spirit and must learn to walk according to the Spirit. The flesh is no longer our master and no longer our “normal.”

I suspect that many of us have shared an experience like the following. You are called to talk with someone about something that is uncomfortable. Perhaps you want to share the good news. Perhaps you are supposed to challenge a decision or an opinion. Perhaps you need to ask the person to do something. Whatever it is, you lack confidence and you are afraid. At least that’s what the flesh is telling you.

One time I was moved by God to confront a man in my church about his relationship with another man’s wife. It was one of those times when I couldn’t take someone with me and I had to do it right away. There was little choice. But I was afraid. I actually drove to his house and then drove away again. Finally, I stopped and talked it over with the Lord.

Now, you have probably done that. You have examined why you are feeling afraid. You have asked yourself or the Lord if this is the right thing to do. You stopped in the midst of your fear and confronted it. And, when you did, the fear was put into perspective. It maybe didn’t go away, but you knew that you had to do the uncomfortable thing and you knew it would somehow be okay.

Well, I decided that the man could try to punch me, but I would still talk with him. I knew my heart was right. I had respect for him and spoke to him in love and the visit went very well.

You see, my flesh lied to me. First it told me that I had something to fear. The man might get angry (even though I had never known him to be an angry man), or he might get violent (even though I could hardly imagine him doing anything), or he could leave the church or organize his supporters against me or whatever. My flesh played through all those scenarios and more until I was afraid. Then my flesh showed me my fear and told me I was too weak to do this thing.

But it was a lie. Once I understood that none of the things I feared could really hurt me and I was doing the right thing, the thing God wanted me to do, then I found the confidence that was there all the time.

You see, the Spirit is confident. The Spirit knows that you and I can do whatever the Lord calls us to do. The Spirit knows that there is no reason for fear and no reality of weakness. Jesus is my Strength and my Confidence.

Don’t let the flesh pull you back into bondage by pushing away your confidence. If the Lord is calling you to do something, do it in strength and know that He is with you. The results are His.

 

I am confident!

I can do what I am called to do.

My fear and anxiety may try to pull me down,

But I will not listen to the lies.

I am confident.

I am Alive!

Words of Grace  

 

One of my favorite signs is one I saw in Woolworth’s quite a few years ago. It was right behind the cashier at the checkout. It said, “Would all the employees who have died please lie down?” I confess that I found it both funny and terribly demeaning toward the employees.

On the other hand, I would understand those employees who felt dead. Same old job at the same old place with the same old people. No energy. No enthusiasm. No life. I hope most of you don’t feel that way today, but I’d bet that you have felt that way at times. You get up and go because you are supposed to. You smile and you do what is expected. Some days that’s pretty much all you get.

Then we hear the message of the cross and the Resurrection and we remember the truth. He who was dead has conquered death for us. He is alive and we are alive in Him. When Jesus rose from the dead, we rose from the dead. Those who trust in Him share His life.

Everything has changed in Jesus. You see, apart from Jesus we were dead. There was no life in us. Those times we felt alive contributed nothing to our real state and, no matter what motivational speaker we listened to, we were still dead—and we felt it.

But in Jesus our universe has changed. Because He is alive, we are alive. Those times we feel dead do nothing to change the fact that we are alive. No matter who tells us differently, even the whispers in our own hearts, we are still alive—and we know it.

Coming off the celebration of the Resurrection, I shout to the world, “I am alive!” Nothing can take my life away. Not the drudgery of the daily grind or the discouragement of troubled relationships or the oppression of authority or the attack of the evil one—nothing. No one will snatch me out of Jesus’ hand. The world around me may be dying, but I am alive . . . and I will be forever.

 

I am alive!

Jesus is my life forever.

Nothing can take away the life He has given me.

Whatever I feel or whatever happens,

I am alive!

I am Saved

Words of Grace  

 

“Jesus saves.”

You see those words on signs at ball games, along the side of the road, or on the church marquee.  We were taught to ask people if they have been saved.  We speak about saving faith.  We print booklets outlining the way of salvation.  And we hope that we are saved ourselves.

But with all the emphasis on being saved, most believers have trouble explaining what we are saved from.

Some people say that we are saved from sin.  Others specify that we are saved from the consequence of sin.  Most say we are saved from hell.  Some say we are saved from the wrath of God.

Without going into theological details, I would simply say that we were saved from the darkness.  Because of sin, all humanity is born into darkness.  We grow up in darkness and, without Jesus, live through eternity in darkness.  Jesus came to save us from the darkness.

The darkness, in Scripture, seems to represent all of evil and sin, everything that is apart from the Lord.  It includes everything that proceeds from sin and is the realm within which all people live until rescued by the Savior.  Jesus refers to Himself often as the Light that shines into the darkness, inviting those who are trapped to come to Him.  He is the Door that leads to light and life.

So those who are saved are those who have been rescued from the realm of darkness.

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.  Col. 1:13-14

There is much mystery here.  The simple fact is that Jesus often spoke of saving people.  He said that He had come “to seek and to save that which was lost.”  That was His purpose, to rescue us from the darkness.

And He did it.  Those who belong to Jesus have been saved.  Notice the past tense.  He has delivered us.  He has rescued us.  He has saved us.  He did all that needed to be done and we entered into His kingdom by trusting in what He did.  He is the Door and we have passed through Him from darkness into light.  So many Scriptures tell it just like that.

So we can say with assurance that we have been saved, that we are saved.  The darkness is in our past.  Yes, we may still think dark thoughts.  Yes, we may still do things associated with the darkness.  Yes, the darkness is still so familiar.  But it is no longer our home.  We have been saved.

 

I am saved!

Jesus has saved me.

He has taken me from the darkness

and brought me into the light.

I belong with Jesus.

I am saved.

I am okay

Words of Grace 

 

What do you say when you have had a hard week? When things have piled up against you and any one of them seems like too much? Sometimes the most you can say is, “I am okay.”

One of my favorite passages from Paul is in 2 Corinthians 4:

We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—

In other words, it’s been a tough week, but we are okay.

Not destroyed. We may not be able to see hope right now, but we trust it is there. We may not feel great about ourselves or the life around us, but we not in despair. We may not know how all of this will turn out, but we are still looking up.

Most of us don’t need to feel great all the time. We understand that we are in a battle against an enemy. We understand that there is competition for our place in life. We understand that the others around us have crummy days. We understand that society is broken.

I think regular people can take a lot. I know that those of us who have the presence of the Lord and the promise of His everlasting love can take even more. To be okay simply means that we are not destroyed by whatever we are going through. We will not be destroyed because the Lord is with us and will never leave us.

I might not have a smile sometimes, but I am okay. I might not have the time or the strength to lift my hand in sacrificial service, but I am okay. I might not be able to see a way out of my trouble, but I am okay. I am not destroyed and I will not be destroyed.

I am okay because Jesus loves me. I am okay because this world is not my final home. I am okay because I am fully forgiven and accepted. I am okay because I am never alone.

No, I refuse to say that everything is wonderful when I don’t feel that way. I have to be honest and admit to my pain or my struggle. But I also know that I am okay . . . and I want you to know that as well.

In 1870, Horatio and Anna Spafford lost their only son to scarlet fever. The next year, Spafford lost almost all his financial assets in the Chicago fire. Then, in 1873, Mrs. Spafford and their four daughters left for Europe while Horatio stayed back to try to recover some of his business. The ship had an accident and the four Spafford girls drowned. Only Mrs. Spafford survived.

Out of that series of tragedies, came the words to a wonderful song, “It Is Well with My Soul.” It was Horatio Spafford’s way of telling people, including himself, that he was okay.

 

I am okay

Jesus loves me

He will never leave me nor let me go

I am safe in Him

I am okay

 

 

I am good enough

Words of Grace 

 

I confess up front that this post is a reaction to something I heard recently. I have heard it over the years, but this one hit home. You have heard it also; maybe you have even said it: “I’m not good enough.”

The young man says it as he walks away from a relationship. The young mother says it as she walks away from a church. The son hears it from his father. “I am not good enough.”

Not good enough for God to bless you. Not good enough to have that relationship. Not good enough to fit in with the others. Not good enough to expect something positive out of life. Not good enough.

Those are hateful words. Lies. Venom from the heart of the evil one.

All day long the evil one stands before God and says that none of us is good enough. He accuses us of sin and brokenness. He reminds us of what we have done. He tells us that we are not good enough.

Who has not sinned? Who does not need a Savior? Who can cast the first stone? Let’s face it. We are all the same. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” “None is righteous. No not one.” All who come to Christ do so as sinners who can neither escape their sin nor atone for it. We all come the same. Needy. Broken. Sinful. Unclean. If one of us is not good enough after coming to Jesus, then none of us is. Either the Savior is enough, or we are without hope . . . all of us.

One of the most grievous sins must be for one person to look on another and think that the other is not good enough. How dare any of us hold ourselves to be better than another! The only difference between any two people is Jesus. Those who have come to Jesus have their sins washed away and stand now in His righteousness. Those who have not come to Jesus stand in their own faulty and insufficient righteousness.

But all of those who come to Jesus for salvation are the same. No one is better than another. No one can boast of superiority. Nor can anyone accept inferiority. It’s about Jesus, not you or me.

And we are as good as He is. Otherwise we are nothing. His righteousness, His goodness, is in us. He is our Life. So we are good enough, if He is good enough. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.

I am good enough.

Jesus is my goodness.

I am as good as anyone who belongs to Him.

Because He has made me good

I am good enough.

I am complete

Words of Grace 

 

…and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2:10

 

Theologically, emotionally, and practically—this is one of the most amazing statements of the Bible.  “You are complete.”  Nothing more to be done.  God looks at you and sees a finished product.

Think of how that contrasts with so much of what we have been taught.  “You will be acceptable to God if…”  “Your salvation will be assured when…”  “God needs you to do…”  So much of the church’s teaching has been about what we are supposed to do now.  But what if it has all been done for us?

What if you really are a finished product?  What if there is nothing more for you to do for your salvation or if there is nothing more that you could do?  What if you are already complete in Him?  That would be something truly amazing!

Do you realize that the only thing that will happen when you and I die to this world is that we will lose things?  We will lose our fears.  We will lose our physical bodies.*  We will lose the sin that has plagued us for so long.  We will separate from this world of corruption.  All those things will drop away like the husk of a seed that has germinated into its true nature.

The context of the passage quoted above is about Jesus, in whom “dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”  That word, “fullness,” is the same as the word, “complete.”  All the way to the top.  Full.  Whole.

Listen: just as Christ is full of the Godhead, full in the Father, so are you full in Him.  That is just what this passage is saying.  Is Jesus less than God?  No?  Then neither are you less than complete in Him.

The call to the believer is to live according to the truth of who we are in Jesus.  Begin to let this world go.  Look to Him for all things, because all you need is provided in Him.  There is nothing more for you to do, so just walk with Him and learn of Him.  Be who you are.

 

I am complete.

There is nothing more to do.

I cannot become more of what I already am.

So I’ll just walk with Him.

In my completeness!

 

*When I mentioned losing the physical body, someone thought that we would be gaining or adding a spiritual body.  I will grant that, but let me ask this: How can we be sitting with Jesus in the heavenly places now, as Ephesians 2:6 says?  Perhaps, in that day, we will simply discover our spiritual body—which has been ours in Christ all along.

I am Righteous!

Words of Grace  

 

Some businesses I frequent have awarded me a “preferred customer” status (no, not the donut shop).  One time I was at one of the businesses and an employee looked at my name and account and commented, “Oh, you’re a preferred customer!”  Apparently that meant something.  I was treated with a little more respect after that.  In fact, I got some special privileges because of it.  I didn’t do anything to earn that status, except to come regularly to the business, but I did enjoy the privileges.

Imagine that God has an account with your name on it.  He looks you up and sees one word, “Righteous!”  No sins.  No special warnings.  No caveats.  Just one word.

Paul told the Romans that those who trust in the Lord for salvation are counted righteous.  Notice the words, “accounted” and “imputes” in this passage:

But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,  just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works  Romans 4:5-6

Those words refer to a determination, like that on an account.  God gives righteousness to those who trust in Jesus.  That’s what He says.  On your account, it says you are righteous.

Never mind what you feel like.  Never mind what the preacher says in his sermon.  Never mind what your accusing friend says.  According to God you are righteous.  On the basis of your faith in Jesus, you are righteous.

Now, the theologian explains that when you and I accepted Christ as our only hope for salvation, Jesus became our Life.  We died to sin and to this world, and we rose again with His life.  Since He is our life, He is also our righteousness.  Technically, He is righteous in us and we are righteous in Him.  When we stand before the righteous Judge, we will be pronounced righteous because of Jesus.

Absence of sin is not the issue.  Perfect behavior is not the issue.  Sufficient service is not the issue.  None of these will make us righteous.  Jesus is the issue.  He makes us righteous.  Because of Him, we are “preferred customers.”

 

I am righteous.

Jesus makes me righteous.

No one can take my righteousness away.

God sees me as righteous.

I am righteous.

I am me!

Words of Grace

 

I remember a statement in math class that went something like this: “The whole is equal to the sum of its parts.”  That probably works for math, but it isn’t true in life.  Fittingly, the first recorded challenge to that statement came from a philosopher, Aristotle.  Philosophy has always understood that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

You and I are more than what we have done or what we have gathered into our lives.  There is something about every individual that is separate from everything in this world.  There is an identity greater than our parts.

In other words, I am not a collection of the things I have associated with or the things I have done or even the things I have thought.  I am me.  I am a person, an individual.  I surround myself with decorations, but I am still me.  The organizations or people with whom I associate are not me.  The places of my life are not me.  The activities with which I fill my life, or which I have done in the past, are not me.  Even my family is not me.

To the world I say:  When you look at me and judge my clothing or my connections or my home or any of my other adornments, you are not yet seeing me.  Yes, I may have chosen some of these things in my desire to express myself; but they are just things I like or use, not me.

And to my own heart I say:  There is One who loves me, the real me, and He knows me personally.  Jesus doesn’t love me because I dress a certain way or go to a certain church or perform a certain service; He just loves me.  When I do something wrong, whether sin or mistake, He still loves me.  He looks past all my coverings and sees my heart.  He loves me.

 

I am me.

I am not what others see connected to me.

I am more than the sum of all my parts.

And Jesus loves me.

I am Clean

Words of Grace  

 

One of the things God has not given us is the ability to forget the things we really want to forget.  There are good reasons for that, I suppose, but most of us have done some things we would love to push out of our thinking forever.  It certainly doesn’t help when other people remind us or when the evil one whispers a reminder in our ears.  But we often don’t need them.  We just remember.  And, when we remember, it hurts.

But does God want us to live every day in the shame of what we have done?  Some preachers seem to think so.  They keep Christians in control and motivate them to obedience by reminding them of what they were before they came to Christ.  Forgiveness means little if our sins are always lifted up to us by others or by ourselves.

No, God does not want us to live in shame.  He says that there is “no condemnation” for those of us who belong to Jesus.  He says that all our sins have been washed away by the blood of Christ.  He says we are clean.

One of my favorite passages is from 1 Corinthians 6, where Paul is telling the readers that they are no longer what they were.  He does not deny what they were and what they did, but he explains that they are different now—new creations, as the Lord said.

And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11

“Such were some of you.”  This is not denial.  This is reality . . . but it is the whole reality.  We are not what we were because we have been washed.  We are now clean because of Jesus.  He washed all our sins away.  Today we are no longer what we were.

“But what about the sins I have done since becoming a Christian?”  Those sins are washed away by the blood as well.  In fact, those sins didn’t stick to us in the first place.  Some people don’t like this teaching.  They think our former sins are gone but not our current sins.  If that’s true, however, then Jesus has to be crucified again for us or some other way of salvation has to be determined.  If sin still separates us from God and remains on our account after we have come to Jesus, then the cross of Christ was not enough.

But the cross was enough.  The love of God is sufficient to cover all our sins: past, present and future.  We are no longer what we were and we will never again be what we were—because we have been washed and made clean.

 

I am clean.

Jesus has cleansed me.

The old has been washed away.

I am not what I was.

I am clean.