DEEP, SUBCONSCIOUS LAYERS OF RESISTANCE
Some have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ presented to them in a manner that felt like judgement upon their lives, and their pre-existing guilt or shame caused them to throw away the invitation in that moment. That pre-existing guilt or shame is, for many us still—a subconscious reality: we’ve learned to push it down underneath layers of resistance, usually resistance made of various forms of denial. We want to deny the pain we’ve experienced; we don’t want to relive moments in our lives when we failed at something so critically important to us at the time. We failed to keep a promise, to come through for someone, or we hurt someone very deeply. We didn’t live up to who we said we were, and now our current self is the living consequence of those bad choices, those mess-ups; the liar that we see ourselves as.
But that isn’t God’s truth for us.
FEAR OF CONSEQUENCES
The reason why the Good News is the Good News is because Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross erased every sin we have ever committed, or will ever commit, off the face of existence. Our slate is white as snow per the crimson red cross (Isaiah 1:18). But we live like we’re the ones who have yet to face our own crucifixion. We shuffle our feet through life as though we still must face a punitive judgment from a God we want to believe doesn’t exist because we don’t want to live in the dread of that White Throne the Bible talks about (Revelations 4-5). We live in fear, doubt, shame, and yet… our hearts only need to be humbled into repentance, to turn away our from our sin and turn towards the freedom of living for Christ.
DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITUAL DECEPTION
Many of us live inside the bitterness of not knowing which way to turn. That mentality leaves us in a spiritual stagnancy, a deceiving combination of disbelief and doubt where we freeze in the fear of not wanting to “choose wrong.” That kind of fear isn’t from God, but from Satan. It’s a spiritual deception, and we must learn to discern this apart from conviction, which is of God. The former leads to further doubt and despair, while the latter leads to the rare combination of confidence and humility, enabling the ability to choose wisely in the position of temptation, or deception.
Stagnancy is a recipe for the type of life where we are most lost of all people: Instead of searching for answers, we choose the vacuity of staying out of touch, lacking spiritual discipline or Biblical wisdom and instruction, and the lack of these does not lead to God. There is no Good News inside of stagnancy, disbelief, or bitterness. There is no Good News where there isn’t acceptance of Christ as Lord. That lifestyle requires humility, and that humility matures into a love and a fear of God.
AN UNCONDITIONAL LOVE INITIATED BY GOD
To be frank, the Good News wouldn’t be the Good News if it meant that we still had to suffer the eternal damnation of our sins. For that reason, the Good News is really the best news we could ever be given by any person at any time. The Good News is that Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross, and His death took our judgment seat at the White Throne of God.
What we are called into then is a relationship with Jesus by placing our faith in Him as Lord over our lives. The most common issue anyone usually has with that invitation, whether they’re consciously aware of that internal struggle or not, is whether or not they want to be an unconditionally loving person who pursues God’s heart in Christ. They may believe in being loving, but only to a certain extent—and to be clear, there is no limit to God’s love; we know this by the means in which Jesus came and died for us while we were still in our sin (Romans 5:8). Therefore, to love God is to love like God in that we love like He loves us. Let’s talk about that.
LOVE LIKE GOD COMMANDS US TO
By being loving in that way, we love our enemies (Matthew 5:43–44). We clothe the naked and feed the hungry (Matthew 25:35-40). We desire to give to a hurting world because of the burden that has been taken off of us and placed onto the resurrected Jesus. He is our all in all, and our King of Kings. He is closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). He doesn’t say, “Believe in Me, and then you’re on your own.” Rather, He says, “Come to me, those who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) That, and He wants us to cast our cares onto Him (1 Peter 5:7). He doesn’t want us carrying our own load. He says He’ll take it from us.
DYING TO OURSELVES SO WE CAN LOVE LIKE JESUS
In response to His sovereignty over our lives for being trustworthy, almighty and good, we worship Him by how we love and fear Him, and how we love others. We love Him in how we don’t hold back in how we love others. And we love Him by how we submit to Him in every area of our lives, not just the areas we feel comfortable submitting. As we can see, there is no “extent” to which we must be willing and desiring to love God.
God knows the hearts of man (Romans 8:27), and He doesn’t want us to encounter Him partially, but to come with our whole selves, prepared to accept what He has for us. We can’t receive if we don’t first give away; we die to ourselves, so that we can embrace the wholeness of Jesus (John 11:25).
AN ETERNAL HOPE THAT DOESN’T REST ON OUR ACTIONS
First, since our sins have undermined our innocence and purity, we recognize we could never be enough on our own. Therefore, in light of humbling ourselves to our spiritual need for the redemptive blood of Jesus, which is God’s very lifeblood, we receive the eternal hope we have through the holy name of Jesus.
That is GOOD NEWS.
In our freedom, we worship Jesus with our whole lives. We tithe in order to bless God with thanksgiving, and we spend time with people to spread the love of God for His children. We pray in the name of Jesus to cast out diseases, sicknesses, and spiritual attacks. We do it all, because He did it all for us first. We seek Him first in our lives, that while our lives center around Him, we learn the true nature of walking life through the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14).
VICTORIOUS IN CHRIST: LET US LOVE AND NOT JUDGE
If someone told us about Jesus but proceeded to berate us if we weren’t a believer, then they have missed the opportunity to love someone towards Jesus. He told us to dust our feet of anyone who rejected His Good News (Matthew 10:14-16). We don’t yell at people, get angry with their disbelief, or judge them. When we judge others, we are judged accordingly. Our sin affects our judgment, so we let God be the Judge, since His divine judgment is righteous and pure.
Our judgment of others, we didn’t learn from God. We learned that from the world, from religiosity, and from Satan.
Let us not ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We are to be ambassadors for Christ, conquerors through Him, standing in His glory through faith and faith alone. We are only victorious because of Him. That is where our humbleness comes from, or else our pride has stolen Jesus’s victory from us.
NO OTHER HOPE TO INVEST OURSELVES IN EXISTS
Let us not forget why we love, so as to remember how we love those whom we are to love. When we love our way, the world’s way, it’s conditional and situational. When we love in the Lord’s way, we seek nothing in return. Our motive is to bless, to shine a light onto the Truth of Jesus Christ as Lord, and to spread the hope that Jesus gives us in His resurrection. There is no other hope to be had in this world.
Through evangelizing, we are to spread the hope of Christ with love, grace, Truth, and to do so patiently, but compellingly.
REFLECTING GOD’S LOVE
Be not a hearer of the Good News, be a doer (James 1:22-25). Be not a hypocrite, but love and live according to the love of God, otherwise our lives do not reflect our love of God. For if we have not love, we know not God. For God is love (1 John 4:8).
ALL BELIEVERS ARE VESSELS FOR CHRIST
How can we bless someone today? How can we spread the Gospel message to those with ears to hear, and eyes to see (Matthew 13: 9-16)? How can our love look like Jesus today? Let’s ask Him to move in us, to speak through us, and to use us as vessels for the living Christ. He dwells in those who have opened the door so that we can be with Him, and He with us (Revelation 3:20). Our lives are short, and time is running out. The enemy is on the move, therefore we don’t have any excuses to not be the church in a world and a society that is growing destitute, spiritually.
Let God do what only He can, and may He use us to the glory of His will.
Praise you Jesus, we pray this all in Your holy name. Amen!
Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash
