I have always been struck by the importance of saying "Yes" to life, "Yes" to God. What struck me in John's words is that it beautifully captures God's "Yes" to us, which in turn enables us to say "Yes" to God, to those around us and all that comes our way.
It is these two Yeses that I hope to write about in this blog.
Living without Condemnation
God sent his Son to bring us forgiveness, so that we can live our lives here on earth without condemnation (John 3:16-18; 5:24; Rom 8:1). Since we are forgiven we are free from the crippling fear of condemnation by Him, free too from obsessive desire to condemn those who have hurt us. We are free from Satan’s use of God’s law, to damn us in our hearts by recalling the evil things we have done, and to damn others in our minds by recalling the evil things they have done to us. We are also free from the fear of rejection by others and their disparagement of us. Our conscience is free from the taint of guilt and fear as well as the stain of unrighteous anger and toxic hatred. Since we have a clear conscience we are open to receive from God and to pass on to others what we receive from him. We are free to forgive just as we have been forgiven. We are free to love others as God loves us. We are free to live boldly and act confidently without anxiety about the future and what may hold for us. We are free to live fearlessly no matter what happens to us. For if God is for us, if he accepts and loves us, no one can ever be against us and nothing can ever separate us from the love that he has lavished on us in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:31-39). We may therefore sing with Robin Mann:
- We’re free from our sin and we’re free from our past,
- free from the chains of the past;
- free to be lovers and givers and friends,
- free to be people at last.
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