If “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free,” then why are so many Christians still in bondage to old response patterns and addictions?
If we know that God loves us and can point to several verses in scripture that tell us how God feels about us, why do so many Christians continue to go through life feeling unlovable?
If we know that Christ has paid the price for our sins and has forgiven us, why do so many Christians still carry shame over things that happened five, ten, even forty years ago?
How is that the Christian couple that sits next to you in church or attends your small group, projects that they have it all together including a healthy, happy marriage, yet end up divorcing?
And finally, why is it that churches all over our county are packed out with Christians, or “little Christs,” yet our culture remains unaffected?
The answer is that many Christians have “asked Christ into their lives,” but don’t know “Christ as Life.” Many received forgiveness and assurance of eternal life, but don’t realize that Christ is, and has always been, living the eternal life, and by faith we have simply stepped into it.
Many Christians have gotten saved, but have never understood the extent of the work of the Cross in their lives and the reality of who they are in Christ.
Many have called themselves followers of Christ, yet have not understood that a disciple is an apprentice who is learning to do what their master or teacher does.
Every one of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross now have two competing realities and influences: the reality of our old flesh and the reality of our new Spirit, that of Christ in us. However, we only have one heart, one identity, one core, and it is no longer “desperately wicked.” Jesus fulfilled what was promised in Ezekiel when He said through the prophet, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezek. 36:26-27)
That changed everything! We are truly new creations! The problem is we are still painfully aware of our flesh, and our minds have not been retooled to think consistently with what is now true about us. The truth is that “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Have you stopped to ponder the magnitude of the reality expressed in this verse? The work of Christ on the Cross was so utterly powerful that, even on our worst days of seeing the flesh at work, we can stand in the presence of God and be as pure and holy and as good… as He is. It will blow your mind if you think about it, but it’s true.
Whether it’s through one-one-discipleship counseling, Life -Coaching, facilitating the Ultimate Journey, or teaching and speaking at a conference or retreat, Grace to Glory seeks to point people to grace and who they are in Christ and to walk with them into a life of increasing glory.
