I’ve been talking a lot lately about purity and holiness with my friends who find it difficult to believe that they could be considered such because of the lives that they led before they came to know Jesus and because of the ways that they struggle in their present lives. Indeed, this has been a hard thing to believe in my own life for the same reasons. Satan tells us that if we’ve done these impure things in our life,
then we can never be considered pure. This morning I was reading Ephesians and it really hit on what I’ve come to believe about this. Paul says in Ephesians 1:
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.
I love the reality that God chose us in Christ before creation to be holy and blameless in his sight. This is our true identity. This is what is “hidden with Christ in God” as Paul says in Colossians 3. Our sins and the sins that have been done to us are not who we are; they’re the grave cloths that get pulled off after we have been raised up with Christ. And all this is by the gracious will of God, not that we have pulled ourselves together and started doing the right things and then God decided we were worth saving. In Romans 5:8, Paul reminds us of this: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God knew the kinds of sins he’d be forgiving and the kinds of sins that we would struggle to be freed from as believers, and in love he chose us as his children according to his pleasure and will. It’s like he wanted to be our Dad and to help us on a path of freedom. And from when we first believed, he sealed us with his Holy Spirit and set us on a path of redemption from sin. Paul goes on in Ephesians 1:
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all his people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that can be invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
He really wants us to be rooted in our identity as holy, chosen people of God and to get—at a heart-level—the hope that this brings and the power over evil that is available to us in Christ. He then goes on further in chapter 2 to emphasize that “It’s by grace that we have been saved…, not by works…” And throughout Ephesians he’s stressing that the Gentiles, who have come out of a pagan, not very moral background, are one with the Jews and together form the body of Christ. God doesn’t see one as more holy than the other. And it’s only then, after the focus has been on who we are in Christ and “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” [3:18], that he begins to talk about how we should live our lives “worthy of the calling” we have received. And even here, it’s not about getting it right as much as letting go of “the old self” and putting on “the new self.” He wants us to change the way we think of ourselves. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light…” He’s saying that this is who you are, so live into it; be who you are in Christ. And in the end he challenges us to put on our armor, stand and fight with him against the forces of evil in this darkened world. And to fight for each other to be able to stand in the truth of this gospel.
I’ve gotten a lot of messages in my life about how I needed to get my act together and stop sinning and live the way I’m supposed to be living. The path that I’ve found myself on over the past 5 or so years is somewhat ironic to me. I’ve started letting go of trying to get it together and get it right. I’ve begun to believe that I have been given a good heart and my sin and my struggle is not who I am, but instead my identity is holy, loved, redeemed woman of God through Christ. And on this path, I actually find that my behaviors are changed. I’ve found myself responding differently to temptation in old areas of struggle. I’ve experienced a deeper peace and joy in the presence of God, instead of the old familiar shame and self-doubt. I still sin. I still falter in some of the old areas of weakness and shame. But I find it easier to repent, get up and hop back on the path of freedom and healing. |
