Reading Christian Books – Writing Christian Music
The Worst STD (Spiritually Transmitted Disease) You Can Have
On the one hand, the church has never seen the fall…On the other hand, the church is made up of very fallen people. Now that’s quite a paradox…God created a picture of His bride to show us all how He would love her despite her fallen nature…God could have divorced Israel and called it justice…But instead, the Lord chose to cherish her in the midst of her defilement. And in the end, God’s unconditional love wooed her back to Himself…Tragically, many believers relate to God out of fear and trepidation…It turns our love-filled Lord into a stranger and an outsider…run to the Lord when you sin, not from Him…distancing yourself from the Lord due to a guilt headache and a condemnation hangover hurts Him far more than the sin that created those feelings…Hiding from the Lord is a spiritually transmitted disease…
-Frank Viola (@frankviola), From Eternity to Here
We’ve talked about how God’s eternal purpose is to marry you. It is through this lens that you should view your sin. Why? Because he knows what we’re going through. He went through it. He knows that we’re diseased with sin. But like the numerous examples in the Bible when Jesus interacted with “sinners,” He is not condemning of you. Fear is not of God. That’s why you shouldn’t run away. You see, you’re sin was dealt with on the cross and He remembers it no more. You don’t have the right to guilt and condemnation.
Think about it. When you run, you are just positioning yourself in a false position. The truth about you is that you are seated with Him (Eph. 2:6). You are one with Him. Your spirit and His spirit are joined (I Jn. 3:9). Sinning doesn’t change that truth. So, running or hiding is simply posturing yourself based upon a lie. The lie that God doesn’t want to see or interact with you in your current state. The lie that you must go elsewhere, regroup and get over your sin or do something to get “cleaner” before embracing the Lord again.
Your Lord is the perfect brother, father, friend and lover that loves perfectly. He doesn’t change based upon our actions. He doesn’t want your relationship with Him to change either.
Your turn…what do you have to add? Questions? Learn anything new?
*The first post for this book is here. The next post is here.
About the author
Michael Fleming lives near Canton, Ohio with his wife Kristin. Michael is involved as a teacher with the Soul Care Center, a non-profit school in Canton that provides Christian counseling, teaching and coaching to the Stark County area. He also writes and records music for his pop alternative music project (also called 2nd man united) that can be heard in the sidebar of the site.
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