Confidence - Not Condemnation!

Lately I have detected among some of my fellow Christians that the monster of "COMDEMNATION" is rearing its ugly head again among God's children. Periodically this false concept becomes more prominent and insidious in the church. Let's get the truth straight once and for all. 
“There is therefore now no CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus ...“

Romans 8:1
As I have progressed along my road of spiritual understanding, there have been many questions answered for me about my relationship with God.
Early in my life, I came to see that Christ died for my sins to wipe away my past guilt and to give me a possible future in heaven. This was a good start and I worked hard within a Catholic environment to try to do what would keep God happy with me. In other words, I tried to earn my salvation. Sometimes I did a pretty fair job of it, but most of the time I fell flat on my face. And I developed a FEAR of failure. I loved God as I understood Him, but I seemed unable on a consistent basis to do the things that would please Him or to avoid the things that would displease Him.
I wanted to go to heaven. But I lived in continuing doubt that I would ever make it there. As I understood the situation in the church, every time I committed a “mortal” sin, I lost heaven. And in order to regain my heavenly future, I had to repent, confess my sin, and do penance for it.
And the Catholic catechism listed many “mortal” sins which I found awfully easy to do. Not only that, but there were many “good” things which a Christian was expected to do that I was not inclined to do.
Sins of commission! Sins of omission! How could anyone ever be good enough for heaven? What I had was CONDEMNATION - GUILT! Heaven was possible but, knowing me, it didn’t seem very probable! Now, mind you, I was not an ax-murderer or a rapist or a drug addict or a robber. I just was often not very Christ-like as I saw His human example. I was always fearful that I would die between my sin and my repentance. And as often as I slipped up, this left an awesome amount of potentially ruinous time to die.
Heaven was out there, but it just didn’t seem like I was likely to make it. I had faith in God. I had faith in Jesus Christ. I had faith in the whole spirit realm. BUT I JUST DID NOT HAVE FAITH IN MYSELF! Oh, I had faith in my ability to make a life for myself in the material world. I was a good student, a good learner. I had much materially going for me. But I knew there was more to life than that, and I questioned whether I was Christ-like enough to reach heaven.
I guess that this question of where am I going to end up after this life is common to every person on the planet. Some without much of a spiritual leaning can put the question aside and not be bugged by it -whatever will be will be. But for a person like myself who believes in God and wants to please Him, this doubt, this condemnation, this guilt was hard to live with.
I lived close to fifty years of my life like this until it was revealed to me that all of this was driving me to a greater realization of my relationship with and my need for God. Then a series of Bible verses began to come together for me into a new found realization of what salvation and “heaven” really consists of.
First, the opening verse quoted above - no condemnation when you are in Christ.
Then, II Corinth. 5:17 - if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.
Then, Galatians 2:20 - … Christ lives in me ...“
Then, Coloss. 1:27 - ... the mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Then, John 14:20 - you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you.”
Then, Hebrews 13:5 - I will never leave you or forsake you.”
By these and other verses, I came to see that “salvation” is a one-time thing that comes when you call out for a Savior and accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. You are instantly “saved”, made a new person, a new “species” containing the Trinity within you - having the divine nature of the Father - having a living union with Christ in your spirit - and having the Holy Spirit within your soul, your mind, to teach and to guide you in the things of the spirit.
And so I came to see that salvation is not a conditional situation given by God. Salvation is actually the FACT OF YOUR NEW BIRTH WITH CHRIST LIVING IN YOU. Salvation IS THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. When you are made a “new creation”, you are SAVED - and it is permanent - eternal -you have eternal life in union with Christ.
Christ died accepting the punishment, the condemnation, for your sins. That is why there is, therefore, now no condemnation for those in union with Christ, new creatures, “partakers of the divine nature”. You are joined with Christ. He will never leave you. You will live eternally with Christ. You are saved and will never be condemned.
The Bible speaks of having the “peace” of Christ. I believe that the greatest part of this peace is knowing that you are eternally saved and eternally a member of God’s Family; you are God’s child. There can be no greater peace than this and until you resolve this question of “Am I going to make it to heaven or not?”, there can be no real peace. Guilt or frustration over what you do or what you don’t do will always prevail.
Now I know what many will say. “You mean that it doesn’t matter how bad you act after conversion? You can commit any sin you want and you will still go to heaven? Why, that can’t be! That is a license to sin!”Well it is true that by the new birth, you will ALWAYS be a child of God and will NEVER suffer eternal punishment. But, as a “child”, you will receive “correction”. We need to talk about the difference between punishment and correction.
The confusion of the two concepts of punishment and correction probably comes from our experiences with well-meaning but fallible human parents, who often disciplined us in love, but also sometimes punished us in frustration and anger. We then project those characteristics upon God, and assume that He acts the same way. However, nothing could be farther from the truth.
PUNISHMENT is a penalty imposed on an offender for a crime or wrongdoing. It has retribution in view (paying someone back what he deserves) rather than correction. Punishment is looking backward to the offense, is impersonal and automatic, and its goal is the administration of justice. The simplest example of punishment in action is the policeman who pulls you over and gives you a ticket for speeding. You may not intend to speed. You may be just preoccupied and inattentive to the speed limit. You may always try to be a law-abiding citizen. You can explain all this to the police officer and he can be very sympathetic and understanding - as he writes out that ticket.
You see, the law officer isn’t interested in why you were speeding; he doesn’t care whether or not you did it on purpose; nor is he interested in hearing about all the other days that you did abide by the law. All he knows is that you broke the law, and here is your penalty. You will also notice that he did nothing to compliment the 50 other drivers he saw that were within the speed limit. He just sat there unresponsive, until there was a violation, then he got into action. That’s punishment.
CORRECTION or discipline, on the other hand, is totally different. CORRECTION is training that develops self-control, character and ability. It is looking forward to a beneficial result, is very personal, and individually applied. Punishment and correction sometimes “feel” the same to the one on the receiving end! But the sharp difference can be seen in both the attitude and the goal of the one doing it. After conversion and the new birth, God never deals with His children on the basis of punishment. All of the punishment of God for our sins was fully received by our Savior Jesus Christ on the cross. Now that we are children in the family of God, He deals with us only on the basis of correction.
The Bible states in no uncertain terms that Jesus Christ took on Himself all the punishment for the sins of all men when He died on the cross. In a very legal way, He stepped up after we were sentenced to die for our sins and agreed to die for us. All we had to do to go free was to accept the radical concept that someone could and would step forward to do this. We had to call on Christ for deliverance. This is what “conversion” is. This is what being “born again” is. This is what becoming a “new creature” IN CHRIST is!
But we do not lose our freedom of choice when Christ takes over our lives. Such freedom is basic to being a person. We will, at times, be externally influenced by Satan and the world to ignore the Christ life within us and try to go it by our own strength. We invariably fail, and sin. But Christ guides us back under His direction, we repent, and our sin is once again totally forgotten.
But one important fact about sin remains. And this fact alone should be enough to keep us from using our secure salvation as an excuse to sin. This fact is: SIN HAS PHYSICAL EFFECTS – SHORT-TERMED OR LASTING - BUILT IN TO THE SIN ITSELF! When we sin, bad things happen. They may not be immediately observable, or they may be instantly seen. BUT SIN HURTS! Examples:
Sexual union with a partner other than your spouse in this day of AIDS can be fatal or at least disease producing. You don’t lose Christ when you sin sexually but you may gain a lifetime of pain.
Stealing and cheating, not to mention murder, can bring conviction at law and prison sentences. Christ does not leave you when you steal, but He may have to keep you company in jail.
One lie must usually be covered by another lie causing mental frustration and physical rejection by friends when discovered.
Coveting every good thing that you see others have can keep you broke. Credit card debt, nowadays, is often a physical penalty for sin.
In general, every sin has short term or long term mental stress attached to it. And mental stress HURTS! It might not show on the surface for many people, but hidden sleepless nights, bodily stress and even disease can come from emotional stress.
So even though we are saved and have a future eternity to live with God in heaven, WE ARE STILL HUMAN AND HAVE TO LIVE WITHIN HUMAN PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS! The physical effects of sin alone should be enough to make us avoid sin.
But there is even a more compelling reason why we not only should but CAN avoid sin as a child of God. The US Army says it so well: “BE all that you can BE!”
As I said, at the new birth we enter a union with the Trinity of God. God IS love. And that Love is within us, available to us. We are weak towards sin (acting independently from God), but by trusting in and depending on Jesus Christ to guide our every thought, word and deed, we are more than conquerors.
Sin loses its appeal when looked at through the spiritual eyes of Jesus.
So when you have made Jesus the Lord of your life, you are a new person, a Christ-person. Get rid of that sense of CONDEMNATION and develop a strong sense of CONFIDENCE in your salvation, in Who you are, in the PEACE of Christ.
THIS SENSE OF SECURE SALVATION CAN BE THE STEPPING STONE TO THAT “ABUNDANT LIFE” THAT JESUS SPOKE ABOUT!
[See also article "True and False Condemnation".  Click here.]

God lives under the bed

I envy Kevin. My brother, Kevin, thinks God lives under his bed. At least that's what I heard him say one night.

He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen,


'Are you there, God?' he said. 'Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed...'


I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room. Kevin's unique perspectives are often a source of amusement. But that night something else lingered long after the humor. I realized for the first time the very different world Kevin lives in.


He was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties during labor. Apart from his size (he's 6-foot-2), there are few ways in which he is an adult.


He reasons and communicates with the capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he always will. He will probably always believe that God lives under his bed, that Santa Claus is the one who fills the space under our tree every Christmas and that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them.


I remember wondering if Kevin realizes he is different. Is he ever dissatisfied with his monotonous life?


Up before dawn each day, off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to walk our cocker spaniel, return to eat his favorite macaroni-and-cheese for dinner, and later to bed.


The only variation in the entire scheme is laundry, when he hovers excitedly over the washing machine like a mother with her newborn child.


He does not seem dissatisfied.


He lopes out to the bus every morning at 7:05, eager for a day of simple work.


He wrings his hands excitedly while the water boils on the stove before dinner, and he stays up late twice a week to gather our dirty laundry for his next day's laundry chores.


And Saturdays - oh, the bliss of Saturdays! That's the day my Dad takes Kevin to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the planes land, and speculate loudly on the destination of each passenger inside. 'That one's goin' to Chi-car-go! ' Kevin shouts as he claps his hands.


His anticipation is so great he can hardly sleep on Friday nights.


And so goes his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips.


He doesn't know what it means to be discontent.


His life is simple.


He will never know the entanglements of wealth of power, and he does not care what brand of clothing he wears or what kind of food he eats.


His needs have always been met, and he never worries that one day they may not be.


His hands are diligent. Kevin is never so happy as when he is working.


When he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the carpet, his heart is completely in it.


He does not shrink from a job when it is begun, and he does not leave a job until it is finished. But when his tasks are done, Kevin knows how to relax.


He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others. His heart is pure.


He still believes everyone tells the truth, promises must be kept, and when you are wrong, you apologize instead of argue.


Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Kevin is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God.


Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to Christ, he comes as a child. Kevin seems to know God - to really be friends with Him in a way that is difficult for an 'educated' person to grasp. God seems like his closest companion..


In my moments of doubt and frustrations with my Christianity, I envy the security Kevin has in his simple faith.


It is then that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine knowledge that rises above my mortal questions.


It is then I realize that perhaps he is not the one with the handicap.


I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances - they all become disabilities when I do not trust them to God's care.


Who knows if Kevin comprehends things I can never learn? After all, he has spent his whole life in that kind of innocence, praying after dark and soaking up the goodness and love of God.


And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts, I'll realize that God heard the simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed.


Kevin won't be surprised at all!                                (Anonymous)


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A Lion's Tale

[Taken from the book, “Sheep Tales” – the Bible according to the animals who were there. By Ken Davis]

So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually rescue you!






Dandy lived in an old home – one with quite a history. Dandy’s home had been formed thousands of years earlier, when a river used to flow beneath the mountain. Over time, the churning motion of the water had cut a huge cavern beneath the surface of the earth. From there, the water hurried on through a vast underground river system. Eventually the river headed away in some other direction and disappeared, leaving a cave that had been dry for more time than any animal could remember.


Above the cave, erosion had washed the soil out of a huge group of interlocking boulders, leaving a ragged hole high in the ceiling. Except for a rock embedded near the entrance of the den, the floor of the cave was smooth. The walls extended upward and inward toward the shaft in the ceiling. And down at the bottom – well, that was the place the lions now called home.


The lions couldn’t reach the opening, but they enjoyed the light and fresh air that streamed in. Dandy’s great-great-grandfather had been one of the first lions to make the cave home. Years ago the king had sealed off all the exits except for the elevated opening where the river had entered the mountain. This was used as an entrance. There were many little passages that led back into the mountain, but the lions rarely ventured there. Over the years the kings had used the cave for two purposes: as a kind of royal zoo, and as a place to dispose of garbage. On the night the man named Daniel came, it had been Dandy’s home for three years.


Every day just before noon, the sun would stream through the shaft high in the ceiling. It created a spotlight of warmth that would move slowly across the floor as the day grew older. The lions often fought for the privilege of lying in that wonderful brightness. Not only did they relish the warmth, but they also knew that late in the afternoon, when the sunlight touched the smooth stone embedded near the entrance, it would be feeding time. The men from the palace would appear with dinner. It was a first-come, first-serve arrangement. A lion had to be quick to eat.


When the lions heard the sound of voices, the smell of men would begin to filter into the den. The roar of the lions would shake the walls as they fought for position in the patch of light and waited for the food to fall from above. Usually it was leftovers from the palace tables. Sometimes it was a dead or a sickly sheep that men considered unfit for their table. On very rare occasions the meal was even a man! The man might be someone who had attacked the nephew of the king or had broken some law. It didn’t matter to the lions whether it was beast or man, dead or alive; whatever entered the den was quickly ripped apart before it touched the floor.


By the time the lions finished fighting over the scraps, the sun had usually moved low enough so that only a sliver of light remained on the floor, then disappeared altogether. For the rest of the evening, the den would be filled with a softening glow until finally darkness claimed the cave. Dandy hated darkness. It was during those dark nights that he most longed for freedom.


It was on one of those nights when a great disk of light shone in the sky that something happened that Dandy would never forget.


It was a Sunday, Dandy remembered, because on Sundays the lions usually got ribs. He was awakened out of a sound sleep by the murmur of voices. Someone was coming. The light streaming through the hole in the ceiling was brighter than Dandy had ever seen it before. He rushed to the spot where it illuminated the floor. Was it feeding time already?


Still half asleep, Dandy’s brain scrambled to make sense out of the confusion. The other lions were just as bewildered as Dandy as they opened their sleepy eyes. They all charged toward the circle of light, their eyes fixed on the opening. The dust they kicked up took on an eerie glow as it boiled through the shaft of evening light. Dandy decided it couldn’t be feeding time; the lions were always fed in the daylight, never at night when the special light appeared.


Still, snarling eagerly, Dandy joined the others. Every eye was fixed on the entrance where the shapes of three men appeared out of the darkness. Two of them where pushing and pulling a taller man who walked between them. With an outburst of cursing and laughter, they shoved the taller man through the opening. Dinner would be tasty tonight! Every lion sprang forward as the flailing body fell into the den. These were ribs as fresh as they come.


Dandy was the first to reach the man. He opened his jaws for the first delicious bite – but he couldn’t close them. Somehow Dandy’s jaws were stuck, wide open.


Although the man lay just inches from Dandy’s nose, he couldn’t touch him. He lashed out to drag the man toward him, but his claws wouldn’t work properly. His paws floundered in thin air as though he were a harmless kitten batting at a ball of string.


Dandy began to tremble with fear and embarrassment. The other lions were watching. He would be teased mercilessly for this. He lunged again, but this time his mouth, which had finally snapped shut, wouldn’t open at all! His growls were turned into a deep, throaty hum. Dandy slunk away to a corner of the cave in humiliation. What could be worse than a humming lion?


The meal lay right in the center of the circle of soft light. He was curled into a ball, his hands shielding his head. Dandy glanced around curiously. Amazingly enough, not one of the other lions was tearing at the man either. In his entire life he had never seen anything that had entered the den last more than a few seconds. Something very strange was going on.


Sitting beside Dandy was his scared and scraggly friend, Leopold, the bully of the den. This old warrior would often wait for the other lions to do the killing for him, then seize the parts he wanted. Tonight his eyes were fixed on the meal that lay before him and his mouth was watering. He cocked his head to one side as he watched the man slowly uncurl. The lions’ dinner was very cautiously lowering his arms to take a look around.


Leopold’s eyes narrowed to slits and his ears lay flat against his head. But rather than leaping, the old lion could only twitch and slobber. A chuckle escaped from Dandy’s throat. He couldn’t help himself – Here was Leopold the killer lion, the terror of the den, helplessly drooling all over himself. The hunger in his eyes was plain to see, but there was also a look of confusion and apprehension. Dandy didn’t dare say anything, for fear that it would come out as a hum again, so he nudged Tawny, the lioness standing next to him.


As Dandy and Tawny chuckled together, the enraged Leopold leaped forward and with a mighty swipe of his paw sent Dandy sprawling across the den. “What are you laughing at?” he snarled. “Tear an arm from this man and bring it to me.”


Dandy nodded and crept toward the man. Leopold was in no mood not to be taken seriously. But he discovered, to his surprise, that the man was now smiling – another thing the lions had never seen an evening meal do; he was kneeling with his uplifted face bathed in the light and his arms lifted toward the place where the light came from.


Something else was odd: No matter how hard Dandy tried, he could not break into that patch of brightness. Every time the tip of his nose touched the light, he quickly lost the ability to move. Then he noticed that one of the man’s hands had lowered slightly and was sticking out of the shaft of light. This was an opportunity. Dandy curled his lips into a snarl and lunged. He could take hold of the arm with his teeth and drag the man out of the light – and the lions would finally be able to enjoy a gourmet dinner. Dandy might even be hailed as a hero.


What happened next haunted Dandy for the rest of his life. He lunged forward with a roar – and started licking the man’s hand. When Dandy’s rough tongue touched the man’s hand, the man jerked it back so fast that he fell over backward.


Dandy was mortified. His friend Tawny thought this was the funniest thing she had ever seen. “If you can’t eat ‘em, lick ‘em,” she roared as she rolled over on her back. Dandy sulked, He was hungry, but he was beginning to wonder if this particular meal was worth the trouble.


He looked over his shoulder, expecting Leopold to tear him to pieces for his failure. But Leopold had other problems – he was still drooling like an idiot. What was going on here? Every few minutes another lion would try to attack the man. As long as they were still within the den’s gloom, the lions had that fierce, hungry look that terrifies all other animals. But once they reached the light, they would slink away in fear or suddenly lose interest.


Perhaps the man’s smell would provide a clue to what was happening, thought Dandy. Maybe he was poisonous. Dandy had just stretched his neck out for a good sniff when the man began to do something else meals never did: He began to sing.


The lions fell all over each other as they scrambled back, trying to get away from the strange sound. Dandy had never heard singing before, only screaming.


The man was standing now, with his arms still thrust high above him, and he was singing at the top of his lungs. And he still looked delicious.


Leopold didn’t much care for music. He’d had enough. He pinned Dandy against the wall and growled, “Kill him or I’ll kill you!”


“Kill him yourself,” Dandy heard himself saying, surprised at his own foolish courage. He had never stood up to Leopold before. For a brief second, Leopold looked at him as though he were deciding where to sink his fangs. Then he turned and walked toward the back of the cave, growling orders for everyone to follow him. In the darkest corner of the den, the lions huddled and argued over what strange power could be keeping them from enjoying the meal that stood there singing before them.


Finally Raja, the oldest and wisest of the lions, spoke. He pointed out that each lion who tried to destroy the man lost his or her power at the point of entering the ray of light. The light, Raja argued, must be what was protecting the man. There were low growls of agreement. A plan began to form. In a few hours, the special night-light would vanish, as it always did, and with it would go the strange power that protected the man. When the light disappeared, the entire pride would dine in style. Just the thought of it caused Leopold to begin slobbering again.


The lions lay down to wait. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. As Dandy lay there he wondered why the special light had not moved. One by one the lions dozed off. But the man seemed to be talking to someone in the sky above him, where the light was coming from. Maybe he was talking to the light. It still hadn’t moved when Dandy finally closed his eyes.


He was startled from a deep sleep by Tawny’s cry. Her neck was stretched upward and her eyes were wide with fear. Soon all the lions were awake, and their eyes followed her gaze.


High up in the cave, sitting in a crevice, was a beautiful creature of light. From this creature there shone a wonderful light that streaked down and bathed the man in a protective glow even more radiant than the light of the sun.


A soft sense of peace filled the den, and suddenly, amazingly, no one was hungry anymore. Dandy looked around and was surprised to see all his friends lying down; many had gone back to sleep. Then he saw the most amazing sight of all. Leopold and Boris had moved into the circle of light and were lying down right beside the man. Then the man smiled and sat down by the lions. His lips moved in a silent prayer as he reached out and stroked Leopold’s mane. The man’s hand was still buried in the coarse hair when he too fell asleep. That’s the way the kings’ guards found them in the morning.






At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”


Daniel answered, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.”


The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because HE HAD TRUSTED IN HIS GOD.


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