Remove the Obstacles
In order to see things clearly, you have to remove the obstacles.
In the middle of New York City, finding the horizon is impossible. Your view is blocked by people, cars, buses and buildings. In the ocean, however, those obstacles are removed, and you can easily see the horizon line. Mariners will tell you that at sea level on a good day, your line of sight is limited to about seven miles. Conceivably, if you stood on the bow of a vessel and looked to the left, you would see about seven miles, and looked to the right see a different seven. There you are, midpoint on an imaginary line that is approximately 14 miles long. It looks like infinity but it is not, it is just 14 miles.
Think on this. The Lord has removed our transgressions “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). Why? Because our Lord is “compassionate and gracious” and that His love for us is “so great” (Psalm 103). If I were to start motoring east in a “Miami Vice” ocean speedboat with unlimited gas, I would never see my sins, no matter how far or fast I went. That is how far my (and your) disobedience from God has been taken.
All too often I still hear people say, ‘I’m just a sinner saved by grace”. Although that is a nice sentiment, it is an old identity absolutely misapplied. When Christ died for all our sins, “once for all’, past present and future, our sins were removed from us.
Now, as “blood bought”, Bible believing, born again Christians, we are “saints” that still sin (Ephesians. 1:1, Cor. 1:2, Cor. 6:11). Our progressive walk towards Christ won’t be perfected until we join Him and are “complete in Him” (Col. 2: 9-10), but until that time we don’t need to keep reminding ourselves of our failures.
The Bible says that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is” (Prov. 23:7) and we want our actions to evolve from a proper identity of being a “saint” rather than as a “sinner”. In fact, the Father chooses to look at us through the righteousness of Christ and puts a period at the end of the sentence by declaring us FREE of condemnation (Rom. 8:1) in Christ.
What are we supposed to do with that?
How does that knowledge change us?
Can we remove the “obstacles” and see our identity in Christ as God sees it?
Here is a novel idea . . . Why don’t we respond in love to His love? Properly identified as a “saint”, we respond from a heart of appreciation and gratitude. As a “sinner” we respond from guilt, shame and a never ending hamster wheel of not being good enough.
You have the ability to choose whichever identity you want, but why not choose what the Bible ALREADY says about you?
In love,
Bro. Mike
Mike Bradberry
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