Stumped yet?
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People that wear white!
So I was thinking about the way the we are described specifically in Revelation, as dressed in white, spotless, without blemish or sin, blameless, the perfect bride of Christ. (Rev 3:5, 7:9, 14:3-5) And was thinking about the redemption of Christ in us, the sacrifice of our Lord crucified for our wickedness, who after three days rose victorious, champion of heaven and earth with the keys to death and hell. And that I am a new creation in Christ, that the old is gone and the new has come! (2 Cor 5:17) And I’ve been chewing on that for a while. Soo, if the righteousness of Christ is now mine, and if my transgressions are removed from me just as the east is from the west, which are two things, two “places” that cannot be united, that means that my sins are COMEPLETELY removed from me (Psalm 103:12). I’m a new creation. They have nothing to do with me, it’s as if I never violated myself, others, and God. Now mind you this righteousness was bought at a price and given to me, I didn’t earn it, and I still may have natural consequences for my past sins, but the greater truth here is that I am pardoned from my wrong doing and won’t be banished from God’s presence for it. I get off free. I get to be someone I didn’t used to be. Now here’s where the white really comes in. I get to wear white, be clean, and be perfect in righteousness by the blood of Christ (if I may be so bold to put into words something we clearly see in scripture but never say) and I don’t deserve it! I used to be a sinner! And I still sin! I’m found hashing out the same argument/train of thought that Paul does in the first 8 chapters of Romans. I hear a naysaying voice pipe up inside of me saying “Oh well great, what a pretty little system you’ve set up there for yourself. You hypocrite! Now you think you can go around sinning as much as you want because you can just be forgiven. You can dirty yourself beyond recognition, then just run to Daddy and have him clean you? Just so you can run off and do it all over again?” First of all let my answer somewhat offensively, Yes. That is the way it works, or at least that’s the way it can look from the outside. And it is Christ that cleans us, and we to have to run back and get our feet washed when we soil them (John 13:10) But I had a revelation thinking about this and remembering my friend Greg.
Greg is a buddy of mine at school. One day he came into the cafeteria wearing an all white designer sweater. It looked really slick. He walked up and I greeted him and thencomplimented his sweater. He thanked me and then I told him, I love white but usually don’t buy it because I get stuff on my white clothes, ruin them, and then I feel like kicking myself for the wasted money. “So be careful man” I told him with a wink and a smile. He retorted back saying “Ha! I will man, I don’t eat in this thing!” And then tonight thinking about it all it dawned on me. That nagging voice seeks to corrupt a good thing. That’s not the voice of wisdom, not at all. That’s the voice of condemnation. And if you’ve ever gotten through the first seven chapters of the biblical explanation of this concept in Romans and read verse 1 of chapter 8, you know that for those in Christ, condemnation doesn’t exist. So if God says there is none, and I hear it spoken to me…well you get it, I’m getting side tracked. So Greg, Oh yea, Greg didn’t want to get anything on his sweater. Maybe that sweater was given to him, given to him from someone he loves. Someone that works really hard to take care of the people he/she loves. If that’s the case, would that make greg feel differently about his sweater? would he take poorer care of it? In my mind, Greg only ceases to care about the sweater when he ceases to value it, and the person that got it for him. So just as with Christ, yes, if you don’t value the righteousness we get to wear because of Jesus, then you’ll trash it and think that it’s all about you, and if you wanna eat the spaghetti of sin as recklessly as you want, you will, and we’ll see that you value the pleasure of slurping the marinara covered noodles to your face more than you love your white sweater and the person that gave it to you. But someone who knows what a true gift the righteousness of Christ is, cherishes it. And if we ever do get something on it, God doesn’t toss it out and give us a new one, the sweater is a part of us, a part of our identity, us wearing it identifies us with the one who gave it to us, and it shows allegiance and love, like a cheerleader wearing her sweetheart’s letter jacket. When we get something on it, we are to do like David did and ask God to cleanse us, like only he can, and make it like it was when it was brand new all over again. There no “I scrubbed it with spray’n’wash but you can still kinda see it” NOOOOOO, “Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7. Whiter than SNOW! GOOOD STUFF! Praise be to God who can make us of a truer white than pure virgin snow, despite our past stains. This stuff is for real guys, this isn’t just nice stuff we sing in Hymns and hear about in sunday school. I’m talking addictions, sexual sin, greed, stealing. lying, rape, murder, molestations, violence, cannibalism, incest, bestiality, YOU NAME IT! THERE IS NO SIN THAT MAN CAN COMMIT (other than denying the Holy Spirit his rightful identity) THAT CAN NOT BE ERASED FROM YOUR RECORD WITH GOD AS IF IT WAS NEVER COMMITTED! Those things are wicked, but Christ died a real death to take the bullet for those. I know I need to wrestle with this more because I don’t yet believe it at the depth of my being like I have made it my goal to, and because I read some of those afore listed sins and think “there’s no redemption for that.” But that is the same doubting voice that also tells me that a girl, sold into the thai sex trade at age 7, rescued at age 18 can’t one day have a healthy and joyful marriage where she rejoices in the pure sexual relationship she can enjoy with her husband. Do I believe in a redeemer God or don’t I? If redemption is possible, it’s possible, period.
Lord free me from guilt and shame for things you died to free me from. Jesus teach me about your redemptive heart, I want to learn and know you make all things new. Thank you. Amen.
surely goodness and mercy 