I had planned on reading much of Romans 8 today, but I stopped on Romans 8:1 and found that I needed to park there for a while. Maybe a long while.
Paul jsut spent the last two chapters explaining that because of Jesus’ death and our participation in it through our baptism, we are free from the law and sin. We are subject to neither anymore, because of Jesus. After establishing those comes the therefore:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Note that he does not say no guilt, oh we are guilty as all get out, but – because of Jesus – there is no condemnation. I’m convinced that I don’t get this. I don’t fully comprehend all that Jesus has accomplished in me. I suspect most of us don’t. No condemnation. Not some, not just a little, none.
I spend far too much of my life wondering what people think of me. It’s somehow ingrained in my being. I wonder if I’ve let you down, if I’ve offended you, in fact, I pretty much assume that, absence of you actually saying that I’ve done good, that I screwed up and you’re mad at or disappointed with me. Silence = condemnation as far as my messed up psyche is concerned. Any negative feeling about anything (the weather, your job, traffic, etc.) – it’s somehow my responsibility.
That’s a whole ‘nother topic, but here, Paul says there is no condemnation for me. God isn’t disappointed, he isn’t checking off the many ways I’ve fallen short, he isn’t considering what punishment might be suitable. He isn’t, as I certainly might, looking for an opportunity to teach me a lesson.
Wow.
So, why then the long face or furrowed brow? Why, rather, aren’t we dancing in the streets? Giggling with joy, foolish with this understanding? Because we forget who He is and the work He has done. We forget just how marvelous, improbable – no, impossible – and complete this transformation He has made in us is.
We should be doing pirouettes on our desks, dancing in the rain and singing at the top of our lungs.
Stop for a minute and contemplate the weight and the buoyancy of this one little verse, a single sentence, 13 little words:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Let it bring the kind of smile to your face that will make folks wonder what’s gotten into you.
And then tell them.
“Why, rather, aren’t we dancing in the streets?”
I think for many of us it is not sin that has us down but the trials of life. Many of us have found that the joy of James 1:2 is a difficult joy as our faith is tested.
That said.. I so agree that the is now no more condemnation.. praise the Lord!
Christ came to free you of those feelings. Why deny God what He wants most for your life…to free you from those feelings of guilt. Guilt is from sin. We are not guilty. NO CONDEMNATION is powerful, no doubt, that IS Christ. Christ is who God sees, not our sin. When we are so focused on our sin and are perpetually self aware of how sinful we are, then we deny the will of God for our own emotional pleasures and indulgences.
The trials of life should bring us joy as instructed in the scripture. When we let the hard times in our life rob our joy, then we disobey the will of God and are being more observant of ourselves than we are of God’s needs.
But God love us all, most times all we can do is our best, and let Christ overcome the slack. Life is hard, the challenge is to not let those feelings overcome our faith.
I smile a lot at work even at 6 am. Because I know who made my day. I know that if He should take my day away I’d be free.
Thanks for the comments folks.
Certainly, for some, this reality is harder for some to see through the fog of their present reality. Hopefully, though, understanding it makes the fog more bearable.