Our Salvation Is A "Done Deal" ! (Like It Or Not)

 

If this doesn't slay every particle of "Self-Righteousness" in you, something is off kilter with your "Scholarly Theology" !
Here is the most succinct description of Truth you'll ever see.
Thank you for the "Good News" with no "ifs, ands, or buts", my brother ! I fully concur.

A Confession- By Ted Brason

WARNING: MATERIAL MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO THE RELIGIOUS MINDED

To all those who have judged and labeled me, I have a confession to make. I am here to confess the truth about who I really am. But before you can understand who I am, you must first know who I am NOT. The truth is – my identity is NOT the sum of my actions. It is not based on what I’ve done or haven’t done. My identity is solely based on what God has already said about me in Christ Jesus. My identity is based on the Truth, not the facts. The Truth always overrides the facts. Though the facts may change, nothing I say or do could ever change the truth.

One of the most important truths I have ever learned is that actions don’t determine identity, rather, identity precedes actions. What you know to be true about yourself will always determine how you act (“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”). Identity is the basis from which all your actions flow. Every wrong or sinful action can be directly traced to a false identity – a lie you believed concerning yourself. I am here to confess that I have been living most of my life out of a false identity. I have been living a lie, and consequently my behavior and actions have been inconsistent with who I am called and created to be.

But that is not my only confession. I have another confession that is greater and more important than any other confession. This confession has nothing to do with sin and everything to do with my innocence. I am here to confess that I am not a sinner, I am a saint. I am a new creation. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. This is my new identity. This is the real me. I am holy, blameless, innocent, pure, lovely, glorious, perfect and beautiful. I am beloved son of God. I am His treasure. I am His love-dream. And that is just the beginning. I will never be able to attain this righteousness through my own actions or behavior, so why bother trying? My focus is not on what I need to do or change but on what He has already done for me. My perfection is complete in Christ.

Any judgment, label, or opinion that you have of me that does not line with what God says about me in Jesus Christ is a lie and I reject it. I refuse to submit once again to a false identity. I refuse to give in to condemnation. I refuse to believe any opinion, including my own, that does not line up with what God says about me. In fact, identifying me and labeling me by my sins and mistakes can actually help to re-empower that very sin in my life (that is, if I chose to accept it). I sure wouldn’t want to be that stumbling block. We are called not to condemn each other, but to confirm each other’s identity in Christ. As Jonathan Welton says, “Sin is not the focus; reminding people of their true identity in Christ is the true focus.

When God looks at me He doesn’t see sin, ever. He only sees righteousness. He only sees His image. He only sees Christ. (One of the definitions of ‘righteousness’ is two parties finding likeness in each other) Even when I mess up, God still sees me according to my identity. If you want to see from His perspective you have to see me as He sees me. There is no other option or opinion. (“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.” 2 Cor 5:15)

I refuse to wear the cloak of guilt and shame that many have tried to clothe me in. In my new identity there is no room for the tattered and dirty clothes of guilt, embarrassment, humiliation, regret, or shame. (If you have problems with that take it up with my Father.) I now wear the cloak of His love. I am clothed in Christ. Everything that the Father has said about Christ, he now says about me! If you deny or reject me, you deny or reject Christ! (“As you have done to the least of these, you have done to me.”)

I may be in a physical prison, but I am freer than I have ever been. I am living daily in the freedom of my identity as God’s son! I now live under the perfect law of liberty where I am free to be myself. And there is nothing wrong with me, because there is nothing wrong with the image and likeness of God! (As Paul said, “I am aware of nothing against me.”) I am free to enjoy uninterrupted fellowship and intimacy with the Father. This is true Freedom – all else is just an illusion. 

Amen