new glasses

Posted: November 23rd, 2009 | Author: Serena Woods | Filed under: God, life | 14 Comments »

Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. -Ephesians 1:4-5

God planned for Jesus to die for our sins before He created the world. If the scripture is true, then that means God planned to save us from sin before the first sin was committed. If he planned for our rescue before the object of rescue breathed the first breath, then He knew about our sin before He created us. Not only did He know about it, He wrote it down.

Even before I was born, you had written in your book everything I would do. -Psalm 139:16

If He wrote our stories out, then He wrote about our failures, too.

One of the biggest mistakes we make when trying to understand the mysteries of God and the way He works is when we don’t look at the information with Jesus as our vantage point. We tend to look at things from the view point of sin. When sin is your filter, then you ask the wrong questions.

The difference between asking, ‘Did God, then, plan for sin?’ and ‘Did God plan for Jesus?’ is perspective. Nothing makes sense when you are using sin as your glasses. You have to start with Jesus and let the rest fall in line behind Him. Jesus falls behind no one and no thing.

Jesus was not an afterthought.

God does not respond to what we do. God does not learn, if He did, then who is He learning from and why are we not worshipping that entity?

God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. -Romans 3:28

We have to study the scripture for ourselves. We like to listen to others teach and then decide whether or not we agree based on our existing beliefs. We go to church, read the Bible, have religious conversations with what we want to hear already in mind. We’re so busy defending our beliefs that we don’t leave room for learning.

If God planned for Jesus, then He did plan for sin: Jesus. It starts with the Son, the rest follows behind. If you can’t grasp that, then you can’t grasp what Ephesians 1 says next. It’s a  collision of finite understanding colliding with infinite wisdom. We cannot understand the supernatural with natural reasoning. It’s a mistrust of scripture that leaves you like an incomplete puzzle.

…we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! -Ephesians 1:7

If God planned for Jesus, then the truth goes so much deeper than Him knowing about your failure before you fell. It goes beyond your birth, the birth of your parents or your parents’ parents. The truth about who you are to Him goes beyond you and there is nothing you can do about it. He chose you long before he formed the dirt under your feet. The truth of Jesus deflates the pretentious power of sin completely.

With this in mind, how can you not be free? Sin doesn’t have a say because it’s not new or unknown. When you find out that you have been ‘chosen from the foundation of the Earth’ to be ‘adopted’ through Jesus, then how can you think that what you do and don’t do plays any role whatsoever? If the decision was made before DNA was created, then how do you think you can change a bit of that?

It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. -Ephesians 1:11

Creation does not move the hand of the Creator. We do not ‘look back at the fingers that mold us‘ and question Him (Rom9:20). You cannot understand the truth if you are trying to understand through sin.

That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. -Romans 6:11

When you or another sins, do not base your decision for action on the sin.

Base your response on Jesus. It’s all about Him and we get to live in that gift.

What happens inside of you when you hear the truth? If you believe it, then you experience crazy freedom. The truth setting you free….

It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. -Ephesians 1:13


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