From childhood, I have been taught that there are moral laws and consequences to breaking those laws. If I broke a law, I was either punished or shamed. I developed an internal sense of right and wrong. I felt a real sense of shame if I violated my conscience.
Just for the fun of it
How I am going to pay
Look how dirty I am
How ashamed I am
My clothes need to be cleaned
I’ve created work for my mom
She will most certainly scream
She will be mad
I have been so bad
Since childhood, I felt more loved and better about myself if I was doing good and being good. I received praise and affirmation when I was good, when I achieved, and when I gave.
My concept of God followed a similar pattern. He was a king who dictated a moral code that I must obey. If I did not obey, I would be punished. I learned to feel good about myself if I obeyed a ridged set of rules and assumed I was right with God. If I had to confess a sin to God or to a fellow church member, I felt a strong sense of shame. I felt more loved if I was good and less loved if I was not.
I can climb a tree
Isn’t it grand
How I can stand
Way way up high
I feel like I can fly
Mommy look; Mommy see
I have been so good
I’ve done what I should
Aren’t I so grand
I will not fall
Look at me stand.
I was also taught that God forgives sinners, but that this forgiveness was not a license to sin more. So I would do my best not to sin. If I did, I would confess and try harder not to sin more. I knew I was forgiven, but I did not feel worthy nor accepted. I felt ashamed of my sin.
I was introduced to God as someone to be obeyed. If I obeyed God, I felt I would be more loved and accepted. Obedience came first, then love. I had it backwards.
There is no other way
If you fall
Upon Him you must call
He will forgive once more
Just humble yourself
Make yourself poor
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:7–8). We were God’s enemy and he gave his life for us. God desired a relationship with me. He did not demand that I change first. He made the first move. My sin separated me from him and made me his enemy. God’s justice demands death for sin. Sin does have a consequence. But instead of making me pay the penalty for my sin and keeping me from an intimate relationship with God, God himself paid the penalty. He loved me first. He freed me forever from the consequence of my sin. He does not demand that I now obey a rigid moral code. But he does ask that I love him and others with the same love that he has for me, which he gives me. His love is the motivation for good behavior but not to earn anything from him. His love in me is the power to love him and others as he loves me. His love in me is the guide to know how best to love. I am not called to obey a rigid law, but to obey a much higher law of love.
He, himself, has told me so
He has set me free
Sin no longer has power over me
There is no law I must obey
He has shown me a better way
Love as he loves me
Become what he is crafting me to be
Questions? Comments?
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