You Are Free From Condemnation
I didn’t really want to be out only 6 hours before my alarm was set to go off. During our church planting season, Sunday morning started early for me and was filled with multiple duties.
But it was a Saturday night and my son wanted to hang out with a friend. I agreed that he could.
I was about a minute away from arriving at the location to pick him up when my phone rang. My wife called to say that he had gotten a ride home but forgot to text me to let me know his plans had changed.
Good thing I had a 20-minute drive home!
As I drove home, I chose to forgive my son because we are commanded to “be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). I prayed, “Lord Jesus, I choose to forgive my son for not letting me know he had gotten a ride home, because it made me feel disregarded, forgotten, and taken for granted.” Of course, I was angry, but that was a secondary emotion to these primary feelings. Once I forgave him, the anger dissipated over the rest of the drive home.
Frankly, I was glad for those minutes alone in the car to process my emotions. When I got home and he apologized for not letting me know, I was able to receive his apology with grace and extend forgiveness in that moment. There was nothing hindering reconciliation of our relationship.
Aren’t you glad our Father God does not need 20 minutes to process His emotions when we sin?
That night drove home God’s truth that, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2, NIV).
Can you imagine the difference if I had refused to forgive him, harbored my anger until I arrived home, and made sure he knew my judgment on the matter!? (By the way, the words ‘judgment’ and ‘condemnation’ are closely related). If I had refused to forgive him and instead brought condemnation, my son would have felt rejection, a distance in the relationship. It would have either caused him to withdraw from our relationship or somehow try to make it up to me in order to feel secure again.
Friends, Jesus took all judgment for our sins! There is none left for us to pay. There is absolutely nothing standing in the way of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Even moments after you sin (and even during your sin), He is not condemning you because you are in Christ and Christ is in you.
This is such a critical point for us to understand. If we believe our own thinking or the enemy’s accusations that we’re condemned by God, we will either withdraw from the relationship or seek to make it up to Him so we can be secure in the relationship again. But this is works-based righteousness! Not only is it refusing to live by faith, but it is effectively cutting us off from the power of the Holy Spirit in our moment of greatest need. It causes us to rely on our own strength or ability to get out of the mess of our sin. Impossible!
We are to trust by faith, over and above our feelings, thoughts or actions, that what God says is true… “there is therefore, now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” It is only upon that basis that we can “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, NIV).
When we are tempted and give in to sin, remember Paul’s words: “We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? …rather, offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:2, 13b-14 NIV).
Overcoming sin habits and patterns begins with knowing we are free from condemnation.
Dear Saints, we have to fully believe in the accomplished work of Christ, count on His mercy and grace secured at the cross, and approach His throne with confidence knowing He will help us. God desires for you and I to walk closely with Him, relying on His power to deliver us from sin and bring us into the fullness of life Christ said He came to give (John 10:10).
So don’t wallow in condemnation!