God’s very own

We talked last week about how God sees us as flawless and blameless. You may be thinking, but how? I am such a mess. You are right. Outside of Jesus you are a mess. That is why it is important that we choose to be in Christ. It is a decision. The hard work was done on the cross, we just need to decide, “I am done being in the world. I want to be in Christ and do things God’s way.” It’s a choice to walk away from your old way of doing things and embracing Christ’s way of doing things.

What does the Bible say about being “in Christ”? We talked about 2 Corinthians 5:17 which says, “Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new person. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.” Galatians 2:20 says it this way, “My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one!  My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, dispensing his life into mine!”

So it is clear that our old self is gone, put away, buried in the past. Our old self is not part of our present or our future. So why do we allow ourselves to approach God on the basis of our past mistakes which were buried with Christ? We are fresh and new and this new life we live, we live it in Christ. We are so in Christ that we no longer live. We died with Him and were buried with Him. That’s how God sees our old selves. As dead and buried with Christ. When He rose again, we rose with Him but not as our old selves. We were made new in Him. This life we are living now, since the day we gave our hearts to Jesus, it is lived in Christ and with Christ in us.

Romans 8:17 says, “And since we are his true children, we qualify to share all his treasures, for indeed, we are heirs of God himself. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that he is and all that he has. We will experience being co-glorified with him provided that we accept his sufferings as our own.”

Nothing could be clearer about how Papa God sees us. He sees us as His true children. As His direct heirs and because we have been joined with Christ, we stand to inherit all that Papa God has and is. Just how incredible is that? Is that a Father who sounds distant and mad or one who is so enamoured with His kids that He would give anything and everything for them? I pick the latter!

Romans 8:32-34 goes on to say, “For God has proved his love by giving us his greatest treasure, the gift of his Son. And since God freely offered him up as the sacrifice for us all,  he certainly won’t withhold from us anything else he has to give. Who then would dare to accuse those whom God has chosen in love to be his? God himself is the judge who has issued his final verdict over them—“Not guilty!” Who then is left to condemn us? Certainly not Jesus, the Anointed One! For he gave his life for us, and even more than that, he has conquered death and is now risen, exalted, and enthroned by God at his right hand. So how could he possibly condemn us since he is continually praying for our triumph?”

If the Bible is not the greatest love story every written I don’t know what is. I think it is far too difficult for our human minds to comprehend just how deep and wide and expansive Papa God’s love is for us. We have such an amazing heavenly Father who loves us beyond comprehension, and it has nothing to do with anything we did or didn’t do. It is all because of our faith in Jesus. The moment we believe in Jesus, we are in Christ and in Christ we are sons and daughters and heirs to all that Papa God has and is. Papa God’s very own children. That is who we are.  

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano