Man upset over having spilled glass of milk

Freedom To Fail

#20 IN MY CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER JOURNEY THROUGH ROBERT MCGEE’S BEST-SELLING BOOK, THE SEARCH FOR SIGNIFICANCE. 

Man upset over having spilled glass of milk

How do wee begin to experience freedom from Satan’s lie: “Those who fail are unworthy of love and deserve to be punished.” We will be increasingly freed as we understand and apply the truth of propitiation in the context of loving and supportive relationships, where we can express ourselves honestly and receive both the warmth of affirmation and the challenge of God’s word.

The Bible indicates that satan accuses believers of being unworthy of God’s grace. It is his desire that we cower under the fear of punishment. Consider this passage from Revelation, the final book of the Bible:

“Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens,

It has come at last—
    salvation and power
and the Kingdom of our God,
    and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters
    has been thrown down to earth—
the one who accuses them
    before our God day and night.
And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb
    and by their testimony.
And they did not love their lives so much
    that they were afraid to die.”

Revelation 12:10-11

Only By Jesus’ Sacrificial Blood

How are we to overcome satan, the accuser, and experience our acceptance in Christ? According to this passage of scripture, there is only one way: by the sacrificial blood of Christ on the cross, the blood of the Lamb. to do this, we must first stop trying to overcome our feelings of condemnation and failure by penitent (self-punishing) actions. Defending ourselves or trying to pay for our sins by our actions leads only to a guilt-and-penance spiral because we can never do enough on our own to justify our own sins.

No matter how much we do to make up for our sin, we will continue to feel guilty and believe that we need to do more unless we resist satan, the accuser of the brethren (believers). This can only be accomplished because Christ’s blood has completely paid for our sins and delivered us from guilt. Second, we need to verbalize what the blood of Christ has done for us.

We are deeply loved, completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted, and complete in Christ!

We should not love our lives – the excitement, comfort, prestige, status, and so on) to the point of spiritual deadness. Love for the world and its pleasures renders us spiritually impotent. We must decide taht our minds are no longer the source of truth, and instead gain our knowledge, wisdom, and direction from the scriptures (teachings contained in the Holy Bible). There are two practical steps taht will help make these truths a reality in our lives:

  1. On one side of a 3×5 inch card, write the following: “Because of Christ and His redemption, I am completely forgiven and fully pleasing to God. I am totally accepted by God.”
  2. On the other side of the card, write the words of Romans 5:1 and Colossians 1:21-22.

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”

Romans 5:1

“This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”

Colossians 1:21-22

Carry this card with you for the next month. Every time you have a pause as you go through your day, look at it and remind yourself of what Christ has done for you. This exercise will help you develop a habit of reflecting on these life-giving truths. Think about how they apply to you personally. Thi swill have a profound effect in your life as your mind is slowly transformed by God’s word.

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