No Condemnation

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

                           Romans 8:1

Growing up, I felt like I was a pretty good kid—I enjoyed school, got good grades, rarely got in trouble, and I remember getting spanked only once when I was in kindergarten because I went into the street to see a frog that had gotten run over by a car (isn’t it funny how distinctly I can recall that memory but there are times that I can’t even remember why I walked into a room for? I know I cannot be the only one who experiences this…) My parents were kind and good people; my mother was a stay-at-home mother at least until I got into high school, and my dad was an officer in the Air Force who helped guide and develop my spiritual walk. My dad was more of the disciplinarian—ours was the quintessential “wait until your father comes home” type of house of the 1970s and maybe a bit later. That threat straightened me right up—not because I was afraid of any physical punishment—no, that was never necessary; no, it was because I didn’t want to disappoint him. Fear of disappointing him was a tremendous motivator in my desire to “fly right”.

Please don’t misunderstand and stare daggers at and give cold shoulders to my dad the next time he visits and comes to church with me—he never lectured me on how upset he was in me or told me how I would never live up to his expectations of me—on the contrary, he always told me how proud he was of me and how much he loved me. *I* was the one who didn’t want to cause him to lose faith in me, or to experience any angst because of something that I did or didn’t do. My fear of disappointing my dad was self-induced, and stayed with me for a while, eventually transitioning from my earthly father onto my heavenly Father.

You see, I know that we are all supposed participate in the Great Commission. The words of Jesus to “make disciples of all nations” weren’t just thrown out by our Lord as parting shot, afterthought, or suggestion—no, He was instructing the disciples and His followers (us) to be purposeful in sharing the gospel with the lost while we are out in this world. I just don’t do that enough (or at all on some days). There are others who seem to have absolutely no problem at all talking to everyone and anyone about Jesus. I am not a part of that camp. I have analyzed myself fifteen different ways to Sunday to find out why I don’t easily share His love—heck, I’ve even wondered if I’m truly His child, because if I was walking with the love of Jesus in my heart and living in in the depth of it, why in the world would I not want to share the gift with others so they could experience the same? Was I afraid of something—of how others might perceive me? I didn’t think so, but I couldn’t say so with certainty.

In my musings of this conundrum, I often thought of what it would be like if the Lord were to call me Home tomorrow, in full knowledge of what I didn’t do for Him. It’s a given I would be awestruck, not able to stand before His gaze, but would He even want to look upon me, the one to whom so much had been given, the one for whom He died and I couldn’t be bothered to share Christ’s message with others? Would I, the one without excuse, even be able to be before Him? Would His disappointment in me be palpable, deservedly crushing me in its heaviness?

I am almost embarrassed to say that while this concern was hugely real to me, it did not motivate me into immediate action. I justified my inaction to a degree, telling myself that we are all members of the body of Christ, and that others are more cut out for the sharing of the gospel with strangers, or that my spiritual gift leans more on the side of exhorting and mercy and less on the side of evangelism. I was not 100% convinced with my reasoning, though, and I visited the thoughts of disappointing Him regularly, feeling like a hypocrite whenever I communed with Him. Fear of disappointing Him was the price I begrudgingly paid for my inaction, and I accepted the exchange, forlornly resigned to hope that the Holy Spirit would work more diligently in me to get me to the proper mindset and obedience.

It wasn’t until I read Romans 8 again for the umpteenth time did I finally feel the weight of the burden begin to slip. You see, the realness of what Paul writes about in chapter 7 has always resonated with me—why do I do the things that I do not want to do and why do I not do the things that I know that I should do? (Paul expresses it better in Romans 7:15 “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”). I identify so with the intensity of the emotion he expresses in verse 24: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”. But there is the hope and declaration of goodness in verse 25: “ I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”

Romans 8:1 introduces a reinforcing thought to what we read in the last verses of chapter 7 with the use of the word “therefore”:  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”. Though I had read this verse many a time before, as Romans is one of my favorite books, and chapter 8 one of my most beloved, it was the assurance of the “no condemnation to those who are in Christ... who walk according to the Spirit” that unshackled me from the worry of disappointing Him. My mindset had been all wrong—my heavenly Father doesn’t look down at me with a disapproving stare, resigned to constant disappointment at what I don’t do for His kingdom. On the contrary—because of what Christ did on the cross for me, my Father looks down at me with an indescribable intensity of love! I am not a disappointment to Him. He loves me, despite the sins I have committed and despite the fact that He knows the ones I am going to commit. God is not conditioning His outpouring of love based on what I am doing or not doing. I am not a disappointment!

And my friend, neither are you, despite what you may think. Do not give into the lies of the enemy who will tell you otherwise. The Creator of the heavens and earth loves you more than you can ever imagine, knows you more intimately than any human possibly could, and delights in you. There is no condemnation to those of us who are in Christ, who are led by the Spirit. Bask in that thought and promise, for it is glorious!

Prayer Requests

·      For Mary Lou, Cheri Williams’ mom, who is recovering from a kidney infection and whose medications were causing her to faint. She is doing better, and we praise Him for the fact that Cheri was able to spend time with her on Sunday, when she was taken to the hospital

·      For those dealing with health issues, be they physical, emotional, or spiritual—if this describes you, dear one, know that you are being lifted up on prayer

·      For the impact of COVID worldwide—in India alone, 6 million people have been diagnosed

·      For us as the body of Christ to be of one accord and to support each other and lift each other up

The Lord and I are still working through my evangelism challenge, but it is with love, spiritual introspection and discipline that these conversations are happening. To God be the glory!

Quotes

“When I understand that everything happening to me is to make me more Christlike, it resolves a great deal of anxiety.”    –A. W. Tozer

“Child of God, you cost Christ too much for him to forget you.” -- Charles Spurgeon