God's Opinion of Us

Under the Waterfall writes........

My good friend and fellow blogger Dave N. has written a wonderful note on the loving acceptance of God, and how His opinion of us sets us free to live loved..and I wanted to share it here.  These thoughts have encouraged me so much, especially the idea of God praising us and being so well-pleased with us, and the idea of leaving behind old lying voices of shame and enjoying the freedom found in God's acceptance - freedom to be ourselves, to live life with joy, to accept ourselves and others!  Hope you all enjoy this note from Dave:

On God's Opinion of Us
by Dave N.

We just need to be forgetful people.  So many believers are consumed with past mistakes but Paul specifically says:

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, FORGETTING those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Paul says, "This one thing I DO....FORGETTING...."  This is a very important practice we should follow.  We are to forget what is past but never forget what manner of man/woman we are in Christ Jesus.  We are not to walk away from the Law of Liberty forgetting our glorious image we truly are (James 1:24) but we truly have died to the Mosaic Law.  The Mosaic Law will always point a finger to condemn but the Law of Liberty only speaks glorious freedom. 

When we focus on our sins is when are considered "blind" and have "forgotten" that we had been forgiven of past sins (2nd Peter 1:9).  So many believers are consumed with some sin of the past (5 minutes ago or 5 years ago).  This is why the author of Hebrews stated there is "no more conscience (remembrance) of sins" (Hebrews 10:2) because of the once for ALL (behold the Lamb of God which taketh AWAY the sin of the WORLD) sacrifice.  God remembers our sins and iniquities "no more" (Hebrews 10:17).  If God remembers no more then we are to "forget."  We are to forget what we were or what religion claimed we were and behold who we forever are as sin has no room for display in our thinking.  We are what He is and not what we do. 

"God has just been showing me this, how important it is not to pass judgment on myself (or others)"

This is where freedom truly lies. Romans 14:22:

"Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth." 

Paul said this about himself in 1st Corinthians 4:3:

"But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I JUDGE NOT mine own self."

Paul went on to share how the Lord judges in verse 4 but we know that there is no "condemnation" in Christ Jesus and that is why Paul said in verse 5 "...and then shall EVERY MAN have praise of God."

The glorious thing about the gospel of grace is that the verdict was already passed before you or I even committed a single act.  We are justified, sanctified, and washed.  The problem with behavioral modification teaching is that we are constantly looking for approval by our performance.  Every person who says, "I am a good person" is probably telling the truth but such a statement means that they are hoping that God will one day pass the same sentence upon them by their performance.  Performance oriented thinking leads that person to keep assessing themselves before God where they live in a state of condemnation (Oh God, I did that sin again). 

People live backward lives because of religion.  We do not perform to gain God's approval but we perform because of God's approval.  Even when we "think" we are huge failures is to know that we are always "accepted in the Beloved" (accepted = well pleasing).  We can be assured that when we are judged by the Lord that "we shall have praise of God."  Acceptance always precedes behavior.  Love always precedes behavior.  God loved us when we were sinners and Christ died when we were enemies.  We are that special to God.

Remember, we always sin but we are NEVER to associate them to ourselves as they can no longer define us.  People who worry over their sins or performance before God will be a slave to low self esteem.  God highly esteems us and that means that if we never do another good work for God is to know that we remain highly esteemed.  We are and always will be well pleasing to Him.  We shall have praise from God.  We are the trophies of His grace.  He is forever proud of us. 

It's sad that much of our lives are spent trying to gain approval of others.  I cannot tell you how many times I daydreamed making myself into something I was not as I would picture the world around me rolling out the red carpet.  I cannot tell you the freedom of forgetting those things which are behind (either good works or my sins) and simply living in the reality that I have all things in Christ. I no longer strive to gain the worlds approval. 

No believer has it better or worse than us as we all are complete in Christ.  I do not need the world to pat me on the back.  I do not need to esteem myself better before others more than I ought.  This is why pride goes before a self esteem fall. When we seek to live up to a certain worldly or religious standard then experiencing a emotional fall is to be expected.  This is why so many believers hate themselves and call themselves, "A good for nothing Christian."  This is why so many doubt their salvation because of the religious standards (law/bondage) they strive to follow and when they fail is when they experience an emotional fall that wears them out.  It even wears out the legalist who continually performs and seems to be doing a good job at maintaining his/her religious duties but inwardly they are burning out..

We cannot live up to religious or worldly standards or we will ultimately crash.  Depression is often due to failed expectations.  We live trying to be accepted but that acceptance is almost always based on appearance/performance.  It is when we see God's loving hands embracing us is when we can lovingly embrace ourselves and those around us.  We can embrace flaws.  We finally allow chaos to be a part of our lives as we can live without things being perfect.  We can finally relax and simply be ourselves.  We can take off the religious masks and be the very person we are.  We can live life loved. 

I am aware of my flaws but I no longer hold them against myself.  My poor self esteem was due to trying to live up to religious/worldly standards.  I now forget those things that are past and that includes my so-called righteousness as but dung for the excellency of Christ.  I now see myself robed in the excellency of Christ and am satisfied. 

The key to victory is throwing out those religious/worldly expectations and live free.. "Cast out the bondwoman and her son and live free!!!!"  Living free lies outside of religion, law, and this present world.  We cannot be bound to any of those things because they come with expectations/standards that follows with condemnation for failure.  The world, the law, and religion are critical and judgmental of themselves, people, and their environment that will affect us the same way if we follow.  We are not to be conformed to this world (world often refers to the religious system) but be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  Beholding our glorious image in Christ transforms us into that same glory (2nd Corinthians 3:18).

We are to follow Paul's advice and not care what people think of us.  Let's not judge ourselves.  The one thing that we are to do is forgetting what is past.  I like how the New Life Version translates 2nd Timothy 2:15:

"Do your best to know that God is pleased with you. Be as a workman who has nothing to be ashamed of. Teach the words of truth in the right way."

Do your best to know that God is pleased with you but performance, past behavior, or even people's assessment of you has no place in knowing whether or not God is pleased. 

Dave N.