Monday, May 3, 2010

#170 What is condemnation, pt 2

(CONTINUED FROM PART ONE)

Our flaws make us feel guilty to ourselves, and often times we will condemn ourselves, since we know we are not perfect. Society does a very good job of condemning us anyway, why make it that much easier? But the verse in this chapter explains a powerful way to overcome that:

Verse 9: “And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me”.

Now I say again to you, as I need to often, that I am not some guy coming down the mountaintop, I am just a guy that loves video games, cartoons, graduated from college, but did time in prison. So I am sharing what I can in an attempt to help you get through a tough time, as one who has been THROUGH it.

So the verse says that God gives us grace, EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE FLAWS. In fact, God shows His strength when we DO have flaws. Why is that? Maybe its because when we put aside pride and man’s wisdom, and are in a position of seemingly defenselessness, then God can show His power.

When we are weak, God is strong on our behalf. And consider again what mercy is defined as…refraining from punishment or pain when the person is in YOUR power….

If I am in your power, I am defenseless…weak, to you. It also implies a sense of submission. You submit when you give up your defense, in hopes for mercy and grace. Paul is telling us that our flaws give us a ironic venue to God’s help, because it allows Him to help us, rather than us trying to think we can figure it out ourselves. Remember, Paul warned us about man’s wisdom, and not to put faith in it. This is because when we trust in man instead of God, we are then subject to that same law.

If you are willing to trust in man’s law completely, then you are also subject to the flaws of it. Even if you are guilty of something, and admit it, that is fine, even “honorable” in man’s eyes. That is cool. But spiritually, you have a greater right to appeal to God for grace and mercy, that He might be able to show His power in your weakness. Heaven knows we need to see more of God’s power than man’s anyway.

Consider that folks, its not like you are cooking up a lie to the courts. You ADMIT you messed up, and then you appeal to those courts for mercy, but you also run to the best lawyer in history…Jesus. If you are demonstrating remorse, whether carnal or spiritual, God can see your heart and know the truth. Remorse carries much spiritually because it also involves forgiveness, or the need to be forgiven.

Some folks carnally think this is up to the victim, and I will agree to some degree, but many people refuse to forgive, not realizing how dangerous this can be to them. Nobody can MAKE you forgive anybody, but understand that since YOU are not perfect by a LONG shot, God will not forgive you of your since when you ask, since you refused to do the same for someone else.

Remember, that which you do the least of His people, you have also done unto Him.

So we are slowly learning that condemnation, spiritually speaking, is strongly based on what God sees in you, not just what man thinks about you. To perfectly judge, you must first BE perfect.

I used an example of this before, but think about wisdom as if you went to the beach. Take a tablespoon with you, or one of those plastic spoons, and scoop up as much sand as you can. Now, take three fingers and pinch as much off that spoon as you can. The grains you hold between your fingers represent what you know as of this very moment. The grains you pinched, and the grains in that spoon represent what you will know your entire life. Now drop all those grains back to the ground…

Every grain on the beach represents what God knows….

Can you, in such limited wisdom, properly speak of the conditions of that beach, when you know so little? The same goes for people, so be cautious when you judge.

Because God knows all this, He also knows your flaws, or infirmities as Paul put it. And understand, at the time Paul was doing these things, and writing a lot of those scriptures, he was being persecuted based on laws as well. But personally he felt guilty of his own flaws, and was praying for God to remove them from him. But God reassured him that its ok, because God knew Paul’s heart, and would show His strength through Paul’s weakness.

Grace: Favor, goodwill, God’s loving mercy towards mankind.

Mercy: Refraining from inflicting punishment or pain on an offender or enemy (ect) who is in one’s power.

You could rewrite “grace” by saying, “God’s loving refraining from inflicting punishment on an offender towards mankind…who is in His power.”

I mean, when you think about it, if God is in absolute control, then all power is His. And His mercy to Paul was in fact based on the fact that Paul had flaws that, if God chose, He could punish Paul with. I mean, if Paul was perfect, there would be no need for mercy, right? You don’t give mercy to a perfect person, because they are without flaw. You give mercy and grace to a person that is NOT perfect…which includes us all.

In our weakness, we have a right to ask God for help. There is nothing wrong with admitting guilt if you messed up. But to admit it and hope for man’s mercy is making yourself subject to man’s flaws…and often times it fails.

Its like a lot of times I see in sports when an athlete messes up, the sports media is quick to pass judgment, and when asked what should that athlete do, they always like to say, “well, they need to hold a press conference and admit their guilt to the public, this is a forgiving country”.

Uh…don’t buy that folks.

Today we live on seeing the flaws of man. With “reality shows” and entertainment shows today, many are geared in showing the flaws of somebody else, rather than the good things. I used to watch Food Network a lot, now I rarely watch it because of the Challenge shows they now have. They used to be very good to watch, but now they are concentrating more on creating drama, rather than giving you a good product. More and more those Challenge shows are trying to create stress and drama to give the viewers a chance to see people fail. Its actually ironic because in the earlier shows they had several years ago, one of the judges told the other judges to always reward the effort. In her opinion (then), she said that it wasn’t fair to be too negative about a person’s work, because they are all professionals.

But now she is the most critical of the judges, and almost ALWAYS has something negative to say or criticize about. But apparently Food Network wants this, because drama brings ratings.

Society today is more judgmental than ever, and it plays a harsh role when you allow carnal condemnation to help you. True grace and mercy comes from the heart, which comes from God. Why then do you place your lot with the flesh when you can place it with God?

If you are on that edge, feeling guilty about what you did, but needing a miracle, you are right there on the edge of spiritual and carnal condemnation. And you also are making a choice in what you want to happen. If you put your trust in man’s wisdom, you put your trust in man’s condemnation. If you put your trust in God’s wisdom, you put your trust in God’s condemnation.

And what does it say about that in the Bible?

Check out Romans 7th and 8th Chapters.

Paul is making this pretty clear that good people are not perfect, as society seems to think. Even the best of us have flaws, and sometimes they can get the best of us. But he talks about the two sides of man, the carnal and the spiritual, which are indeed separate.

In the 7th chapter you see that he talks about his flaws; about the things he don’t want to do, compared to the things he wants to do. He admits in verse 15 “but what I hate, that I do”.

And then he gets really spiritual…he says that the things he hate is no longer him that does it, but the sin that dwells in him.

How silly is that? I mean, mankind believes that we are fully responsible for everything we do, so if we did something wrong, then WE are responsible, right?

Not according to the Bible.

Paul is saying that there are things he don’t like doing, but end up doing, and even there are things that he wants to do, but cannot do. He is telling us that when things like this happen, it can be the sin that is in us that compels us to do what we should not do. Verse 18 says “for I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not”.

No matter how good you try to be, in the flesh, we are ALWAYS subject to sin, this is why none of us can say we are perfect. This does not mean we are always doing wrong, it just means the flesh is very tempted by the sin in us. A good man or woman can fail, simply because they are not perfect, and that sin is in them just as it was in Paul.

Sports runs into this often. Tiger Woods, for awhile, was seen (wrongly) by the media as being the perfect role model. Now, many people are backing away from him. Is this Tiger’s fault….no. It’s man’s fault for foolishly putting so much faith in a normal man. I felt so sorry for Tiger the way the media tried to make him out to be the devil’s son…he made a mistake, get over it!

The NFL draft showed this as well, with a player named Tim Tebow, former quarterback for Florida University. All reports at this moment say Tim is one of the best characters in college sports. He is a Christian, has done a lot of charity work, never been in trouble, and a winner on the field. In society’s terms, a perfect individual. But he is still a man, and I felt sorry for him when so called “experts” talked about his flaws on the field. We are just not happy when man succeeds, the flesh (and the pride in it) wants to see people fail.

In our flesh, as Paul says, dwells no good thing, because sin is there. Remember folks when Jesus was crucified, He condemned sin to the flesh, NOT the spirit. This is where a big answer comes, when it comes to condemnation.

Paul admits in verse 22 that he delights in the law of God, after the inward man, or the spirit. But he makes it very clear that there is a war going on inside him, that on one side is the law of sin, which is in his members (body) and the law of God which is in his mind. We assume that just because we are Christian, or putting faith in God, that all these things will go away…not true. As long as we are in flesh, the sin is there.

This proves that if a guy like Paul has to fight this, then we ALL do. I spent many months trying to figure out if it was right for God to help me, or should I fight for my life. At times, it lead me to attempt suicide, not knowing one way or the other. Sometimes it left me feeling incredibly faithful, believing that God was on my side, regardless of who was against it.

But it was the following verse that seemed to lock it up for me, something Paul said after identifying that in him (as everyone) was a war against the flesh and spirit. The last verse of chapter 7 says that he (and we) can thank God through Jesus that we can serve God with our mind, even if the flesh is full of sin.

For that reason, the first verse of chapter 8 makes sense:

“There is therefore NO CONDEMNATION to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

I spent so much time wondering of God could, or would help me, even though my situation looked VERY grim. And at times, I wondered if even I deserved to have my prayer answered. But when I understood this scripture, it opened my understanding that our problem is that we think too much carnally, and not enough spiritually.

God knows our hearts, He knows our truest intentions, long before we know them. If a person makes a mistake, and truly feels remorseful God knows the heart to know if this person is sincere. But also, He knows everything about you, and what you are able to do. God will not condemn you as long as you walk in the Spirit.

But what does it mean to “walk in the Spirit”. Most folks think this means to be perfect, but that is not what it means. You’re not perfect anyway as long as you are in the flesh, since it is full of sin. Chapter 8 clarifies that if you have the Spirit of God in you, then you are in the spirit. We live carnally because we are flesh, but spiritually we are free from condemnation.

It is THAT thing that God looks at….not your flesh. Remember, Jesus condemned sin to the flesh, and it is critical that you get the difference between condemnation by man’s wisdom and condemnation by God’s wisdom.

If you choose to accept man’s wisdom, you live by the flesh, and the 8th chapter says that those who in the flesh do mind the things of the flesh…and verse 8 says something quite profound:

“So then they that are in the flesh CANNOT please God.”

If you choose to take man’s wisdom over God’s, you are not putting your faith in God, and you are putting yourself in a position where you cannot please Him. And although admitting guilt IS the right thing to do, you have a right to appeal to God for grace and mercy.

See, folks think that what this implies is that if you run to God, He will then throw a bolt of lightning at the victim’s house, or terrorize them with bad dreams to make them change their mind about you…that’s not what He does.

God is able to touch ANY heart, to reveal to them the things He knows about you. God is easily able to touch the hardest hearts, to convince them to grant you grace and mercy. Nobody’s heart is hard enough to prevent God from touching it…after all He made it, didn’t He?

This is part of that grace, or favor, that you get with God, IF you are willing to look at this spiritually. This opens the doors for resolutions where both sides can walk away with greater understanding, rather than what some call “closure”.

But this does not work unless you are looking at this spiritually. It cannot work when you look at this carnally. Why? Because the flesh is full of sin, which includes fear, stress, depression, anger and every other negative feeling. Its funny because I hear how people respect others because they like to tell folks, “I’m keeping it real”, or they “speak from the heart”.

But this isn’t spiritual, it is purely carnal, and the carnal heart is based ONLY on emotions…it has nothing to do with what God wants you to say.

And I’m not saying this as a person that is perfect, you guys know that. Sometimes I get really upset and I blog about it. Sometimes I sit in bed at night asking myself, “why bother writing, I can’t scratch out a living doing this, but God knows I have been doing my best!” I wonder often if I am doing the right thing, or if I would have been better off flipping burgers and making fries…it certainly pays better.

But those thoughts don’t represent my spirit. Even when I feel down and out, God knows exactly where I stand, because He knows my heart, and what I am capable of doing…and maybe this explains why I went through what I went through, to be able to sit here and share what I can to encourage you. I can’t say if anybody on the internet has ever said these things to you, because I don’t know…but I might guess you have not run across too many people that has written as much about encouragement in prison issues as I have.

Again, no halo on my head, remember?

So when it comes down to condemnation, perhaps the first question you have to ask yourself is, are you speaking carnally, or spiritually? The Bible says there IS NO CONDEMNATION if you are in the Spirit, even if your flesh is completely guilty. Nobody is perfect, we all have sin in the flesh, but once you make the change to live by the Spirit, you are no longer condemned by it…in fact, by God’s eyes, you have no sin. And if no sin, you have favor of God’s strength.

If God says you are free…then why embrace condemnation? I mean, if you decide to, then by all means go ahead…but if you mind the things of the flesh, then you are also subject to man’s wisdom, which can be wrong at times, or judgmental.

In my situation, I didn’t want to go to prison, but something deep inside of me didn’t want me to fight my case as much as I knew I could. All of this sounds foolish when I say this carnally, and I was very confused while in that jail cell. But when I got my sentence, I felt God failed me miserably. I thought I really was in faith, as best as I could. I spent a lot of time reading faith books, magazines and booklets. I read the Bible, meditated on the scriptures, prayed when I could, and wrote to ministries for prayer. I thought I did everything I was supposed to do, but in the end, was still condemned. Yet the time I got was MUCH less than anyone thought, a miracle to my lawyer and family. Even the judge must have saw something in it. I suppose if I fought it instead of not doing so, I might very well have been innocent.

But part of my spiritual fight was the slightest idea that MAYBE God had a plan for me, something I mentioned in another blog I wrote, based on something odd that happened to me while in college. Something spiritual was compelling me to, for lack of a better word…go with it. But carnally speaking this was insane.

So I end up doing time, and get out in 2001, and by 2002 I start writing posts on prison support sites and eventually on my blogs. Thousands and thousands of pages later…here I am. Still writing on prison issues to help those that are going through a difficult time, either a person looking at time, or someone with a loved one in prison.

I ask you this folks…is it possible that God KNEW I could…or WOULD do this, because I certainly would never have volunteered for this job. If there is any truth to this, then it must be true that God truly has the highest wisdom, outranking man’s wisdom, and the “princes” wisdom. He had to have know that while I was in college, I would end up writing these posts. He had to have known that while I was trying to hang myself on a noose, I would end up writing blogs. He had to have known this, and everything about me.

But I still had to put faith in Him, rather than in the wisdom of man. You have a choice to do God’s will, or not. Sometimes it isn’t as obvious, sometimes it is. That man that died on that street, I wonder if those people who looked over his dying body, but did nothing, might be held in some part accountable to God. They had a choice to help, but chose NOT to help. I believe God touched every heart there to help him, but they all rejected God, but thinking along the lines of the flesh:

“I don’t know him like that”

“Look at that pitiful man!”

“He’s faking, probably going to rob me if I help”

“He’s conning, I don’t believe him”

And every excuse the flesh can dream up…and every one of them based on ignorance. They all condemned that man…so much for trusting in man’s wisdom. All it would have taken was ONE person to care, just ONE. And to care, it would have meant to listen to what God put in your heart, and act on it. But no one did.

Is THIS the absolute trust you want to put in man’s wisdom? The right thing to do is to always admit when you made a mistake, but after that, are you banking on man to have grace and mercy? Mind you, it CAN, but the flesh of its own can’t have compassion, it has to be influenced by God. See, even as a good man can screw up, an wicked man can do good. I mean, a hateful man to everybody else can buy good gifts for his children at Christmas, right?

Which implies that God can touch ANY heart. When you are looking for grace and mercy, why not go to God, Who’s wisdom exceeds all? I mean, you ARE looking for a favorable outcome, right? And isn’t that part of having grace and mercy?

Ok, I’ll stop right there…I think I started this about 11am, it is 3:15 now. I count 16 pages of writing today…and I am sure I could have done much more. Consider this when you read my blogs folks, would I have written this much if I didn’t care? And everything I wrote came out of my head as I wrote, I did not think about this last night, the idea hit me to write this came this morning just after I read an email from a kind reader, the one who sent me a $50 gift card to Office Depot.

And you see her kindness has helped me, and encouraged me to give as much as I can to help. I can write as much as I can to help you, but it is a strong encouragement when I get support. So my thanks to her and to those that support my blogs. Remember, I have the free prison encouragement certificates, but for a very limited time. You’ll have to email me on that, not taking requests by comments. Also, ask about my books, cards and other prison issue questions. Until then..

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