"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with G-d through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah" - Romans 5:1.
So just what is justification? The fact that though we ARE sinners, G-d not only forgives and forgets our sins when we repent and ask for forgiveness, but He chooses NOT to see us as sinners. Wait, WHAT? You mean G-d, the all-seeing Creator, DOESN'T see us as sinners?
That's right!
So if He chooses not to see us as sinners, then how DOES he see us?
He sees the beauty within each of us. He sees our creativity, our love for Him, He sees every good thing there is in us. Not only that, but G-d, being our Abba (father), wants us to see ourselves the way He sees us. He wants us to walk in the assurance that we are justified by faith in Messiah.
I have been looking at this time in the desert as if G-d has seen all the sin in my life, especially the sin since leaving my old congregation, and is putting me through the wringer as punishment, because that sin displeases Him. The fact is, the opposite is happening: He is doing this because He loves me and wants me to walk with confidence in Him. I am in this desert place because I need to be freed from old habits, old ways of thinking. G-d isn't punishing me, He is cleaning me out. He has heard my heart's continual cry of "Please just let me accept myself as I am. Please help me stop being afraid and distrustful of You and everyone around me. All I want is to serve You with confidence, with joy, love, and peace in my heart!" He has heard that cry, a cry that has been in my heart since I can remember.
Just as the Hebrews in Egypt cried out for about 200 years (give or take) and were taken out of Egypt, so my cry has been heard and I have been removed from my own personal Egypt. There wasn't just deliverance from Egypt, however, but a time in the wilderness when the people were given opportunity after opportunity to trust in the G-d that delivered them. They continually whined, rebelled, and moaned about how they wished they had meat (and then had a very un-pheasant experience). G-d continually provided for them, they continually forgot about it once the next issue came up. Eventually the real test of faith came up; the people arrived close to the Promised Land. These Hebrews were told to go in and take the land. What happened? Twelve spies were sent into the land, with ten coming back and spreading fear throughout the camp. A mere TWO SPIES were the only ones whose faith in their Deliverer should have put the rest of their kin to shame. These men, Joshua and Caleb, did their darnedest to encourage the Hebrews. Sadly, the majority won. What happened? The ten spies looked at the giants in the land and failed to comprehend that G-d, their Deliverer, was bigger and more fierce than the giants. The Hebrews failed to remember the mana, the water provided from the rock, the cloud by day that shielded them from the burning desert sun, and the fire by night that provided light and warmth for the journey.
Because they failed to look back and remember G-d's provision for them, and chose instead to put their trust in the report of ten cowards, the Hebrews did not have the faith and encouragement to know that, in leading them to the Promised Land, G-d would provide for them yet again and hand their enemies over to them.
So, too, if we fail to look back and remember how G-d has provided for us, we will also lack faith and encouragement. G-d, our Abba, our Daddy, loves us so much that He gave up His Son for us, that not only would our sins be washed away, forgiven and forgotten, but that He would choose to not see us as sinners.
Satan wants to distract us from G-d's promises. He wants to blind us from the love of our Father. He isn't called "the accuser" for nothing! Night and day he does his best to remind us of our sins, his goal being not to cause us to sin, but to make us see ourselves as undesirable to G-d AFTER we sin. It's the spiritual equivalent of taking a puppy's nose and rubbing it in the mess he made. It causes us to focus on the sin we committed, instead of allowing us to accept forgiveness and see ourselves as G-d sees us: His lovable children whom He delights in.
Too many congregational leaders preach sin-centered shame, not the grace and mercy of a loving Creator. Yeshua is the one who is seen as loving, but not G-d. G-d is seen as a powerful, bad-tempered being who is constantly being placated by Yeshua, and on whose good side we MUST stay lest He decides to suddenly yank our salvation from us. We are taught to approach G-d cautiously, with a carefully-worded prayer to get Him good and buttered up, when in Hebrews 4:16 we are told to CONFIDENTLY approach G-d's throne of grace. How easily we forget that G-d and Yeshua are THE SAME! They are one and the same, it's true. The same Creator that we fear is the very one who came to this earth to provide a way for our sins to be forgiven, forgotten, remembered no more. It isn't our view of ourselves that needs to be changed, but our view of G-d that needs to be changed! When we begin to see Him and Know Him as the very loving Father He is, to understand that NOTHING can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39), THEN we can begin to allow Him to change us, we can allow ourselves to be guided by Him and to walk in complete confidence, assurance and knowledge of who we are in Messiah, how loved we are by Messiah and by our precious Abba, no longer fearing His wrath, no longer having doubt, but walking with Him with joy and peace in our hearts.
