Deep, Soulful Places. Elizabeth J Pierce

broke the perfect relationship with God, but there is a second chance. We don’t have to remain destined to a life without God. Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again to take care of the price that needed to be paid. That sacrifice was made for us, out of love.

      And because of that love, God lavishes us with grace. Psalm 103:12 says that as far as the east is from the west, that’s how far our sins are removed from us because of Him. That is grace He shows us because we are so loved. That is Him holding back what we deserve…so far back that it’s as far away as the east is from the west. So that we are not “just” saved; we are free from condemnation. Because our sins are removed from us through Jesus, we don’t have to worry about being condemned. It’s all been taken care of. Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (emphasis added). Because we believe, we are no longer condemned. Now, or for eternity.

      Funny how the Bible can say that so clearly, yet we can be so fuzzy about what it means. It doesn’t say that if you should have known better you will be condemned. It doesn’t say that you may be condemned if it was one of the “big” sins. It doesn’t say that if you keep doing the same thing wrong you will be condemned. It doesn’t say that you really should be perfect because you are to be like Christ, so you will be condemned. It doesn’t say that if you were abused there’s something wrong with you, so you are condemned. It doesn’t say that although you are forgiven you should continue to beat yourself up for past mistakes so that you won’t be condemned. It says there is no condemnation. None.

      He so loves us, and there is no condemnation in Him. Those two things are a big deal! Most of us can think of at least one relationship we’ve had at some point in our lives where we felt there were strings attached. You won the person’s favour, but it came at a price to you. You had to do something, go somewhere, act in some way to please the other person. Everything was dependent on you and how you behaved, and if you measured up, it all worked out. I sure had my share of those relationships when I was younger.

      In fact, much of life feels like this, doesn’t it? We feel we are always trying to measure up to something or someone—whether it be a societal standard for physical appearance, professional performance, relationship status or some kind of achievement. And when we think we haven’t measured up—or worse, when we are told we don’t measure up—that is such a horrible feeling. We feel terrible about ourselves. We feel condemned.

      There is none of that when we are being so loved by God. We are already good enough in His eyes. (Hold your theological reactions here, please—I’m not saying good enough to enter heaven; I’m saying good enough to be loved. He loved us before we loved Him, remember?) And it is safe with Him. There’s no criticism. No more “less than.” No more “not as good as.” No more making amends. No walking on eggshells. No bending over backwards to please. It’s done. It’s taken care of. Jesus took care of it all when He died for you and for me. And because He did that, He made it so that once we accept this awesome love offering, we can sit back and bask in the amazing mystery of being so loved by His Father.

      We don’t often do that, though, do we? Sit back and bask in His love? Spend time just reflecting on how much He loves us and how secure that love will always be—either through alone time with Him, in His Word, listening to praise music or reading something that draws our hearts and minds to that place. I would dare to suggest that it doesn’t happen nearly as frequently or with as many people as it could, for a few reasons.

      One reason may be that there is yet to be a relationship established. Perhaps there has not yet been an acceptance of being so loved by Him, so there has never been a sense of needing or wanting to bask in the love. The person is still in the searching phase. Or they don’t yet realize what is there waiting for them…the extent to which they are loved. I also think it is because many people are like I used to be before I began this journey with God. They believe with their whole hearts, and they understand (in their heads) the theological teachings of the Christian Church about being loved by God. But their head knowledge has never translated into the action of sitting back and just soaking up His love.

      Another reason I don’t think it happens often enough with enough people is because we are not used to this kind of love. Add the fact that we are such a busy society. We do not do very well at taking time for things, let alone basking in something! We are used to doing something. Used to action. Most of us struggle to sit in a chair by the water for 20 minutes reading a book (which is still technically doing something!), let alone sitting back and basking in God’s love.

      Forgiveness

      An even more common reason people don’t sit and bask in His love, in my personal and professional experience, is the issue of not forgiving ourselves. We are not condemned in Christ. But we are condemned in self. I can be horrible at forgiving myself when I make mistakes. Especially if they are mistakes that negatively impact another person, like hurting someone I love. I have walked around for years beating myself up for things I have done wrong that I feel I shouldn’t have. I’ve confessed them to God (if you are not clear about why you do this even though you are already saved, I’ve shared my thoughts about this in appendix F), which means I’m forgiven, but I don’t feel forgiven. Why? Because of myself! Well, I actually think it’s because I’m allowing the enemy to deceive me into thinking that my mistake was bad enough or that I should have known better and, therefore, somehow, I’m still kind of “on the hook” for it.

      But think about that. Do you know what that really means? If I keep myself (or someone else for that matter) “on the hook” for a wrong that has been done but has been confessed to and forgiven by God, what I am saying in essence is that Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t good enough for me. My sin can’t be covered by His sacrifice. Which means that I’m saying that those verses like Romans 8:1 aren’t truth. Which ultimately means that I’m saying that God is a liar. That He didn’t really mean He would save us through Jesus’ death on the cross. If I’m still on the hook for mistakes that I’ve made, said sorry for and asked forgiveness for, if I’m condemned for them still, God is a liar.

      I don’t believe that God is a liar. In fact, I know that God is not a liar. He is truth. Titus 1:2 says God does not lie. But the Bible does say that Satan is the father of lies, and that there is no truth in him (John 8:44). So, when I find myself feeling something that does not measure up with what the Bible says (the truth), then I know it is not the truth. It is a lie. Which means, I know where it comes from. I also have a pretty good clue about where it comes from because of how it affects me.

      When we feel condemned, we don’t feel all warm and fuzzy. We usually feel really rotten and want to avoid whatever it is that makes us feel that way. I think that is the whole point of self-condemnation. Of feeling guilty. Of being plagued by guilt, guilt-ridden, driven by our guilt. The enemy of our souls wants to make us feel so rotten about our relationship with God that we pull away and alienate ourselves from His love and all He has to offer us when we are intimate with Him. And when we are pulled away from that love, it’s like a flower out of water…we start to feel so dry and lifeless in comparison to the way we feel when we are connected fully to Him. Satan wants us to believe that there is condemnation. But Jesus promises no condemnation and went to great lengths in His short time on earth to make sure we saw Him prove this promise to be true.

      The Woman at the Well

      John 4 describes a scene that makes this whole idea of no condemnation crystal clear for us as women. It involves Jesus and a Samaritan woman. Jesus was on His way to Galilee from Judea and had to pass through Samaria to get there. In those days, Jews believed Samaritans were “ceremonially unclean.” They didn’t ascribe to the same set of religious practices as the Jews, so in the minds of the Jewish religious leaders of the day, that meant they were not good enough for many things, including interaction.

      Our world today is still full of situations where people are made to feel not good enough for many reasons…for their skin colour, for their gender, for their place of residence, for their beliefs. That kind of discrimination and condemnation really upset Jesus. He did not want people treating one another that way, and He seized