Be Still

Growing up I was impressed that pastors seemed to always have the perfect personal story to go along with their sermons.  It made me wonder which came first, the sermon or the story. 

Last Tuesday I was sitting at church for our weekly prayer team meeting where a group of 5 or 6 of us gather every week to pray.  As I was sitting there, I heard a thud and then a few moments later I heard a loud tapping noise. It would start and stop and start and stop.  I looked over to find the source and there in the small atrium area in the middle of the space was a female cardinal among the plants and water feature.  Presumably she flew into the window causing the thud but now I watched her as she pecked away at her own reflection… continuously.  She would peck, fly up into a bush and then come back again and start pecking again.  Repeatedly. Our pastor said she was there the previous day doing the same thing, possibly never having left.  At one point I looked over and saw her perched on the gutter of the eave.  So close to freedom.  Just keep going up!  But alas, she flew back down again surrounded by windows and her perceived enemy and went back to pecking. I made the comment to our pastor that for sure there was a sermon in there somewhere.  As I was praying it seemed that she wanted to tap the loudest and fastest at that moment. It wasn’t a complete distraction from my prayer, but I couldn’t help but think “just fly upward! That thing that you think is a threat to you is just a reflection of yourself.” But she couldn’t recognize herself. And the parallel came…

I have been in church all my life.  It was literally my first outing as a baby.  And something I’ve heard all my life in church is “I am a sinner saved by grace”.  Did you know that is not an actual direct quote from the bible?  There is plenty of truth to that statement, but there is a word in there that I have a problem with. One that leaves a lot of people like that sweet bird, stuck in a space fighting something over a case of mistaken identity.  That word is “am”.  If we have been saved by grace, then our identity is no longer that of a sinner but instead we take on a new identity. “God sent his Son…to redeem those under the law that we might receive the full rights of sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5) “So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son God has also made you an heir.” (Galatians 4:7) When we live in a place that says “I am a sinner saved by grace” not only do we still live with our old identity as a slave to sin, we also minimize what the death, resurrection and grace of Jesus Christ did—which was SO MUCH MORE than saving us from eternal death and forgiving our sin.  He gave us an entirely new identity in Him, as a son or daughter, he seated us in heavenly places, he separated our sins as far as the east is from the west and remembers them no more, and he tells us to put to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” And in Ephesians 4:22-24 “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”(emphasis mine) Like that sweet bird, we keep going back to our reflection, pecking away at it thinking it is an intruder, when in fact it is just our new self that we don’t recognize because we are looking for the sinner we’ve always known.  I would propose that our greatest threat that keeps us stuck is that we have not been “made new in the attitude of [our] minds” so we never actually transition to our new identity. If we did, we would realize we could fly out of the pit that we are stuck in because we have been given freedom in Christ. We have a “new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  That does not sound like “a sinner.” 

Am I saying we will never sin again or struggle with sin at times? Absolutely not, but it is no longer our identity and there is a big difference between sinning and being a sinner, one is something you do and the other is who you are.

If you know your Bible, you are probably already aware that God and even Jesus often gave new names to people.  If you are new to the Bible this might be something new to you, but I think it is very cool.  You see, when God gave people new names He called out new purposes in their lives, things that God had called them too.  Two of my favorite examples are Abram and Sarai in Genesis 17, and Jesus renaming Simon as Peter in John 1:42. God essentially gave them a new identity, renaming them for the promises yet to come in their lives. 

He does the same thing with us when we come into his family.  We go from being slaves to sin and an enemy of the cross to the Lord saying, “I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters.” (2 Corinthians 6:18) Did you hear that?  If you are a believer in Christ, then YOU are a son or daughter of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Romans 8:17 says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” If you call yourself a Christian that name literally means “little Christ”, and that is the identity and the mindset you are called into. 

I think often we fear that if we don’t continually remember our sin and revisit it, we will somehow forget what we were saved from and how great that salvation is.  I think it is a great tactic of the enemy to get us to define ourselves by our sin, whether it is a specific one that we struggle with or just general, because it is a lot harder to let go of something if it has become part of us.  If we focus on ourselves instead of Christ, His sacrifice, and our true identity, it becomes much easier to stay trapped in sin and avoid transformation.

If I tell you not to think about the cardinal pictured above, what do you almost automatically do? You think about it, right? You think about it, not because you want to, but because I’ve drawn your attention to it.  That is why Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” If our mind is thinking on spiritual things—things of God—then it is a lot less likely to go to places of temptation.  Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” So, let me ask you, do you think revisiting your sin repeatedly is setting your mind on things above?  Or, is it praiseworthy, admirable, etc.?  I’d say probably not.  In fact, I’m pretty sure thinking about it for most people probably just brings a bunch of guilt and shame that should be left in the past with the sin.  There is still plenty of room for a heart of gratitude for the grace that has been given to us without keeping our former identity. 

I’m not ignoring that we all still sin after being saved. We must repent and deal with it when it comes up, but I believe when we understand who we are as children of God and all that comes with that, we will be far more successful moving into our new identities and callings.  Instead of looking back, we should look forward as one who has been made victorious in Christ Jesus. 

So here is my proposal. Instead of saying or thinking, “I am a sinner saved by grace” how about we switch that to “I was a sinner, but by grace I am now a daughter (or son) of the Most High God.” Let’s fully step into our new identity and our new calling today taking a note from the apostle Paul in Philippians 3:12-14 and 16. “Not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me… Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus…Only let us live up to what we have already attained.” Just fly upward!