A completely different perspective on freedom

Our life in Christ requires a completely different way of thinking and living, otherwise we will inevitably end up following religious systems that cannot deliver on their promises. We’ll ever be advancing in self-effort instead faith, trying to break out of prison doors that are already open, praying prayers that have already been answered, and striving for victory instead of living from victory.

You are a new heavenly species!

I shared last time what Paul called “the glorious news I preach all over the world,” and described how different this is than what is typically preached today. One would have to admit our “gospel” is drastically watered down compared to what Paul’s describes. Just to review, we looked at Colossians 1:15-23 and can summarize Paul’s glorious news as follows:

The Glorious Good News

I’ve been reading Colossians lately, which is a great letter to help us understand what Paul calls “….the glorious news I preach all over the world.” (Col.1:23c TPT). But what struck me about this is that, while there are some similarities, his gospel message was radically different than what we traditionally think of as the gospel. I will take a closer look at this glorious news here.

Why we still need reformation

We need to stop starting God’s story with the fall. God’s story starts with, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1), which is about God in relationship.

We need to stop making God’s redemptive purpose about forgiveness; God’s eternal purpose has always been about adoption.

Throwing stones from our glass houses

I hesitated to post this because I don’t want it come across as an attack against parts of the Body of Christ. Quite the opposite, my desire is that we would stop throwing our doctrinal rocks at each other. I genuinely LOVE all streams of the body of Christ, whether I agree with them doctrinally or not. Besides, Jesus seems to think the world will know we’re His by our love for one another, and by our union in Him, not by our doctrinal agreement (John 13:35; 17:23).

Heart matters

Your heart determines the direction of your life more than your head. It’s the rudder that steers the flow of your life. It determines why you do what you do.  The condition of your heart is a far greater influence on what you believe than logic and reason.

This is a continuation from where I left off last time where we looked at this verse:

Today

As we end one year (and decade) and begin a new one, our thoughts naturally go toward reflecting on our past and planning our future. But we only have “today.” The present is the only reality there is. We are simply marching through time, one present moment after another. Our past is how we decided to spend our present days, and our future is yet to be lived in the present.