Covered

There is nothing quite like the simplicity of the gospel.

I've been taking students throught the 4 Spiritual Laws and thus, have been reminded of the heart of my faith - this simple, yet profound mystery called grace that seems too good to be true.

I've been taking students through the 4 Spiritual Laws, which as far as I can tell boil down to this:
God is holy. He longs for my heart. He made me to be with Him.
I turn away, spit in His face, chase after lesser things, and have created a gulf so wide I will never be able to return to His side.
My God is mighty, yet He bridged the gulf by becoming the least of all. He died in my place, trading the death I had earned for the life that is rightfully His.
I can be with Him in joy forever if I will just be willing to give up this illusion of control and power that I cling to so desperately, believe that Jesus died for me, and give Him my life to do as He will.

And that's it. So simple, yet so profoundly huge and beautiful.

I'm studying 1 John right now, and was struggling with chapter 3, verses 1-10. 1 John's supposed to the be feel-good, love-filled book in the Bible, right? Why on Earth, then, do you run into passages that say, "no one who lives in Him keeps on sinning?" That's the opposite of encouraging, if you ask me, because I definitely still struggle with sin - pretty much every day! But I read a commentary that helped me understand this a bit. This is what it said:

"The statement 'no one who lives in Him keeps on sinning' depends more on an understanding of waht Christ has done for us than it does on what we are able or commanded to do. The Elder's understanding of the Christian life was not developed in observation of the Christian but in percieving the nature of Christ's life and work...sin is not the identifying characteristic of those who live in Him."

That last part just struck me with the beauty of the gospel all over again as I read it. Though I turn away; though I am idolatrous and love many people and things more than Him quite often; though I am deliberately disobedient, or just too lazy and callous to desire my God - despite all of this, which is true of me more often that I'd care to think about or admit - sin is still not the idenfitying characteristic of who I am. I am identified with Christ. He covers me - every bit of that nastiness. When God looks at me He sees the pure blood of Christ and I am counted as righteous. I can't grasp the magnitude of it - but every now and then I have a moment when I get a small glimpse of the depth and width and height and vast measure of this reality of grace that is given to me, and it absolutely floors me.

So I sing with a grateful heart, "it covers me, it covers me, it covers me, grace flows down and covers me."

I can only hope and pray that the students I will be talking with tomorrow and the next day and the next, throughout the coming weeks, will also grasp this truth, and will respond to such a display of love and grace with their whole hearts and lives.

Amen y Amen.