introspection and condemnation

There is an area of Christian counseling that seems to place responsibility on the believer for satan’s attacks, as if he unwittingly opened a door for his enemy to come in and plunder his goods. Perhaps that does happen, at times. However, satan is in the business of lying, stealing, destroying, and killing. When a Christian continually looks for what he did wrong, . . . what he did that warranted satan’s attacks, he is blaming himself for satan being satan.

This morning I awoke with questions the Lord posed to me on this subject. The first one was “If satan’s attacks on men were legal because of their sin, then why could he attack Jesus?” Though Jesus was tempted in all ways, he did not sin. If satan needed a legal reason to attack Jesus, he had none. But satan had Jesus murdered.

The second question was “If no one can be innocent, then why did God institute laws to determine who is guilty and who is innocent?” We see that Able, who was innocent, was killed by Cain, who was under satan’s influence. Able was commended by God as a righteous man (Heb 11:4), as was Job (Job 1:8). Therefore people can be innocent, and satan can and does attack innocent people. God’s laws were set in place because some people are innocently harmed.

By this line of questions God was clearly laying the groundwork for refuting the teaching that satan cannot attack a person unless he or she sins. The question remains though that, since we do sin, are we always in a state of sin? What do we do with the scripture “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God?” (Rm 3:23). We read the rest of the sentence; “and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Rm 3:24). We have sinned, and the life of sin is what Jesus came to set us free from. If we sin again, we have an advocate in Jesus (1 Jn 2:1). God does not turn us over to our enemy because of past or present sin for torment. However, satan’s intent is to torment us.

The tree of introspection and self-condemnation will not bear good fruit. Eating from this tree will eventually cause us to see God as unjust, and we will never experience true freedom in our lives. Surely God meant for us to experience His daily grace for our weaknesses and loving communion with Him. All satan has to offer us is an endless cycle of finding our faults and repenting. The fruit of this tree never gives peace.

We know a tree by its fruit. The fruit of this false teaching is that it causes a person to trust in what they say and do in order to bring solutions to their trials. They are pressured by the apparent lack of action on God’s part and the wounding they have received. Though God may be working “behind the scenes” He is still the One we should trust.

Another fruit of this teaching is that it causes the victim to focus on themselves instead of the other person. It’s as if he cannot trust himself to return good for evil, so he blames himself for the evil. This is dysfunctional. Wouldn’t the “good” we give take on a different tone and appearance if it came from our innocence? . . . no self-abasement . . . no “kissing-up” . . . but just a true concern for the one in darkness, offering words of deliverance?

Good fruit comes from following the Holy Scriptures. When we offer sincere good in the face of evil we give the fragrance of Christ, and carry the aroma of Life to those being saved (2 Cor 2:15-16). Jesus’ sacrifice lives in us to give Life to the guilty, if they will receive it.

"holy" is not just a word

There are living creatures around the throne of God. They never get tired of saying "holy, holy" to the Lord because "holy" is not just a word to them: it is an expression of who God is. God's character has so man facets to it that it is like a prism, splitting light into different hues of color. We see Jesus encircled by a rainbow in Revelation 4:3, a visual image of One reflecting light from many aspects of His Personhood.

We do not know all of God's character, however, He has shared many of His names with us in order that we might know His nature. God is not simple, nor easily grasped by our intellect. The elders and the living creatures see God face-to-face and are always amazed by His beauty. "holy" is not just a word: it is that nature of God we are changed by as we behold Him (2 Cor 3;18). He put all His personhood in His Son Jesus so that, in seeing Jesus, we see God.

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." (Rev 4:3).

It is God's intention that His Son Jesus would fill the whole universe (Eph 4:10). To accomplish this, He begins by giving parts of His own nature to men, as gifts (Eph 4:7). His purpose in giving men these gifts is that we all would grow up into maturity, "attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Eph 4:13). God, in His wisdom, took the many facets of His holy nature and embodied them in His Son Jesus. Jesus, carrying the nature of His Father, put the expression of God's many faceted nature into gifts that would unify us and build us into His nature. We cannot become holy apart from each other, neither can we become holy by all being the same as each other.

"Holy" is not just a word: "holy" is a plan. God's plan is that the many parts of His nature, embodied in the flesh of His Son Jesus, would be formed by His Spirit in us. It is why the anit-Christ spirit says that Jesus has not come in the flesh (2 Jn 1:7). This spirit does not believe that God could be expressed in the identity of His Son Jesus. They who have this spirit also do not believe that God, through Jesus, could be expressed in our flesh as well. We see, therefore, an antagonism amongst men living the Spirit and operating in the gifts of the Spirit. Satan does not want God's body to mature into God's Nature.

With the living creatures are the elders, before the throne of God. They say "you are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." (Rev 4:9-11). It is not a coincidence that the elders know the Lord's great worth, for they are the ones given the gifts that will prepare people to serve Him (Eph 4:12). The true leaders in God's Church will lay their lives down to those whom they build up into the Body of Christ. They know that it is worth more to form men into Jesus' ministers than it is to build their own fame.

"Holy" is not just a word: it is a life style fashioned in the heart and mind of God. May we behold it, be formed by it, and live it. Amen.