When we give allegiance to Jesus, God chooses to act as judge, and as father. He declares, because of our choice to follow Jesus, that the penalty for our sin is paid for. And he declares that he has adopted us as sons, and taken us into his family.
When Christ died, God nailed our sins to the cross … and they died with Jesus. And we died with Jesus. We were crucified, died and were buried with Christ. And the Law cannot judge anyone, once they have died.
When we choose to follow Christ, God marked us as his, by sending the Holy Spirit to make his home in our inner core. The Spirit renews our core, and crushes the power of sin in us.
Jesus and the cross dealt with the penalty of our sin. The Holy Spirit dealt with the power of our sin. The only thing left is its presence. And because sin was in our core at birth, and because we practiced it every day, we became extremely proficient.
We were designed to have relationship with the Father. We were designed to have fellowship with the Father.
Relationship refers to identity and\or position. When we gave our allegiance to Jesus, he chose to adopt us. We became sons. We became members of his family. Sin cannot break that relationship, any more than insulting my physical parents breaks that relationship. If I insult my mother, I am still her son.
Fellowship refers to connection. I am designed for my heart to be open to the Father, and the Father’s heart to me. I am designed for moment by moment communication, moment by moment reception of love and grace from the Father. I am designed to live like Jesus, and to demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit, and the traits of love. If I live in obedience to the Spirit of God (which is expressed in the Word of God), I agree with my design, I am filled with joy and peace, and I maintain and strengthen my connection to the Father.
And sin breaks all that. Even though I am still a son, the connection is broken. There is no communication, no love, and no grace. I am in disharmony with my Father, and my design. No joy. No peace. No growth. No fruit.
If I insult my mother, I am still her son, but I might not get invited to dinner for a while. And, maybe, it is really important for my health, and well-being, to get home cooked meals.
We need to become convinced of the fact that: living in agreement with God’s word means living in agreement with our design, it means maintaining and strengthening our connection to our source of life, meaning and purpose. If the connection gets broken, we start dying. We need to restore the connection as soon as possible.
Scripture says we need to confess and repent of our sin. Confession means to speak in agreement. We agree with God. Sin is bad; righteousness is good. Repent means to change the way we think. And if I am changing the way I think, I change the way I live.
If someone does not have relationship with the Father, it is sin which cuts such a person off from the Father. And it is confession and repentance, plus giving him allegiance, which brings a person into relationship and fellowship.
If someone does have relationship with the Father, it is sin which blocks the connection with the Father. And it is confession and repentance, plus choosing to honor one’s allegiance, which restores the connection, and renews the reception of communication, love and grace.
Because of the presence of sin in our lives, we will continue to fall, and continue to experience a loss of fellowship, with its ensuing love and grace. So, we will need to continue the practice of confession and repentance to restore our connection, and to continue to live as we were designed.
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