Barneyisfat

There's a lot of freedom in grace. There is a lot of joy in freedom. There is a lot of life in joy.

So that's where I'm at right now in my faith. I am alive. There's something growing inside of me that makes me to love generously, to live openly, and to not be afraid of sin. I believe that something is my Savior, for I have nothing - no strength, self-discpiline, or passion - within myself which can cause this change.

I watch far too many Christian daily who live out the opposite of this.

There's a lot of fear in the law. There is a lot hopelessness in fear. There is a lot of death in hopelessness.

Oh, they wouldn't admit it. When they are constantly looking over their shoulder to make sure that they aren't being followed by sin, praying for a better and more fulfilling prayer life, and running in fear of the enemies attack they are not running towards God. They try and find an inner strength just strong enough for them to wake up every morning and decide to live another day without any sin/fun. They live for self-disciplined action - reading the Bible daily, church attendance pins, and QT!!!!1!! - which isn't enough to give them joy.

I've sat, pondered, and debated with far too many people in need of accepting God's omni-sufficient grace. People who hide in fear of an angry God who will smite them for their sin. They fail to realize that the wrath of that God - who needed a burnt offering for all of our sins - was all directed at that Christ - the man who bled, died, and took on the sins (and therefore their punishnment) of the world - so that sin (wether there be various levels of sin or wether all sin is punished in the same fashion) doesn't matter. Christ took all of the punishment for all of our sins. It takes a lot to kill God. For Jesus the Christ it took the weight of a world full of sinful people -past, present, and future- to bring Him down.

They ask me how I could possibly condone any church member who still has evidence of sin in his or her life ... It's simple, really. When I look out on a congregation I see Christ in every pew. It is either a bleeding, dying Christ or a raised victorious Christ. With every bleeding, dying Christ my job is that of Joseph of Aremithea - to simply take them to the tomb and let God do the rest. Joseph went against the rest of the religous people of his day, he broke the law and found himself "unfit" for the Jewish holiday for touching a dead body, and he did the right thing.
A lot of Christians are afraid to touch those in the church or community who are not yet resurrected. We are afraid that their sin will make us dirty and unpresentable to God. I want to be like Joseph and not be afraid - to not be pragmatic - and to just do what I know is right in God's eyes. I want to take bleeding, dying, sinful people to that tomb of our Lord and let God do the rest. I will probably be chewed out, looked down upon, and mistreated by a lot of the religous types ... but I don't care. I can only imagine the amount of vindication that Joseph felt when that tomb was found to be empty. He might have been unclean for the Jewish holiday - but Christ had made him more than sufficiently clean for the new everlasting holiday. Praise God.