GREATER THAN OUR HEARTS II

Yesterday we considered the wonderful verse from I John 3, that “When our hearts make us feel guilty, we can still have peace before God. God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (v.20).

That takes us to immediately consider the famous line from Paul in Romans 8:

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”(v.1) No condemnation does not mean no responsibility. If we have shame and guilt from a wounded spirit (guilty conscience) and emotional dysfunction from improper identity in the Father, we have the responsibility of repentance and restoration in our ‘no condemnation.’

We have been set free as Paul continues: “For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (vs. 2-4)

If our heart condemns us it might be because the law does as well. We are not under law, but grace and the responsibility of “walking according to the laws of the Spirit.” Paul bears down a little heavier in verses 8-9:
“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.”

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!” Jesus