Sin no more - part two
"Sin no more" is an instruction Jesus gave to people he had healed or helped. These words are wonderful words for people of any and all religions. Religious people long for God: sin separates them from God, and they feel this in the core of their spiritual being. They know that if it were possible to be sinless then they could be joined to God. Jesus, who lived and died sinless, gives all religious people the opportunity to be united with God through him. He is the conduit through which they can be joined to God. Because he was and is sinless.
Sin is the thing that all religious people fight against. Most religious people recognize the need to purify themselves before they approach God; this is because they instinctively know that they need to be 'clean' before they pray to the great sinless force that brings order to the universes. The various religions don't all name what is is they need to be purified from, but some do; they name it sin. Since we cannot free ourselves from sin (but only from some sins) we need to be saved.
People who do not recognize a need to be cleansed from sin are people who do not recognise sin. This is to be lost, so lost that you do not understand the order of the spiritual world. So lost that you do not understand your own struggles. So lost that you do not know you are lost. It is a terrible place to be in, and yet the people who are living this lost life feel no terror. They are so lost that they cannot come alive to their own lost condition.
God the compassionate, God the merciful, alerts some people to their lostness and they begin to feel a need. What is the need? They feel they need to be saved. This is it. This is the great word which describes what Jesus came to do, why Jesus came into the world. He came to look for and save the lost. When at last we begin to understand that we need to be saved it is because Jesus has come near to us and is shining his light into our life.
Among all the things we need to be saved from, self is perhaps the strongest. Self even when it is nurtured and fed and measured and built up remains deceptive. Being saved means being saved from the deceptions that self continuously imposes upon self. Saved means being rescued from outer forces that are too strong for us to fight against, and so continuously errode and supress our humanity. Saved means being saved from God-loneliness. Saved means being able to build up and nurture a spiritual relationship with the source of all being, health and sense. Saved means being able to control the forces that divide us against ourselves. We need to be saved.
This saving does have a beginning. When we first believe that Jesus spoke the truth, then salvation begins. Christo-religious people remember that moment of belief and say that was when they first felt the great change. It is the time of salvation; the moment when we feel pulled out of a pit, the moment when a light goes on inside our person, the moment when we become aware that Jesus is with us and God is for us. Like marriage, Like birth, salvation has a beginning moment, we call that being saved. But like getting married or being born, salvation is daily renewed as we continue to recognize Jesus and learn from his words.
We shall never be sinless while we live, but in the eyes of God who sees us through the activity of Jesus we are already acceptable to him. Jesus is the cleansing, and the preparation, Jesus is the mediator. God knows we are not sinless but he counts us as though we are; because he has reckoned the sinless life of Jesus to our account.
The sinlessness of Jesus, given to us, forgives our past sins, strengthens us to resist sin in our present circumstances and frees us from the consequences of sin in God's reckoning. We are being saved. And Jesus who never sinned is every day saying to us, "Sin no more.' Everyday I am saying to God, "I need to be saved." and everyday the spirit of Jesus protects me, alerts me to my conceits and self deceptions and grants me greater understanding of God's mercy and rightness. I am being saved. May you also believe and be saved.
Sin is the thing that all religious people fight against. Most religious people recognize the need to purify themselves before they approach God; this is because they instinctively know that they need to be 'clean' before they pray to the great sinless force that brings order to the universes. The various religions don't all name what is is they need to be purified from, but some do; they name it sin. Since we cannot free ourselves from sin (but only from some sins) we need to be saved.
People who do not recognize a need to be cleansed from sin are people who do not recognise sin. This is to be lost, so lost that you do not understand the order of the spiritual world. So lost that you do not understand your own struggles. So lost that you do not know you are lost. It is a terrible place to be in, and yet the people who are living this lost life feel no terror. They are so lost that they cannot come alive to their own lost condition.
God the compassionate, God the merciful, alerts some people to their lostness and they begin to feel a need. What is the need? They feel they need to be saved. This is it. This is the great word which describes what Jesus came to do, why Jesus came into the world. He came to look for and save the lost. When at last we begin to understand that we need to be saved it is because Jesus has come near to us and is shining his light into our life.
Among all the things we need to be saved from, self is perhaps the strongest. Self even when it is nurtured and fed and measured and built up remains deceptive. Being saved means being saved from the deceptions that self continuously imposes upon self. Saved means being rescued from outer forces that are too strong for us to fight against, and so continuously errode and supress our humanity. Saved means being saved from God-loneliness. Saved means being able to build up and nurture a spiritual relationship with the source of all being, health and sense. Saved means being able to control the forces that divide us against ourselves. We need to be saved.
This saving does have a beginning. When we first believe that Jesus spoke the truth, then salvation begins. Christo-religious people remember that moment of belief and say that was when they first felt the great change. It is the time of salvation; the moment when we feel pulled out of a pit, the moment when a light goes on inside our person, the moment when we become aware that Jesus is with us and God is for us. Like marriage, Like birth, salvation has a beginning moment, we call that being saved. But like getting married or being born, salvation is daily renewed as we continue to recognize Jesus and learn from his words.
We shall never be sinless while we live, but in the eyes of God who sees us through the activity of Jesus we are already acceptable to him. Jesus is the cleansing, and the preparation, Jesus is the mediator. God knows we are not sinless but he counts us as though we are; because he has reckoned the sinless life of Jesus to our account.
The sinlessness of Jesus, given to us, forgives our past sins, strengthens us to resist sin in our present circumstances and frees us from the consequences of sin in God's reckoning. We are being saved. And Jesus who never sinned is every day saying to us, "Sin no more.' Everyday I am saying to God, "I need to be saved." and everyday the spirit of Jesus protects me, alerts me to my conceits and self deceptions and grants me greater understanding of God's mercy and rightness. I am being saved. May you also believe and be saved.
Labels: lost-ness, salvation, sinlessness
posted by Jessie Coates at 10:36 AM
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