I am a cessationist (wait for it).
I’ve always been at heart (not what you think)…
…but it wasn’t until recently that I realized just how radically, and really just why.
Most of my charismatic, Pentecostal, tongue-talking-holy-roller friends are, too (now you know I’m up to something).
Those of you who aren’t cessationist yet, I’m praying for you.
After all, Daddy God commanded us:
“Cease striving and know that I am God…” (Ps 46:10a NASB).
By extension, to continue striving is to NOT know that He is God.
I love this translations from The Message:
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything” (Ps 46:10 MSG).
To look at God is to jump out of the rat race. Period.
Cease Religion, See Grace
When Adam and Eve took the bait, it was under the false pretense that it would make them like God. Despite that God had said they were already created in His image…they were deceived and suspected that more was needed.
Eating the forbidden fruit was man’s self-effort to reach the Highest. We resorted to working for something unattainable…rather than enjoying it freely as a gift.
Wutta MESS!
God knew it would be impossible for mankind to work or pray or meditate or zen buddha ninja “reach” Him…
…even if we did have millions of lifetimes to do it…
…so…
…in Christ…
…the Father reached mankind.
Religious “law” is fulfilled in me not by striving to be “perfect,” but by letting His perfection order my heart…and my steps.
The moment I cease striving is the moment I receive the grace to walk with God.
Striving is like a bird hopping and flapping its wings from the ground…where grace is when the bird leaps off a branch and finds wind to catch and lift him.
All that is needed, then, is a cooperation with the wind (Holy Spirit), which is constant contact and relationship through simple attention (presence).
That “wind” is grace empowering you.
Hence, you may have heard the phrase, “Practice the Presence”?
In essence…
Only when I am trusting and resting in Jesus Christ can I let Him:
reach me…
direct me …
Write the word of righteousness on my heart—which causes me to desire whatever is righteous and hate whatever is unrighteous.
Then, rather than boast in my ability to fast for ten days or do religious works out of obligation…
…I am humbled and intoxicated by His presence, and I get to enjoy Him as Jesus enjoyed the Father (see John 17, Jesus’ prayer and heart’s desire)…
…which causes an overflowing, irresistible desire to bless and love and cover and nurture others (i.e. do good works).
Cease Proving, Jesus Proved You
Religious behavior is aimed to prove my worth, but my worth was proven when Jesus surrendered His life on the cross…for me…and for all humanity.
I can accept this as fact and enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with God…or I can keep striving, waiting to feel worthy, and never arrive at the intimacy my soul craves.
It is either religion or relationship. I cannot have both.
God paid the highest premium to make it easy for you.
“Jesus told them, ‘This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent’” (John 6:29 NLT).
The irony of Jesus’ words is that believing is not “work” at all. It is simply accepting what is already true.
“But where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20 NIV).
To receive this grace, you just need to believe it is yours for the having…regardless of your behavior. Trust me, if I had to prove my worth through perfect behavior I would never have got out from the bipolar, smoking, toting, hurting and confused mess I was when He found me.
“Sin” behavior cannot disprove your worth. He died for us while we were all dead in our sin.
We actually murdered God and He returned the favor with salvation!
No. Sin is the “symptom” that you need more grace, because grace
“teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:12 NIV).
Cease Trying, Have Faith (trust)
The Greek word for “faith” is pistis, and can also be translated using the more modern, common term, “trust”.
I cannot let Him have me by striving, but I can be had by Him by trusting that He already has me.
This is the difference between religious obedience and “obedience of faith”. One is by willpower, the other by grace.
If I’m struggling to believe in my heart, I will ask Him to help, and He will literally move heaven and earth to reveal Truth to my heart.
That is, when You ask Him to, God will give you the ability (grace) you need to trust Him so that you let go…enjoying a life of freedom, power, and innocence.
Cease Blindness, See God
God believes His grace is plenty to do the trick. He doesn’t need my help.
“But,” you ask, “what if I mess up?”
When I stumble, I am the first one to berate myself, but God is the first to comfort me.
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost…” (John 14:26 KJV)
Go figure. One of God’s names is “Comforter.” Comfort, then, must be important!
The verse continues:
“…whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
Holy Spirit is there to comfort…and teach.
He sees my stumbling like a vacancy sign for truth. I need insight, or revelation, or the Spirit of Counsel and Might so that I can step into a miracle and be changed forever.
I don’t know but He knows what I need.
Again…
I…
don’t…
….know.
HE KNOWS.
Since I am not Holy Spirit, I really am not very good at perfecting myself.
If I sit around staring at my mistakes or perceived flaws, I’ll have no way out from them.
See yourself as a loser, you’ll look like a loser. See yourself as a winner, you’ll look like a winner, and live like a winner…
…and the more you direct your gaze and attention to God, the more you will resemble God.
It’s just like Jacob’s sheep: all day they looked at spotted branches, so they produced spotted lambs.
Read the story of Jacob and the spotted sheep in Gen 30:29-42.
You become what you behold.
His Grace Is Sufficient
Jesus often expressed love to flagrant sinners through comfort; and to the religious Pharisees through rebuke. He loved both so much, but religion affected them differently.
One needed understanding that her sin never canceled His favor and love for her. The other, that his religious striving could never achieve it.
Religious adherence blinds you.
The Pharisees behaved like “good Christians,” believing their own appearance of godliness, but Jesus saw through it: “for you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”
Adherence to religious law does not purify hearts but hardens them. Grace reveals our soft heart and awakens agreement with God.
Grace is enough.
ease Sin-Consciousness, See Christ
Therefore, Christ’s life, death, and resurrection was the final work, the final offering, the full satisfaction of all religious requirements.
Out with the penitentiary of “re-penance,” which is an imperfect rendering of an outrageous word…
…Metanoia…
which is transformation by radical “reversal”.
Without reference to that “from” which we turn, metanoia means turn “to” God.
No more sin-consciousness, but now grace-consciousness.
No more self-absorption, but now Christ-absorption…
No more self-consciousness, but now Jesus confidence.
No more looking for hidden sin. Instead, see the hidden treasure.
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith … Or do you not realize…that Jesus Christ is in you?” ( 2 COR 13:5 ESV).
As Francois du Toit wrote in his Mirror Bible:
“Self-examination has nothing to do with finding hidden sins and flaws in you; it is all about realizing Christ in you! The object of the furnace is not to reveal the dross, but the gold!”
Sources
*Francois duToit’s translation of the Bible: The Mirror. Get it here.
*Dr. Eddie Summers’ 50 Shades of Grace. Get it here.