The Good Of The Father (No Church Required) # 2039

 

For all am I strong in Him Who is invigorating me--Christ! 

Paul to the Philippians 4: 13, Concordant New Testament 

A good friend asked me this week to write on the victory which I have achieved over a porn addiction.  In all honesty, this so called victory would never have been possible without the knowledge of who I am in Christ Jesus.  The apostle Paul proclaims this in Philippians when he writes that he is indeed strong in Christ Jesus {Paul to the Philippians 4:13}.  Notice that Paul never says that he is strong because he has believed in Christ, but that he IS IN Him.  See, Paul knew the reality of his life in Christ Jesus.  I would say that this truth is the very reason for my own victory over addiction.  That knowing that my life, my very identity of who I am, is in Christ.  Unfortunately, this is something that I did not learn through my many years of church attendance.  What I did learn from those years was that I was just a sinner despite the work which Jesus did for me on the cross.  That He became the sacrifice to my sin, the innocent sacrifice which took away the sin of the world {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}.  Yet despite knowing and preaching that Jesus indeed bled and died for the forgiveness of sin, the church continues to preach that sin is that barrier in our lives that separates us from God.  This is the theology and preaching which I was raised in.  Thus, when I finally realized that I had an addiction issue, I naturally felt distanced from God because that's what I had been taught about Him.  That He is a jealous God Who punishes sin.  How I spent countless nights praying and worrying that God would not forsake me because of my own sin.  I also know that there are many believers out there who are suffering the same pain that I have.  The church will suggest that they attend a seminar where they can be "Free from sin."  These do not work, believe me I've tried.  It's not that I didn't want to be free of what I saw as sin, I did.  The issue is that I did not know yet of the freedom that I have in Christ Jesus.  As I said, this is not something which is taught within the mainstream church.  For instead of having freedom within Christ Jesus, we have the bondage of sin preached and proclaimed by those within the church.  

For freedom Christ frees us!  Stand firm, then, and be not again enthralled with the yoke of slavery

Paul to the Galatians 5: 1, Concordant New Testament 

Ironically, it was not until I had been away from the church that I began to see Jesus in a totally different way than what I had heard preached from the church.  Not only that, but I also began to have a different view of what the mainstream church proclaims as sin.  This has been the key to overcoming my own addiction.  I would suggest to anyone struggling to overcome their own addiction to take a hard look at how it is that God sees them.  Not as the condemned sinner spoken all too often by the church, but as His loved and cherished children {First Epistle of John 3:1}.  That despite our sin condition, that the Father dispatched His only Son that we will be free through Him {Paul to the Romans 5:8}.  Trust in the scriptures and not in man!  For the scriptures have spoken that Christ Jesus has died on the cross to take away the sin of the world {Johns Account 1:29}.  In reality, the only voices which are condemning us of sin are coming from the pulpits of the church!  For God does not condemn us, He reconciles that which is His unto Himself {Paul to the Colossians 1:20}.  God does not look upon His children as sinners, but as who we truly are.  To me, how God sees me is so much more important to me than how some Pharisee schooled pastor feels that I am.  All of the phrases which the church continues to use to describe us, as sinners saved by grace, are nothing but part of the lies which the church has continued to speak.  The freedom which I have found within Christ Jesus has no room for sin, because Jesus has conquered sin {Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  My own path to redemption began when I accepted what the scriptures have proclaimed, that Christ has not come to judge, but that all the world would be saved through Him {Johns Account 3:17}.  

~Scott~