You can rest on me, Jesus!

You’ve heard it before: “Deny yourself and take up your cross daily”. What do you think or feel when you read this? Most people, I’d say, probably feel burdened. They think, “Well, I’m not denying myself too well because I’m still struggling with A, B, and C. And I haven’t been taking up my cross because I still need improvement in areas X, Y, and Z.” [insert weighty sigh of anxiety and self-disappointment]

This is NONSENSE!!

I, along with many Christians, have been taught in the past that Christianity is hard, that there are struggles, and it requires ‘denying myself’. But as I’ve been reading ‘The Happy Gospel’ and exploring Scripture with an open heart and mind and enjoying my time with my Papa, I’ve come to realize something: When Jesus said His burden is light and His yoke is easy, He wasn’t trying to fool us. HE MEANT IT!
Thayer’s Lexicon says that to ‘deny self’ actually means ‘to forget and lose sight of self’. Benjamin Dunn comments and says,

"We have joyfully given up all of our rights to a sinful, independent existence and have been enraptured in mystical union and dependence upon Christ. This is not a lifelong process; how can it be? When we came to Christ, we were offered such beauty and blessing that we instantly lost sight of anything else. This is the true meaning of denying ourselves - we are no longer in charge, even of our salvation!… Let self be eclipsed by the glory of the cross."

What about ‘working out your salvation with fear and trembling’, you ask? The A.S. Way Translation says that ‘trembling’ means ‘self-distrust’ - in other words, we cannot trust in ourselves to create a desire for God and His ways. It is God who supplies the impulse within us to be as He intended. Have reverence [fear] for the Lord who is the giver of all good things, including our salvation, which is unobtainable by our own doing! It’s been GIVEN and GIFTED to us! We have to learn to receive.

What does this mean? It means the only responsibility we have is to soak up His presence, which is full of His love, grace, and peace. All holiness that flows is a natural byproduct of spending time with Him and it comes completely effortlessly!

My fellow brothers and sisters, if you are ones who are miserable in your walk, and bogged down with all the things you have yet to do and improve, or who you aren’t and who you should be, then COME BE FREE! Stop living under a Christianity tainted with religion, and find liberty in faith and hope of GRACE as Christ intended. Jesus already paid for your shortcomings and failures - there is no need to be hard on yourselves in the Kingdom of God.

The Holy’s Spirit’s primary job in the lives of Christians is not to convict us of sins, but of our righteousness!!  (See John 16:7-11; look at who Jesus is talking about when concerning sin and righteousness!… and please note that I’m not saying He doesn’t deal with our sin.. He does and will, but He first and foremost wants to remind us of who we are in Him when we go astray) When we sin, He is not primarily getting on our case about what we need to do to make things better; He is reminding us that we are His sons and daughters, made perfect and righteous by the blood of Jesus, and reminding us that we don’t have to say yes to sin anymore and all we have to do to remove our sin is trust in His grace.When we mope around saying, “I am not”, He is dancing in the victory that He has accomplished for you and shouting, “Oh, yes you are! I MADE IT SO!”

If you’re worried about people abusing this grace, as Paul mentions in Romans, then for them, it’s not really grace to begin with. Grace is not to be used as an excuse to do wrong!

Again, REST IN THE PRESENCE OF JESUS CHRIST. Then all things pure and good will overflow. The Bible teaches many things; the Law IS good! But it is no longer our tutor, or in charge of us (Galatians 3:24-25). Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law (do everything that we could not), not abolish it; the Bible and its commandments are still here for us to refer back to, but the OLD Testament is just that - OLD. Everything in it points to Christ, who is the NEW covenant. Which means that the Law is still good, but now if we only follow Jesus, the Law will come naturally and no longer with struggle!! (read Galatians chapter 5) WOW!! No more striving. Just resting in Jesus!

So many churches today — so many Christians today — do exactly the opposite of what Galatians 5:1 says… they submit to a yoke of slavery. Even in their wanting to be closer to Christ, they chose to enslave themselves to obligations of reading their Bible, tithing, and fasting to earn God’s favor, instead of taking up the offer and  privilege of resting in Papa’s arms for the sake of resting in Papa’s arms, and letting those actions come naturally as a result. They insist that maturity in Christ and a developed faith is based on how disciplined they are, how much of Scripture they’ve memorized, how often they fast, etc…. aka: it’s based on what they DO, not what they ‘BE’. (And I have been there…I am still in the process of believing more and more each day that His grace truly is sufficient. But what freedom has come upon realizing this and beginning that process!)

All of these things are good things… but unless they are preceded with an encounter with Christ Himself, and are a byproduct of the encounter of His love, they’re useless. God can use them still, sure, but then you’re missing out on His greatest gift through salvation - a real relationship with Him! PERFECT UNION with Him! You cannot earn more favor with Him by doing these things, and less favor by not doing them.
Jesus Himself stated, “Mary has chosen what is better” (Luke 10:38-41) Unless you come with the faith of a child, you will not enter the Kingdom (Matthew 18:3) This is why His burden is light and His yoke is easy. We literally have to do NOTHING except rest in Him. And He will do the rest!

"Yes, of course He is the perfect example of holy living, but His purpose was not to show us how to live, but to live it out for us — in and us and through us!" - Benjamin Dunn

Aly Todd