Living With No Condemnation

[JosephM]

No Condemnation in Christ

by JosephM

 

If someone asked me , what was the one most important thing that propelled me on my spiritual journey, i would have to say it was the elimination of guilt and self condemnation from my consciousness.

 

Life up to that point was for me filled with written rules, laws and commandments of the Bible, the church, my parents and those placed over me. Sooner or later it seemed always inevitable in my very nature that i would violate one of these precepts. And with that violation would come conscious or unconscious guilt that weighted me down to the point i could no longer truly love myself nor others.

 

I was condemned by my acceptance of these written laws and giving them power over me to accuse me and fill me with guilt. Laws that i found it near impossible to keep at all times. As a result i felt i was slowly dying and could no longer feel joy in the material things i had attained in the world. They could no longer cover up the feeling of the absence of love for such an imperfect creature as myself

 

Condemnation in a biblical sense means an adverse decision or verdict, a judgment, an accusation or damnation. In that sense the opposite of condemnation would be justification or acquittal. It is important for one to keep in mind that there can be no adverse decision or verdict until one is charged or accused with a violation or transgression of some sort. It then stands to reason that there must also be an accuser. In other words, we see there must be a violation or transgression of some sort with an accuser for there to be condemnation. If we can prove the absence of any one of these factors there can be no condemnation.

 

Freedom from these laws came for me from a decision to forgive all others. This making true for me the teaching of Jesus that said. "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you". And with this forgiveness i became as a new creature with the burden of guilt and sin lifted and love surfacing in its place.

 

Col. 2:20-22

Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, [21] (Touch not; taste not; handle not; [22] Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

 

I then understood these written laws and commandments and their purpose and was no longer under their control. However in time, i somehow managed to lose some of this new-found freedom i had become a recipient of. I was certain i knew I was no longer under those written laws yet something was wrong. My prayer was that my eyes would be opened to see such a device that would rob me of this new-found joy and freedom in Christ i had felt.

 

My answer was to come... It was not the written laws but rather 'the unwritten killer' that was slaying me. I had missed the subtle unwritten laws.

 

At the time I was working at GE in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our department had frequent meetings and gatherings for individuals. Being a coffee drinker, I always liked to get started with a good cup of coffee to drink before the meeting or bring it to the meeting.

 

Being brought up to be punctual for all affairs, I prided myself in this virtue. I would leave early to get to work early and get in line early at the department coffee machine of which I was a paid member and wait my turn in line. It never ceased to amaze me how inconsiderate some people could be. Rather than wait for the coffee machine to finish brewing, many would advance to the front and remove the pot from under the brewer and place their cup there to get a cup full before it was finished brewing.

 

I remember thinking to myself many times down deep inside that this is a bad thing to do since it takes the strongest portion of the brew and leaves a weaker brew to those patiently waiting. I watched others do this quick trick so as not to wait in line. I thought to myself how wrong and inconsiderate this is to others. I remember even remarking to God how wrong this was to do such a thing. However, I got no response .

 

It wasn't long after that a traffic jam set my arrival at work later than usual. I was about to be late for a meeting and didn't yet have my coffee. I, without thought, but minding my fleshly need for a hot cup of coffee, immediately advanced to the coffee machine that was still brewing. Quickly I whisked my cup in place of the pot without missing so much as a drop. I filled my cup, proudly returned the pot and headed towards my meeting just in time to hear a voice saying in my head, “Who are you that does the same thing?”

 

I knew right away that this question was a response to my previous remark. I was cut to the quick. I had violated a law and it wasn't in a book. It was a law i had written on my heart. I now knew what unwritten laws were all about. And for those who need to read it in a Bible...

 

Romans 2:1

Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

 

I was bringing on my own judgment. Instead of excusing other people for their natural desire/nature for the fleshly things and their prior conditioning, i was continually making new laws for myself. I was accusing and measuring others. I was eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil rather than the tree of life.

 

Matthew 7:2

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Romans 2:14

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

 

What does that mean? To me, it meant that even when you haven’t put yourself under a written law you could be a law unto yourself. How? By accusing others. The next verse of the book of Romans reads....

 

Romans 2:15

Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

 

As we go about our daily lives we succeed in writing many laws on our hearts as we continually judge and measure others around us. I learned this through the incident above and now choose to excuse rather than accuse. I hope this sharing of this experience will not only entertain somewhat but will somehow help others in their spiritual journey as they see there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ where there is neither negative accusations nor measuring of others. Where love forgives even before an offence is given.

[Burl]

Excellent.