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My ‘why’ behind my response

Romans 8:1 (AMP) Therefore there is now no condemnation [no guilty verdict, no punishment] for those who are in Christ Jesus [who believe in Him as personal Lord and Savior].

This verse is often misquoted. Did Paul say this in retaliation or relief? Was it in defense or comfort? When do you use this verse? Is it in an argument? Are you being defensive? Is it because you have become offended by correction by those in leadership over you?

I can become defensive and I have to remind myself of this verse,”Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” 2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV). Why? I will often come up with scenarios as why someone jumped to that conclusion about me. It is a defense mechanism I came up with when I was a child. I was the oldest and was given a lot of responsibility at an early age. I felt pressure to be perfect. If I was not perfect, if I had messed up, then I was shamed for it. I became isolated. I felt very alone as a result of the silent treatment I was given because I did not meet expectations. I have really worked hard on not having defense come up when a question comes up on why I make certain decision or what I am doing. I still have not become perfect in my response, but that’s okay. Charles Spurgeon once said, “I have a great need for Christ. I have a great Christ for my need.” So I apologize and move ahead.

Have you ever thought that this main verse may be the continuation of a thought? This is not the beginning of the thought process, it is his conclusion. Read it in context for the fullness. “Therefore” should not be where we plant our flag if we have not taken the time to find out how Paul got here.

Romans‬ ‭7:14-25‬ ‭(AMP)‬‬ “We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am a creature of the flesh [worldly, self-reliant—carnal and unspiritual], sold into slavery to sin [and serving under its control]. For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled and bewildered by them]. I do not practice what I want to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate [and yielding to my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. Now if I habitually do what I do not want to do, [that means] I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good (morally excellent). So now [if that is the case, then] it is no longer I who do it [the disobedient thing which I despise], but the sin [nature] which lives in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. For the willingness [to do good] is present in me, but the doing of good is not. For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want to do, I am no longer the one doing it [that is, it is not me that acts], but the sin [nature] which lives in me. So I find it to be the law [of my inner self], that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully delight in the law of God in my inner self [with my new nature], but I see a different law and rule of action in the members of my body [in its appetites and desires], waging war against the law of my mind and subduing me and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is within my members. Wretched and miserable man that I am! Who will [rescue me and] set me free from this body of death [this corrupt, mortal existence]? Thanks be to God [for my deliverance] through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind serve the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness, my sinful capacity—I serve] the law of sin.” ‭‭

If you believe that wrestling is condemnation, you are mistaken. Wrestling with your flesh should not bring you to condemnation, it should bring you closer to Christ. Your conclusion should not be condemnation, it should be Jesus. That is exactly what Paul is saying here. Paul was battling with himself that he knew to do write but his flesh did not want to. Have you ever gotten the “just don’t want to’s.” Paul recognized that he fought that. What did he turn to? Condemnation will in turn bring us to the door way of depression with thoughts of “I’m not good enough,” or “I will never be able to do that.”

When my Eli was in little league, at about the age of 10, he played a game that his batting was really bad. He is a wonderful ball player, but some days they have a bad day. He hung his head in shame. He talked about how bad of a player he was and how he let the team down. I had to remind him of the great play he made in the outfield and that he brought more to the team than his batting average. Some days you cannot get into the momentum of hitting. That is okay. He cannot give up. He needs to go back to practice and try again. He kept at it and is now playing in high school.

You see condemnation comes from the enemy. It is the voice of shame urging us to believe that our heavenly Father is shaking His head at us in disappointment and disgust, His arms crossed and His heart closed. If you notice that I said enemy and not people (Ephesians 6:12). Choose how you receive the words of people or you start to believe they are against you and they are your enemy, when they are really trying to help you and love you. Condemnation is often a result of my refusal to own up to my faults and refuse to change to His reflection. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit. It is the voice of grace beckoning us to run to Jesus, repent, receive mercy, and run the race before us in His transforming power and grace. Do you believe your leaders pray for you and hear God? Often times they are telling you something that the Holy Spirit has already been dealing with you.

Read the full story. Look at your ‘why on how you respond to correction. The end result should not be isolation and shutting people out because you believe they are condemning you. Remember you do not fight against flesh and blood. We are called to a body and if there is someone rubbing the ruff edges off of you, thank Jesus that they are. You are growing. Allow the Holy Spirit to do the work in and through you. Come out of shame and into His marvelous light. Own up to your faults and grow. I am not where I want to me, but I am not where I use to be.

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Begin Again

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and for the past few years my husband and I take the time to talk to the church together about marriage and relationships. This year it was important that we talked about managing conflict and walking in forgiveness. This year with the pandemic we have spent more time with our families, especially if you were in a stay at home order like we were.

I think we did pretty good with it. The stressful activity we did was to paint the outside of our house. We have a ranch style home built in 1968, addition was done in 2000. Part of the house is on foundation, the other is crawl space. It is a brick home that was painted a sea foam green. When we moved in thirteen years ago I had always wanted to paint the house, I did not like the color. The home has sixteen windows that looks to be original to the house (except for the addition) and they have the pained glass. We had gotten quotes to get the job done. They ranged from six to eight thousand dollars. The pandemic hit, and we all had to stay home together. My husband and I went out and bought a paint sprayer, rollers, brushes, paper, tape and lots of paint. Stay at home did not mean we could not go outside, and I did not want my kids playing video games all day.

Marriage, more than any other relationship, is going to highlight your flaws. A project of this magnitude with two teenage boys, was going to highlight some flaws as well. We each had a job, and we assisted each other when our job did not need to be done at the moment. The struggle that we found was when we needed help, how to communicate that. In the middle of the frustration on not being able to do this task or problem solve it, how to communicate without filtering that frustration in how we talked to each other.

Ephesians 4:1-3 (TLB) I beg you—I, a prisoner here in jail for serving the Lord—to live and act in a way worthy of those who have been chosen for such wonderful blessings as these. Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Try always to be led along together by the Holy Spirit and so be at peace with one another.

We each have faults. In love, we must make allowances for each other. Grace needed to be applied to each other. Be patient with your children and spouse. Have faith in what your marriage/family can become. Do not heap on expectations on where you think you should be. Enjoy the journey.

Hebrews 12:2 (MSG) Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. 

If in the process of painting the house we fixed your thoughts on the faults and failure’s of each other the project would probably had never gotten completed. Our family relationship would have suffered a great loss. The problems in our marriage/family are going to be magnified if we do not keep our eyes on Jesus. Study how He lived His life. He had some different personalities to do life with.

The problems in our marriage/family are going to be magnified if we do not keep our eyes on Jesus.

The bigger picture is that I want my children to have lasting relationships. The highlighted flaws that their parents have are going to come out in front of them. When my husband and I first got married my reaction to a question or statement would have been returned with a quick straight to the point answer. I filtered my responses through defense. I thought I was always under a microscope waiting for someone to point out my flaws, this person now being my husband. In return, how I answered was not clear or was often misunderstood because of how I said it, not in what I said. This escalated the conversation into a fight. My husband when he is flustered can come off as very aggravated, this combined with filtering through defense was a combination for disaster. One of us needed to do something. I went to a really good source. I went to my Word.

Colossians 3:13 (NLT) Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

Philippians 4:8 (TLB) Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about.

When tensions started to flair, we had to go back to this. Someone was not ready to change how they approached the problem, that is okay because they need grace in the moment and we are going to give it to them. Did we have a few blow ups? Yes! We are not perfect. In the end, I do not recall what they were about. I do know that the house is painted. We have to redo the porch, we did not seal it…oops! We still love each other. We still enjoy each other’s company. We have had to tackle other projects together and did not dread it!

It is not too late for your marriage or your family. For us, it started with one person making up their mind that they were not going to hold onto offense and to be quick to forgive. I just so happened to be that person in my home. I had to lay down my pride and me wanting to always be right. In turn there was a change in me. I no longer responded in defense. Peace was raging in me, so it was also becoming a part of what our home would be.

You can make up your mind to begin again. What if you spouse is not wanting to make the change? You make the change. Let God work on them. At the end of all of this, we will give an account of what we did, not what they did. I want to hear “well done good and faithful servant”. We are not going to hear “well done perfect servant.” So please stop putting that expectation on the people you have relationships with, including leaders. I want to point out that He uses the word servant. Are we serving in our families? If not, you can begin now. It is not too late. I do not regret making that change. I have my moments, because I am not going to be perfect at it all the time, in return my family have made allowances for me as I have made allowances for them. It is pretty nice.

If you need prayer or would like to talk about anything feel free to email me at amanda@desiringformore.org.