Condemnation

November 29, 2019

“When I’m in the woods, I feel peace...God’s presence with me.” I can’t tell how often I’ve heard words to that effect from avid hunters; the ones who can spend an entire day sitting in one spot waiting for the trophy buck to wander into view. I’m not one of them. When I am in the woods without the distractions of work, friendships, family, or media, I start to think, and the thoughts are rarely uplifting. 

I envy those whose thoughts naturally run to the goodness of life and the loving grace of God. Mine run to all the ways I’ve fallen and continue to fall short. I remember past sins, areas in my life where I could have done better, opportunities lost, and all the “what ifs” and “if only’s” that assail the gates of my mind. I don’t need the Bible to tell me that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). I know all too well how far short I fall; my conscience reminds me on a daily basis. St. Paul commands us in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 to “take every thought captive to Christ,” a task akin to corralling stray calves that prefer to run free. It requires a constant effort on my part to rope those wayward thoughts, drag them to the corral of the mind of Christ, and make sure they stay there.

This morning, a friend posted a meme quoting John 3:17. The sixteenth verse is one of the most oft-quoted verse of Scripture—“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (KJV). The context of that verse is too often neglected. Here’s the entire section:

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” —John 3:14-18 NKJV

Twice in this passage, we read the words, “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (verses 15 and 16). The seventeenth verse gives us the purpose of Christ’s sojourn on this world—to save, not condemn. Jesus died on the cross to give us eternal life. His death is what saves us from condemnation. Believing in Christ is what actuates that eternal life, that freedom from condemnation. Here is where I get tripped up. Faith is the source of that freedom from condemnation, not the result of it. I tend to want to feel uncondemned before I believe, instead of after. In other words, I expect the feeling before the faith, which is getting the cart before the horse.

Jesus doesn’t condemn; that’s what the devil does, accusing us night and day (Revelation 12:10). If I am feeling condemnation, it’s because instead of listening to the voice of Jesus, I’m listening to Satan’s voice. And my emotions play right into it. If I am living by my emotions, I’m not living by faith. Faith trusts instead in the promise of God in Scripture that because of Christ, I am not condemned, no matter how I feel.

I am thankful for the words of Scripture and the faithfulness of one of his children who posted it, not knowing I needed that word today. Tonight, I choose faith.