This morning the word that was in my mind, as I started praying, was qualification. Yesterday the Lord took me through the whole theme of regrets and unforgiveness towards ourselves. One of the things we tend to do, when we live in these regrets, is disqualify ourselves, thinking that we have messed up so bad or for so long that we no longer are trustworthy or or even welcomed by the Lord. This morning the Lord lead me to Colossians 1:9-14, 21-22 NIV:
[9] "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, [10] so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, [11] being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, [12] and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. [13] For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
[21] "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. [22] But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation---..."
Starting at verse 12, Paul makes a powerful point that it is the Father who has qualified us. Our qualification has nothing to do with us, or our actions. We don't earn our qualification, we don't pay for our qualification through sacrifice or good works, or holy living. Our qualification comes from God the Father. If He has qualified us, who are we to say that we are disqualified? Can our sin erase the work of Christ, His blood's cleansing power, His forgiveness or His death? If we believe this, than we either have a greatly exaggerated notion of our importance and power, or we have believed the lies of the enemy.
The truth is that Jesus worked for us and redeemed us while we were still in sin. His salvation is for sinners, in other words those who are still sinning. If it was our job to qualify ourselves, through our own works or holy living this would not be the case. Paul expanded this message later in the letter - Colossians 2:13-14 NIV: "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, [14] having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross."
Again, if this is what the Lord did for us while we were still dead in our sins, how can we cancel this work, through sin? I think not, for that was the exact state we were in when He forgave us. If our sin didn't disqualify us initially, it cannot succeed a second time. Jesus did not die for just our first bunch of sins, and give us one certificate of redemption that can only be used once. No, He died for all of our sins, every one of them. "He forgave us all our sins."
So let us embrace this message, recognizing that Christ has paid the price for all our sins. Because of Jesus' actions, not our's, the Father has qualified us. Let no one convinced us of any other message, for clearly anything else is a lie. Let us embrace this wonderful grace (unmerited favor) and in thankfulness commit ourselves to Him who loves us, even while we were sinners. Let us be filled with wisdom and understanding and His wonderful power given to us to bring Glory to Him. Let us throw off the chains of regret and unforgiveness and live our life in the freedom Jesus purchased for us.
Amen!
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