Identity Crisis: Seattle

Source text from “Death by Love” by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears -

The Lie: God loves me (or doesn’t love me) for my works.
– Religion demands that we act in accordance with laws out of fear of guilt. Namely that God will not love you. Or transversely, God will love you if you keep these laws.

This is a lie that I find my flesh constantly trying to fall into. I feel that if I can just work hard enough, or do enough “good” works, then I’ll win God’s favor. However, its strictly unbiblical.

Rom 5:8 " But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

1John4:7-10 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be propitiation for our sins.”

The truth: It is out of God’s love for us that we wish to be like him, to keep his commandments, and love others. Jesus’ love for us frees us from the oppression of works and laws, through his atoning work on the cross. Jesus' work frees us from the tyranny of religion. When we find our Identitiy in Christ, we're given a new heart with new desires which enable us to have the proper response to such illdeserved love. The proper response is devotion for the man who gave himself up for you. So it is now our joy to follow, and listen to Jesus.