I wonder, how many of God’s children are still living in exile? The fact is, we are no longer banished from our heavenly Father’s presence. Jesus has torn the veil that separated us from our Daddy God. Our debt has been paid in full by His blood that He shed willingly for us. His grace has given us unmerited favor; yet we live in a self- imposed exile.
Some of us seem to have forgotten that God is, and always has been, the initiator of our redemption. His desire has never been to punish us. He has known from the start that we would rebel and reject Him. He knew the darkness and ignorance we would be in without Him. He knew we could never get it right on our own. So, before He even formed the world, it was decided that the solution for mankind's problem would be sent to earth! He sent His son Jesus, to illuminate the way home to our Daddy. He willingly laid down His life and took all of mankind’s sin, shame, and guilt. Jesus came to salvage mankind and make us royalty. All on His initiative, He offers each of us a gift so valuable that even the richest man in the world could not pay for it; the gift of eternal life.
So, for those of us who have responded to this awesome gift, we are no longer fugitives. We do not have to run from our Father and fear punishment from Him when we do mess up and sin. He has made us righteous through Jesus. Unfortunately, we lead ourselves right back into exile when we start thinking that our good works will keep God pleased with us. If all our good works could never make us righteous and pleasing to God when we were lost, then how can the sins that we commit when we are born again make us unrighteous and a disappointment? Because of Jesus, our position has now changed, and it is permanent. We stand in Him and what He did perfectly for us. This gives us room to fail while we are in the process of growing up in the Lord. The more we think that we have to produce a Holy life by our own self effort and works, the more entangled we become in sin.
Many of us have heard the verse in John 8:32, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” Well the truth that truly brings freedom in our lives is the fact that we have been made righteous, holy, and blameless before our Father in this life and into eternal life. Meditating on the truth that we are completely forgiven and our sins have been taken away will cause those old sin patterns to lose its grip on us. The new creation that we are will manifest as we change our old thoughts.
I can hear the Father saying to His children; “You are no longer fugitives so quit wandering around looking for a place to hide. Your sin debt has been paid by my Son!
I want you to live in the freedom He purchased for you. Don’t spend another day living in your self-imposed exile from Me. Just come home and stay at home in My presence. I love you.”
Isaiah 51:14
The exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon, nor will his bread be lacking.
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