Freedom - The Power of Condemnation

I've been writing about Freedom in Christ and Freedom in Christianity. I have spent my whole life in church, I've been to many churches and met many Christians in many parts of the world but I've noticed that many Christians aren't free. We are burdened to the point of inaction by the heavy weight of condemnation.

I have seen people leave great churches because the person next to them was a drug addict or homeless person who had been saved. What right do we have to judge who can and can't get saved?! We HAVE to believe that anybody can come to know God and recieve the full extent of God's Grace. When I got saved I needed the full amount of God's grace to cover my sins, and I still do. Paul writes this to Timothy

"Here is a trustworthy saying: Christ came to save sinners, of which I am the worst."

I am ashamed that we can be so be so condemning in our churches, but this is not the kind of condemnation I want to talk about. The biggest killer of Freedom in our lives is Self-condemnation. In my church I am always blessed by people who find the courage to break free from self-condemnation. They are heroes in our faith. Everytime I see them they have grown in confidence and security as they focus on God.

The truth is that "There is now no condemnation for those in Christ" (Romans 8:1) yet have we really grasped this? If we had then we wouldn't be putting pressure on Pastors and church Leaders to be perfect and get it right everytime, we wouldn't go round searching for the 'perfect church' only to leave at the first hint it isn't perfect. Most importantly if we had really grasped this truth we wouldn't be condeming ourselves to be the 'Super Christian' who has an incredible intimacy with God, a powerful pray life, who has the most incredible success' in his career, and did I mention the perfect family life, his love and patience for everyone and his spiritual giftings?

So what are we aiming for? How do we know when we've got to the end? What if there was no end? What if there never came a point in life, especially a christian life, when we could look and happily say that we have figured everything out, we have got it all sorted and that we have not single outstanding issue or problem left to face or resolve? It is obvious to me that there is no such point and strangely most people would be fearful of this but they would be wrong. In fact to me it has become the most freeing of revelations, the most releasing of feelings, the deepest of sighs in my spirit as the heaviest weight is removed that there is no end point. There is no perfection. There is no condemnation.