Represented

But I told you that you have seen Me and still do not believe. Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away.  John 6:36-37  NET

Jesus does not say that those with pain-free lives are never cast out. He says those who come to Him are never cast out. That goes for everyone and anyone! 

He does not say, “Whoever comes to me with sufficient regret,” or “Whoever comes to me with extra efforts.” 

He says, “Whoever comes to ME I will never cast out.”

Just as we can hardly fathom the divine ferocity God has for those still outside of Christ, it is equally true that we can hardly fathom the divine tenderness already resting now on those who walk with Christ. 

The guilt and shame of those in Christ is forever outstripped by His abounding grace. When we feel as if our thoughts, words, and deeds are diminishing God’s grace toward us, those sins and failures that we are buried under, tell Jesus. Go to Him and pray with Holy Spirit for freedom from the trap.  John 6:37 reassures us that this is not only a matter of divine decree but divine desire. This is heaven’s delight. Come to me, says Christ. I will embrace you into My deepest being and never let you go.

Amazing grace! The gift of His grace is not an impersonal thing. God’s grace comes to us no more and no less than Jesus Christ comes to us. In the Gospel we are not given a thing; we are given a person.  Whoa. 

Not only are holiness and sinfulness mutually exclusive, but Christ, being perfectly holy, knows and feels the horror and weight of sin more deeply than any of us could fathom,—just as the purer a man’s heart, the more horrified he is at the thought of his neighbour's being robbed or abused While the more corrupt one’s heart is, the less one is affected by the evils all around. 

Carry this train of thought a little further. Just as the closer we walk with Holy Spirit, the more horrified we are at the world’s evil, so we are also naturally drawn out to help and relieve and protect and comfort, others, whereas a corrupt heart sits still, indifferent to pain and suffering. 

Without abiding in Jesus we can do nothing. Chase Him. This means spending daily chunks of time in His presence and ongoing prayer with Him. Our responsibility is to position ourselves where Jesus can flood us with mercy. We start with desperation. Humbled by His selfless love, surrendered to the will of God.  

There must be an inner cry for help, with our eyes on  our own lane, chasing Jesus on the highway ahead with the realization that we need certain things pruned out of our lives and the things of God grafted in. 

This desperation for calm, solid, joy, rooted joy, helps us to be disciplined, and when we delight in Jesus—when He is all that thrills and fuels us—we have the means to represent Him well among all the peoples of the earth.