#newcovenantreality

[spiritualparadigm]

Longing for Utopia?

by Aaron Logan There seems to be a consistent theme in the psyche of humans, which spans many cultures, religions, and even the pages of history. We long for utopia. We long for a place of perfection where suffering, hardship, and troubles cease, and everything is rainbows and butterflies. This particularly seems to kick in whenever we face a really difficult loss or hardship. I had to deal with this myself after being paralyzed in a car accident. I began thinking about the life to come, the next realm, the heavenly realm, and how amazing it would be. No car accidents. No paralysis. No sickness. No pain. I thought about it quite a bit actually, even to the point of almost wishing I hadn't survived the car accident. While I still look forward to the realm to come, I have since shifted my perspective quite a bit. When we are driven by the concept of utopia somewhere out in the distance, we often miss living in the here and now. We miss out on our true spiritual reality, and in participating in what God is doing in the earth. We fall into "escapism," just wanting to escape our present circumstances, or even this life and this planet (not necessarily by considering suicide, but through a mental and emotional escape). We begin to despise our life as it is, and fantasize about a utopian future. In doing so, we miss the reality of Christ IN US.......NOW. We miss the reality of being a new creation (2 Cor 5), made complete in Christ (Col 2), and seated in heavenly places (Eph 2).......NOW. We miss the reality of the Kingdom being in our midst.......NOW (Luke 17:20-21, Matt 12:28). We miss out on getting to participate in the increase of His government and peace.....NOW (Is 9:7). Unfortunately, many of us have been TAUGHT escapism - in one form or another - as if that's the only thing we have to look forward to as Christians. Either a utopian dream for our personal destiny and success (coming from the influence of the motivational / self help industry), in which hope is always out there in the foggy distance.....somewhere out there in fantasy land our dreams for breakthrough, significance, and success will be realized......or a mentality of Jesus coming to zap us up off of this planet so we can get the heck out of here. I absolutely look forward to the day I step into the next realm. I truly believe that will be the utopia we all long for. And I also believe there are wonderful things ahead for me in this life, on this planet. But I no longer embrace escapism. I have chosen to shift my focus and awareness to the fullness we've been given in Christ, NOW. Seated in heavenly places, NOW. A new creation in Christ, NOW. The Kingdom in our midst, NOW. And looking to Isaiah 9:7 as my vision for the world and the cosmos...... "Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end."

[spiritualparadigm]

Performance or Fullness in Christ??

by Aaron Logan In most churches today you're going to hear:

Do this....don't do that. Do this....don't do that.

Tweak this, adjust that, change this other thing...constantly self adjust. Fix yourself and improve yourself so you can go to another "level," or get a "breakthrough." It's more like a motivational / self help conference.

But life in Christ is actually about learning to live in an 'awareness' of the fullness we have in Christ, the Kingdom within us, and oneness with the Father. THAT'S where it's at. ‪

[spiritualparadigm]

Theological Validation Based On Fruit??

by Aaron Logan I have noticed first hand (on multiple occasions) that when someone has a theological belief system they cannot back up with scripture (and in which the fullness of Christ is not the center), and it gets challenged, they revert to the "fruit" argument. "Well, but I've seen fruit in my life from this." Or, "But this person has seen good fruit from this." So??? Here's the deal. First of all, the source of the "fruit" can always be questioned. Maybe the "fruit" you saw was actually just the Father blessing you from His goodness, but you are giving credit to something else. [Aside: the verse, "you shall know them by their fruits" was not about validating theology, it was about false prophets and the actions of men. Mt 7] Also, if the Father only ever blessed us once we have perfect and flawless theology, and a complete understanding of everything, then we would never actually be blessed. In other words, that's not a validation for the theology in question. Nobody has a full understanding of everything. But God has always, all through the scriptures, met people at their level of revelation and understanding. We do the same thing with our own kids, don't we. When they are first learning to write, and their handwriting is sloppy, and they misspell the simplest words, do we tear up their piece of paper and reject what they did? No, we give them encouragement and help them to learn more. They are just getting started. Their level of understanding will grow. Just because we claim to have seen "fruit" from jumping through a bunch of religious hoops our whole life (or a bunch of spiritual hoops, thinking we have to do this or that to earn breakthroughs and "do warfare".... living from a very limited perspective of New Covenant reality), does not mean we have correct theology, nor does it mean we have to stay there. He met us where we were at for that time. But now that we are being presented with a deeper level of understanding, it's our chance to grow.

[spiritualparadigm]

New Level??

by Aaron Logan You have been made complete in Christ (brought to fullness) (Col 2:10), and are seated in heavenly places (Eph 2). This concept we have in many Christian circles of always trying to get to another spiritual "level" is mixing worldly principles from western culture with a spiritual reality. To get to another level in your health, career, or personal goals, you work and strive really hard to increase your capacity. But we've taken that concept and tried to apply that to our spiritual reality. And then, of course, that developed to "new level new devil." (No time to address that here.) No, what happens is we grow in our revelation, our understanding, our awareness of Kingdom realities, and then we CALL it a new level. And that's ok I guess, if we understand that our spiritual reality never changed, it's just our understanding of it that changed. [Or we get better at our outward performance and call that a new level...] When you have been made complete in Christ and are seated in heavenly places, how do you get to a higher "level" than that spiritually?? We're mixing realms when we talk like that, and confuse people. What we actually need to grow in is our revelation, our understanding, our awareness of Kingdom realities. Paul called it a renewing of the mind.

[spiritualparadigm]

Validation

by Aaron Logan The human emotional and psychological need for validation is so deep and profound, it causes us to do silly things. It can cause us to be critical and judgmental toward others, so that we feel better about ourselves in comparison. It causes us to jump through all kinds of hoops to try to please people, impress people, or even to be "pleasing to God." We have a very hard time with the concept that we are already accepted in the Beloved (which is Christ), that we've already been brought to fullness in Christ (Col 2), and are already seated in Heavenly places in Christ (Eph 2). Anything we "do" is FROM fullness, not trying to EARN fullness or validation. Or we end up like the Galatians, who started out by faith in the finished work of Jesus, but then quickly switched to their own performance. Rest in the fullness of Jesus. Live in the delight of the Father. This is your New Covenant reality.

[spiritualparadigm]

The Father delights....

by Aaron Logan Trying to understand Grace through a legalistic mentality looks something like this: "You need to enjoy a God who doesn't particularly enjoy you!" Having a true Grace mentality looks like this: "The Father delights in those who don't even know how to enjoy Him." (1 John 3:1, 1 John 3:2, Gal 3:26 , John 1:12 , Rom 8:14, Rom 8:16-17, Rom 9:8, Eph 1:3-6, Psalm 18:19, Psalm 22:8, Psalm 35:27, Psalm 36:8, Song of Solomon 7:6, Isaiah 62:4, Micah 7:18)

[spiritualparadigm]

No Balance in Grace and Law

by Aaron Logan There is no "balance" between Law and Grace. We do not keep one foot in the Old Covenant and one in the New. There was a progression to the story...a journey from Old to New. (That's why one is called "old" and one is called "new.") This doesn't mean we don't have boundaries in our human relationships, or personal disciplines in our life. People often confuse Grace and Law with "patience and boundaries" in human relationships (having "grace/patience" for people, but not letting them walk all over us or abuse us....that's a different topic). But this is about our standing with the Father, and living in the fullness of Christ (not made RIGHT by our performance). The Old was brought to an end and we live in the New, seated in heavenly places in Christ, brought to fullness in Christ.

"For Christ is the END of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Rom 10:4

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness." Col 2:9-10

"For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are NOT under law but under GRACE." Rom 6:14

"For as many as are of the works of the LAW are under the CURSE; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in ALL things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that NO ONE is JUSTIFIED by the LAW in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by FAITH.” Yet the law is NOT of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” CHRIST HAS REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might RECEIVE the promise of the Spirit through FAITH." Gal 3:10-14

“But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother......... But what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.’ So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.” Gal 4:23-26, 30-31