Taylor's Bad Theology: Are You Proud of Me

"God, are you proud of me?" We kicked that question around yesterday, but I'm concerned that it became a distraction. I don't really know the answer to that, and I mainly meant to raise it as an attention getter. Now, that looks like a weak choice on my part.

The main thing I hope you carried away is the powerful truth of double imputation. When God sees us, he sees the perfect righteousness of Christ. He sees us just as if we've never sinned, but also just as if we've done everything right. He feels for us the same delight that he feels for Christ. Resting in that give such freedom and joy. We have nothing to prove to God. We have to do nothing to earn his favor. We have his favor! That truth is much more important than the fine distinctions around, "Are you proud of me?".

Please let me know any questions you have about double imputation. You can e-mail me by clicking "View My Complete Profile" on the left, or you can post a comment here. I check for comments during the week. Also, feel free to post a comment about the Is-God-proud-of-us issue. I'd enjoy hearing us kick that around this week.

Kelly Clarkson's Bad Theology of Forgiveness

A couple of things struck me about today's lesson on forgiveness. First, I seemed to see many people in the class connected with the lesson. I guess as we experience more hurts as we go through life, we have many more opportunities to forgive and a deeper need to forgive. Watching the pain register on people's faces was sad and a little hard for me. I wondered what the stories of hurt were that many of us had been through.

Second, I walk away from the lesson pondering the supernatural-ness of forgiveness. Again, my legalism is exposed. I want to be able to forgive in my own strength--I want to find the formula, do it, and move on. Now, thanks to your input, I realize that I can't truly forgive apart from the grace of God. True, Biblical forgiveness is probably beyond me. Perhaps another way to look at it might be, "How is forgiveness possible only when we rest in and feed on Christ?" As some of you pointed out, he forgave deeply and completely. I know that we can trust him to work the same forgiveness in us as we draw near to him.

Forgiveness?

I have a question for you to think about in preparation for this Sunday. What is Biblical forgiveness? When Jesus commands us to forgive others, what does that mean? Are we supposed to forget the harm they did to us ("forgive and forget")? Does it mean that if we forgive, then we trust the person again? What is gospel-centered forgiveness? Ponder these questions as you get ready for Sunday. And please pray for me. I was hurt today by someone, and as I sat down to work on this lesson, I realized that God has sovereignly set me up to be ready to learn. I need to forgive, and I don't want to.