Hello all! Happy Thanksgiving! I wish you and yours a wonderful start to your holiday season! Be safe and never take for granted what you have in family and friends.
I wanted to highlight something else during this special season of thankfulness in today’s blog. I am very thankful that in Jesus, we are not “filthy rags” and “used goods!” I want this to grab you today. I want you to understand that we are not the same people we were prior to knowing Jesus! If you don’t know Jesus, you won’t ever be the same when you do come to know him! We are not sinners anymore once we come to know and accept Jesus! We are not dressed in “dirty rags”; we are dressed in robes of righteousness. You are not a "dirty sinner" in Christ, you are made new! Are we prone to mistakes? Yes. Will we make mistakes? Yes. Will we have 2nd chances and even 3rd chances with Jesus? Yes. Jesus is in the business of 2nd and 3rd chances. He is the redeemer of all things including your 2nd and 3rd chances! "Filthy rags" is a false gospel!
To all my ladies especially, you aren’t “used goods” when it comes to “virginity” vs. “non-virginity” – I don’t care what a mortal man tells you. Jesus never called you “used goods” and He never will! “Used goods” is the present age’s invented cultural construct to keep you tied to an identity based on your sexuality (or lack thereof) and your relationship to a mortal man. Your identity is not to be tied up in your sexuality (or your relationship to a mortal man for that matter). Your sum total identity is in Jesus, the King of Kings. Jesus is in the business of restoration and has dressed you in the same beautiful robe of righteousness, regardless of your sexual history or lack thereof. Ladies, you were equally created by Him to be a partner to men, not a subordinate or the only one for whom submission is a role. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying and preaches the false gospel of patriarchy. The blood of Jesus and the true Gospel has declared patriarchy null and void!
As we are so interested in cancel culture in this day and age, allow me to tell you what the blood of Jesus canceled, for good. His blood canceled your sin debt, for good. His blood canceled the rift between God and man, for good. His blood canceled our failed cultural constructs that tie us to harmful traditions that have no standing in His Word and are not part of His nature, for good. Let me put this plainly, the blood of Jesus canceled patriarchy, for good. His blood canceled the “filthy rags” notion, for good. His blood canceled the “used goods” notion, for good. His blood canceled the generational curses of sin, for good. His blood canceled the rift between men and women, for good. How’s that for cancel culture? The difference is what He cancels will stand the test of time because the blood of Jesus is more powerful than a Tweet on the internet, or a foolish criticism by a member of the media, a religious person, and a politician. Read that sentence again.
Do you see how we have been fooled in Christendom and beyond? We have been lured by false gospels dressed up in crosses and “Jesus clothes.” These false gospels want us to chase power and deny the real power of the Cross. I won’t have it! I will not tolerate it for you and me! The blood of Jesus and the Cross have declared these false gospels obsolete and of no value. Those who hold to them will be destroyed by them as see their relationships destroyed. I do not want this for them, I do not want this for you!
I want to end today with some verses to help readers understand the claims of this blog. I encourage you to read and decide the matter for yourself.
Colossians 2:13-15 NIV; When you were (spiritually) dead in your sins… God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities (evil, cultural constructs, false gospels), he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Isaiah 61:10 NIV; “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness as a bride and groom adorn themselves.
2 Corinthians 5:17; Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 NIV; God has done all this. He has restored our relationship with him through Christ and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships. In other words, God was using Christ to restore his relationship with humanity. He didn’t hold people’s faults against them, and he has given us this message of restored relationships to tell others. Therefore, we are Christ’s representatives, and through us God is calling you.
Genesis 1:27 MSG; God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflect our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.
Genesis 2:18 TPT; “It is not good for man to be alone. Therefore, I will fashion a suitable partner to be his help and strength.
Ephesians 5:21; Submit to one another (both men and women) out of reverence for Christ.
Thankful for the blood of Jesus and the cross of Christ,
Elizabeth
*If you want to read more about false gospels in American culture, see my blog series, America's Multiple False "Gospels" Parts 1-3.