OUR INHERITANCE IS TO BE BORN AGAIN
31/08/24 07:52
The ‘new self’ is the incarnated self. Never the self in the law. If attempting to live form the law we are not born again. Leanne Payne, writing mainly to Christians has observed that, “Until we accept the new self, we are dangerous to ourselves and to others; even though we are Christians, we are still enthralled by the voices of this world and obey them. We fail to abide in Christ and instead remain self-conscious.
A right understanding of the true self and our acceptance of it is necessary to a sound and balanced theology. Christ who is my everything is also my righteousness. In accepting myself in Him, I am no longer trapped in the mode of trying to win my own righteousness or God’s love, or in trying to keep the law, the very thing that Christ fulfilled.” (1) I am set free from ‘Christian narcissism’.
POVERTY MENTALITY LEGALISM
Some live an economic poverty mentality. Once poor - but no longer are poor because they have a more than an adequate income speak these words whenever a purchase us made. ‘How much was it?’ This is response is so repetitive that you wonder if they have ever purchased something simply for the joy it gives. But no. Like the Christian who must cling to the law to see how he is doing, his obsession with the self prevents him from living in joy and being his True Self.
MISER RELIGION
As legalists we never get to become our true selves as sons in spirit and in truth but live subverted in a parody of ourselves - so that an advance from glory to glory is a platitude for us but the reality for those who live incarnated with Christ come in their flesh. Adherence to externalities do not afford us spiritual glory and neither do the gifts. The True Self comes entirely from the resurrected Christ living His resurrection in us by the Spirit.
Following this train of thought Richard Rohr observes that, “Once you [GET OUT OF] your narcissistic fix, you have no real need to protect your identity, defend it, prove it, or assert it. It just is, and is more than enough.
THE WHO OF YOU IN CHRIST
This is what we actually mean by “salvation,” especially when we get our narcissistic fix all the way from the Top. When you get your “Who am I?” question right, all the “What should I do?” questions tend to take care of themselves. The very fact that so many religious people have to, so vigorously prove and defend their salvation theories makes one seriously doubt whether they have experienced divine mirroring at any great depth.” (2) There is a strong possibility that such people have not been born again. You can be free of a Christian Poverty mentality. It’s called Christ your life.
(1)Payne, Leanne. The Healing Presence (pp. 54-55). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
(2)Rohr, Richard. Falling Upward (pp. 5-6). Wiley. Kindle Edition.
