Satan’s ministers of righteousness teach that Paul had ceased writing after going through this list of deplorable practices in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. They safely assume that continuing to do these things would result in a reversal of the offenders salvation or perhaps even a lost with a connect with God that must somehow be restored. Their people spend most of their life giving up. They are tired, burned out, disillusioned, depressed, addicted to something. People around them feel frustrated by the huge disparity between their capabilities and their performance. They either pep talk them concerning their value, or shame them for not performing. No one can have a close relationship with them; they push people away physically and emotionally, and push God away. They are the ones in families, churches, and society that people take care of-for a while, until they are given up on because of their lack of response.
Far too many of ministers of righteousness people are feeling dirty, worthless and ashamed of themselves. As a result, they feel unclean and therefore unworthy to approach God and have the living and intimate relationship that he wants to have with them. They use shame to prevent their people from intimacy with God, because it makes them feel unworthy and distant from him. God’s standard is nothing less than perfection and none of them measure up, if they did or they ever could measure up sufficiently righteous for heaven through our performance. Paul places the emphasis when it comes to grace behavior on helping us to perceive ourselves in the new identity that is our right now, being IN the Savior. Paul wants us to see ourselves as God already sees us. We need to be focusing on our new identity because it is God’s grace, not our striving that makes us accepted and acceptable. It is God’s performance through Jesus, not our trying hard to perform, that eradicates our shame.
Far too many of ministers of righteousness people are feeling dirty, worthless and ashamed of themselves. As a result, they feel unclean and therefore unworthy to approach God and have the living and intimate relationship that he wants to have with them. They use shame to prevent their people from intimacy with God, because it makes them feel unworthy and distant from him. God’s standard is nothing less than perfection and none of them measure up, if they did or they ever could measure up sufficiently righteous for heaven through our performance. Paul places the emphasis when it comes to grace behavior on helping us to perceive ourselves in the new identity that is our right now, being IN the Savior. Paul wants us to see ourselves as God already sees us. We need to be focusing on our new identity because it is God’s grace, not our striving that makes us accepted and acceptable. It is God’s performance through Jesus, not our trying hard to perform, that eradicates our shame.