“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
NO CONDEMNATION
Our thoughts can sometimes wander off at their own pace in their own direction and soon we can be contemplating our own inadequacies, poor choices that we’ve made and stupid things we have said and done. The devil delights in these musings we undertake; he will always try to nudge us in the direction of past failures.
Zechariah had some insight into what is normally hidden for human beings: “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him” (Zech 3:1).
Yes, Satan will accuse us, and our own thoughts will accuse us. But, “If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts” (1 John 3:2).
Praise the Lord, we are covered by what Jesus has done for us. Our faith in him is not misplaced, he is trustworthy and covers our sinfulness with his precious and powerful blood.
“Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us” (Rom 8:34).
Hallelujah! Our sins are gone!
So we keep our thoughts where they ought to be, not wandering off like sheep without a shepherd in pathways that end up making us feel lost and guilty, but in areas where Christ is Lord and has taken away our guilt. When the enemy tries to prod our pondering viewpoint in the wrong direction, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor 10:5).
“Great thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of Christ will pilot you into the haven of peace” (CH Spurgeon).
We turn our thoughts to Christ’s greatness and not our own weakness or inadequacies, we think on things that are praise-worthy not thoughts that descend into the darkness.
There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, we see it time and again in the Scriptures, “the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). And when Jesus is called upon by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees to judge, demanding “Now what do you say?” (John 8:5), Jesus said, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone” (John 8:7).
We see the vast mercy of Jesus who has come to save us from our sins; and that, he will do, if we are willing and surrender to him. “Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’” (John 8:10–11).
“God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).