tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433711.post114919513108862885..comments2023-10-21T09:16:40.248-04:00Comments on Joy in the Margins: Obedient? It's who you areMarshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019515751585722113noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433711.post-1149261574845308972006-06-02T11:19:00.000-04:002006-06-02T11:19:00.000-04:00Great thoughts, Marsh! I'll interact with some of...Great thoughts, Marsh! I'll interact with some of your off-line thoughts privately, but I thought I'd take a shot at answering some of your concerns here.<BR/><BR/>I agree whole-heartedly that our obedience flows out of the identity that has been given to us as 'new creations.' When we obey, we are simply being who we are, when we disobey, we are acting apart from who we are.<BR/><BR/>I think my divergence here comes at the point of 'magical changes.' In my blog post a couple months ago I stated that I am 'panacea wary.' That is, I am wary of any ONE concept (who Jesus is or who we are or what grace is or whatever) as having this instant domino-effect in every aspect of our lives. In other words, even as we are growing in our understanding of who we are in Christ, there is still work to be done in learning obedience. So the question is HOW. What's that next step? How does the Bible talk about us learning obedience? <BR/><BR/>We're starting at different places, so I think we miss each other here. I'm starting at the more specific next step of learning obedience not because I think it's the most important but simply because I don't think it's talked about well.<BR/><BR/>So how does our identity in Christ motivate and empower us to obedience? To put it in these terms, I'd say that our place in Christ and his Spirit inside us gives us new appetites for more grace, more of God , more of his goodness. We begin to see sin for what it is (death, which we no longer live by) and we begin to see holiness for what it is (life, which is what is at work inside of us). This is not flesh-motivation, it's not will power religion. It's only by the Spirit at work in us, teaching us both our identity and what it means to really live out that identity, that we apprehend God's goodness as the one true good. <BR/><BR/>So I'm trying to do (and maybe I'm not qualifying or clarifying enough on my blog) is to talk about how the Spirit in us gives us holy appetites for future grace that leads us into obedience. But this doesn't happen magically (not even as we more fully understand our identity)--it only happens as the Spirit works in us and as we respond to his work.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com