No Black Clouds
Rom 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” I love the way Peterson’s paraphrase in The Message renders this passage: “Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud.” Don’t you hate having that sense of impending doom? That awful feeling when you’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop? I know that I do. I’ll get myself all worked up and when I go to bed my brain won’t shut off entertaining and rehearsing worst case scenarios. By all rights that is how it would be for us if not for Christ. We deserve the very worst. We should stand before the judge with a plea of guilty ready to receive sentencing; the facts of our life condemning us at every turn. Then the Judge bangs the gavel and says much to our surprise, “Not guilty, for reason of my Son”. The black clouds part and a city of gold beckons us to enter. “Welcome, good and faith...