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The Road To No Condemnation

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

          Today is another sigh of relief in the letter to the Romans. No condemnation! Freedom! Life! The Spirit! Ah. Of course, there’s always the fine print. There’s always a condition. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation for those who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
          This brings me back to my illustration of heading east on I-90 and claiming to be headed for Los Angeles. There are people who believe that there should be no condemnation of anyone. While I understand this, that’s not what the passage says. There are people who are condemned: those who aren’t in Christ Jesus and those who live according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit. It does them no good to be told that they aren’t condemned. If they are on the road to condemnation, we do not condemn them in telling them what road they’re on.
          For those of us who are on the road that leads to no condemnation, sometimes the directions are a little confusing. I’m sure other big cities have crazy highway systems, too, but sometimes the road of life seems to me like driving the Beltway around Washington, DC. There are places where you drive along I-95 and see signs for I-95 on the other side of a barricade. Are you on the wrong road?
         I get anxious about getting lost. For years, one of my prayers had to do with missing the off ramp for the next turn I needed to make in life. God finally asked a series of questions all beginning with “Did you miss the exit when I took you to...?” Each time, I had to admit that I had not. He then asked, “So what makes you think I’m going to let you miss the next exit?” Um, when you put it that way.
         If you are on I-90 headed east from Erie, and you want to go to Buffalo, you stay on I-90. If you’re on the road to no condemnation and you stay on the road to no condemnation, you’ll get there. You don’t have to ask, “is they the exit I take?” about every exit because the road to no condemnation ends at no condemnation. Even if God takes you off the road you thought would take you to no condemnation, He will direct.
       I need to consider this the next time I start worrying about whether my spiritual GPS unit is as crazy as my physical GPS sometimes seems to be.

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