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Where there is on going illumination, and transformation, won't there be an outer transparency?
Is the Holy Spirit producing more self-consciousness within us, or is he in fact wanting us to move, live and have our being in a Christ-consciousness? The facts are ,those whom He loves, he corrects.
If this correction is viewed as rejection, is it not possible that we can frustrate the grace of God in our lives?
I wonder about the on going workings of the Father within us as His child, Him wanting to bring a separation within us, separation from the soul and spirit.
The worth, value, significance we all want is found only in Him and His love for us. True validation of our worth! But to the degree we continue to operate out of our soul rather than out of our spirit, we endlessly look for that validation based solely upon our endeavours, religious dead works.
If we reject the inner truthful illumination that the Holy Spirit brings regarding our total acceptance in Him, then we will look for "fig leaves" to cover our supposed nakedness.
The necessity of seeing 'salvation' as being Someone, rather than something that happened to us.
Apart from this inner illumination, we will view ourselves as trying, still trying to measure up...find acceptance, and in so doing, we frustrate His grace.
Take a look at these thoughts from James Fowler, (from his on-line book Spirit-union Allows for Soul-rest) I see them to succinctly tie in here.
http://www.christinyou.net/pages/spiritsoulrest.htm
"Soul-rest relies on the “finished work” of Jesus Christ. When Jesus exclaimed, “It is finished,” from the cross, He knew that redemption was accomplished and He had set in motion the restoration of humanity by the available presence and function of His own life in man. We rest in the dynamic of His continuing “finished work” of manifesting His life in us.
The Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9) is the “Spirit of liberty” (II Cor. 3:18), and “it was for freedom that Christ set us free” (Gal. 5:1,13). The freedom of the Christian is not only a freedom from sin, law, and death, but also a freedom to be and do all that God wants to be and do in us. Religious bondage always produces restlessness, but our freedom in Christ allows for soul-rest. We are free to celebrate and enjoy life. By His abundance of “party parables” Jesus often portrayed the Christian life as a celebratory opportunity.
Living as Who We Are
Knowing our spiritual identity, who we are in spirit-union with Christ, allows us to experience the soul-rest freedom to be ourselves. We are each unique and novel expressions of the life of Jesus Christ. We do not have to conform to others’ expectations of what they think a Christian ought to be or to do. With a “positive personal concept” of who we are in Christ, we can “be real” and avoid the hypocritical masks of trying to be what we are not and do what others expect of us in religious role-playing. Avoiding the self-protective barriers of self-consciousness and self-reputation, and comfortable with who we are, we can spontaneously express Christ as us. We can be open and transparent, not embarrassed to share feelings of tenderness, compassion, joy or sorrow. We can be vulnerable to engage in emotional intimacy with others. In our unique expression of the life of Jesus Christ, it is permissible to be different, to “take a stand” and “stand alone,” to “march to the beat of the distinctive drummer that Christ wants to be in us.” Unfazed by what others think, we have the soul-rest to be bold, courageous, uninhibited, confrontational, or whatever Christ wants to be in us. Such behavioral expressions will, however, always manifest the character of Christ, the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22,23), for Christ always “acts in character.”
Living in soul-rest allows for a Christ-consistent spontaneity that might even be expressed as “doing what comes naturally.” Since we are “partakers of the divine nature” (II Pet. 1:4), when we live out of that nature of Christ within, we live in the realm of the Spirit-natural (almost an oxymoron) wherein it seems natural to manifest His character of holiness, righteousness, goodness, etc. In fact, it can become so natural that the Christian has no recollection of being loving or humble, no awareness of sufferings or trials for they are regarded as opportunities, and no consciousness of temptation for it rolls off “like water off of a duck’s back.” Ceasing to analyze every detail of what he is doing, the Christian can live so spontaneously that he feels like he is not “doing” anything, as he lives by the Life of Another."
Rich
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