A Little History of The Other Guy

I've never blogged before so here it goes.
    Well as you can see my name is David Miller. I was born in Baytown, TX in 1987. I’ve got 3 sisters, one older and two younger. I was raised in church, listened to all the right Christian music, went to all the Sunday school classes and memorized all the verses. Church was all I knew. Sunday morning, youth sunday night, and wednesday nights every week for almost 25 years! 

The church we went to was “Non-Denominational”, I’m not completely convinced that’s not a denomination, especially these days. It feels like a denomination without an identity. At least when someone says Baptist or Lutheran there is common knowledge of what that means, Non-Denominational just opens up all kinds of questions. But nonetheless we were Non-Denominational and proud of it! A lot of those years were spent pretty blindly accepting what I was told. I went to all the retreats and youth conferences and church camps.

    When I got into my late teens / early twenties I started to get resentful towards the church and God. I wasn’t happy. I had seen things happen in my family, and in my own life that I was convinced if God truly cared about us He wouldn’t let these things happen. God was this cosmic force that was waiting to pounce when I would sin, and punish me when I did. I had this image of an angry old man waiting to strike me down any chance He got. I hated it! I hated Him. I knew I was a Christian, and I knew I wanted to be but I hated what I had to do to be one. All the rules, all the confession..all of the relationship maintenance that was required for someone I didn’t like. I resented it.

I left the church for about a year, and that only strengthened my resentment. I heard nothing from anybody I thought cared about me. My pastor, my friends..the people who had watched me grow up. Nothing. During that time I felt this stirring in me. I started to question everything I had been taught..everything I had been told was truth. I knew there had to be more to being a Christian than what I was experiencing. I read “God is Love” and never felt it. I read my sins were forgiven but if I wanted to “maintain my relationship with God, I had to confess my sins and ask for forgiveness.” I was told “No works can get you to heaven” yet I had to maintain my fellowship with God if I wanted blessings. I was told I was predestined to be saved, yet I was required to “Go into all the world and make disciples.” You see the contradictions here? If works can’t get me to heaven, and God wanted me to be saved, why would I have to maintain anything? 

So I started my quest. I started searching for something better. I had no idea what I was looking for or what I would find, but I knew it had to be better than what I was in. I started having conversations with men I respected and asking questions and getting answers I needed! I started hearing about how God’s grace has freed us from ever having to work again! I started hearing that nothing I could do would ever make God mad at me and that there was nothing I could do to earn His blessings because they were already mine! Imagine for a second that you’re in what looks like a prison cell for 25 years only to find out it was a mansion! That’s what it was like for me. I had been in this prison of religion only to find out that isn’t at all what God wanted for me!

What I was looking for is what now is being called “Hyper Grace”..I was looking for the freedom in Christ that Paul talks about! We are no longer under the law, ANY LAW! God does not require, nor does He want any of His children to be strapped down by religion! There is nothing I can do that will make God angry at me, and there is nothing I can do to make God love me more! 

My eyes have been opened to exactly who I am!
I am perfect! I am a new creation! I am loved unconditionally by God! I am a son! I am a co-heir of JESUS CHRIST! He is my brother! My identity is no longer in this physical being. My identity is Christ!

The Mirror Translation puts it so eloquently in 2 Corinthians 5:17..it says “In the light of your co-inclusion in His death and resurrection, whoever you thought you were before, in Christ you are a brand new person! The old ways of seeing yourself and everyone else are over. Acquaint yourself with the new!”

ACQUAINT YOURSELF WITH THE NEW! I became aware of WHO I AM NOW! I AM A BRAND NEW PERSON! I don’t have to tell myself to not lie, or not to steal, I no longer want to do those things! My relationship with God has never been more ALIVE! I don’t have to sit down and recount all of the ways I “offended” God, because I never offend Him! Does that mean I don’t still sin? No way! I still stumble, but the grace of God is allowing me to learn from those mistakes and His spirit is continually transforming me into His image!  Yes there are still consequences to sin, just like their are consequences to the good things we do. But God has never been the one to punish us. He can’t punish what He doesn’t remember! Psalm 103:12, which is ALWAYS quoted in regard to our sin, "as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” How can God hold something against me, when He doesn’t even remember it! So to clarify, who is the one who punishes us? The enemy of our soul, the accuser, the one who wants us to keep trying..the Devil..and often times, we punish ourselves without the help of anyone! But it is NEVER God!

Think about this for a second..God being infinite, is outside our understanding of time. So this idea that when we are saved only our past sins are forgiven and we have to continually ask for His forgiveness when we mess up is ludicrous! God forgave SIN not sins, SIN as a whole. God forgave SIN! WOW!! God forgave the SIN of THE WORLD! He remembers it no more! How freeing is that! Now I know what you’re thinking, “You’re saying everyone is going to Heaven!” Nope not at all! Yes, God forgave the sin of the world, but it is still up to each individual to realize they need forgiveness and to accept the fact that through Jesus they have been forgiven!! Faith is what brings salvation. 

So I went a little longer than I initially planned so I will end with this. I can’t wait to share my journey with you and I can’t wait to see what God does through this. Thank you for reading and I look forward to reading some feedback (: 

The Other Guy