The Measure of the Fullness of Christ

Sin is defined as “missing the mark.”  What mark? What is the bullseye?

Throughout scripture, provided you don’t get stuck in exegeting the scripture they reveal Christ. In revealing Christ we will come to understand they reveal our identity, as well. They reveal there’s a mark to be hit in every word laid out in these 66 books.  Scripture which is inspired by the Holy Spirit gives us hidden treasure and in searching for those treasures we come to find and know Him; therefore, ourselves. Yet, the Bible apart from the One who inspired them is used by our enemy to distort the truth and separate us from the way our Father thinks, feels and acts or righteousness. Used incorrectly the scriptures become language used by people that deceives, bring division, controls and destroys. 

Therefore, if not received with the mind of Christ we miss the mark or sin which separates us from the truth of who Christ is and our own identity that is based in love. 

I submit to my readers that missing the mark is to miss living empowered by love for our Father is love. Our problem is that we consistently tend to identify love as a feeling which distracts us from the core of the person of love. Love contains feeling but can't be separated from the very character and mind of our Lord. 

While feeling correctly is part of the definition of “righteousness” which we pray defines our character, if our feelings aren’t based in the mind and actions of Christ our ideas of love based in how we feel can lead us away from God and distort our identity. 

The essence of Who our Father is love. Just like we can’t see, touch or hold the wind, water, fire or pure energy we cannot contain our Father in any mindset that’s of the earth. We’ve tried to contain Him in doctrines of men and have only succeeded in promoting division in the body of Christ. He can never be contained or understood within mankind’s religious belief systems. 

Father made it very plain through scripture that He refused to be contained in anything that mankind can build. Why?  Because mankind takes something singular about God, enshrines it and uses it to control others. 

Love speaks truth. Where His Spirit is there is freedom. Our Father made us but chose not to control us. In that, while we’re made in His likeness we have the capability to be like Him; provided, we choose life and not death. He did make us with three separate forms of life housed in our bodies so that we have warning systems built into us when we’re making choices.

From the beginning God gave mankind the right to choose between life and death.  While He gives us that right He has never withheld the truth from us so that in making choices, we are the only ones responsible for the consequences that come with those choices. Even though we have the truth built into our biological and psychological lives, (ex. Illness or depression warns us to do take action) if we fail to heed them our Father, out of love and mercy never fails to send someone to warn mankind when we're off track. Whoever He sends He incarnates in Spirit and in Truth. Sadly, a lot of Sons see themselves more highly than they ought and not with sober judgement. We are called to judge what anyone tells us according to the Truth that is revealed by the Holy Spirit. The enemy of our soul is adept at using scripture to “prove” what he is trying to get us to believe.

In reading scripture we see that through every generation how the enemy led mankind to ignore God in who He created them to be and mankind still follows their own way. The crazy thing is we can trace through the testimonies of those the Holy Spirit pinpointed that every generation was warned by Sent Ones. In spite of mankind knowing they were harming themselves and others they chose death. We are watching the escalation of this.

God has always extended the truth to show mankind the way back to choosing life instead of death. This is His incredible love being manifested as mercy. He is life. He is the truth. He is Love. 

In His goodness, before the foundations of creation His plan included endowing all of mankind with a spirit so that if he chose Life, His Spirit could indwell us. From the moment His Spirit moves in we begin to experience Him. Glory moves in. Truth moves in. Life moves in. Love moves in. While we use different forms of language to describe Him, words are not adequate in themselves to describe Him. He is the energy or the essence or the manifestation of all He is in us. 

Yet, that which is part of our being that is not spirit wars against His glory. His glory or essence or being has to transform the mind and feelings of our souls. Even the cravings and needs of our physical body war against our spirit. 

Note that all words we use are words that are inadequate to describe the energy or life that the word attempts to describe. Consider that the Holy Spirit is described as being like the wind. We don’t know where the wind comes from and we don’t know where It goes. Holy Spirit is like that. The fruits of Spirit are described as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, meekness, goodness and temperance. The energy or life that these words or definitions state is inadequate to describe these manifestations of power that come as a result of the Spirit living in us.

All of these words fail to contain energy or power or life, depending on how you can perceive them to describe something more powerful than the word or even the definition that affects us continually to experience His glory in the degree that we know Him. He can’t be contained in the words or the definitions either. Can they be measured? They cannot be measured because they describe the glory that follows the Presence of the Holy Spirit. 

Only in identifying ourselves in Him will we understand love and only then, through the impartation of His Spirit. If the Spirit of Christ, in Truth, lives in us, love in all the radiance of Who He is comes to live in us,  progressively, changing us into His likeness. 

I submit to you that sin is what causes us to miss the mark of love. If we continue to look at sin as something we label as good or bad we will be short-sighted and continue to be lost in trying to control ourselves instead of submitting ourselves when He shows us we are missing the mark and labelling it as our particular nemesis. It is true that when we recognize something that’s controlling us or causing us to want to control others that we must repent of it but that’s just part of being changed from glory to glory to radiate Him in His fullness. We can’t even do that without Him helping us see why we need to repent. 

Too long we have labelled certain actions as sin when those actions when they miss the mark of love are manifestations of NOT carrying glory or anything that looks like our Father. He looks like love and we cannot know what love looks like until we become like Him or of that same essence. Our bullseye is to be like Him. Our bullseye is to be love and not get distracted by downsizing love to describe some ideal we have fantasized or trust our feelings to describe Love. 

Jesus is the Firstborn Son who came to show us the Father. He came to show us what love is. Love, personified, is seeing that love prevails even when it is killing us and it doesn’t “feel” like others love us and it’s hard to love ourselves.  Ultimately, Christ gave His earthly life up for the joy of knowing Sons will join His family and become brethren.  Jesus is the firstborn of many brethren. He’s not ashamed to call us brethren. The Greek word that has been interpreted as “brethren” in mankind’s language carries the insight that we are “brethren” if we are “of the same womb”. Behold what manner of “love” the Father has given us that we should become the Sons of God. Love imputes whatever suffering is necessary for our minds to be changed to think correctly so we can feel correctly so we can act correctly. When we can look at ourselves and see Christ reflected we know why we have had to go through the suffering because our Father loves us enough to not spare the rod (the measuring stick) until we measure up to the fullness of Christ. 

No man can do this for us. We can’t do this for others. If there’s any truth it must come from the Holy Spirit. It is the Lord who is building His Church. Others will know we are His by how we love one another. Love is the essence of Who our Father is; therefore, Jesus says I tell you a new thing. Love as I have loved you. He laid down His life for us and this is part of how we must measure ourselves.  He continues to change us into His likeness (Love) by His Spirit from glory to glory.