Psychological Effect of Redemption
Ephesians 1: 7 NIV
In Him we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins…
What Does God Have “in Mind” For You?
For perhaps several hundred years, many involved in creative
arts such as painting, sculpting, storytelling and songwriting have been aware
of some unseen force within them that affects their ingenuity. Even mechanics and mathematicians have been
intrigued by the surprising insight they mysteriously develop as they try to
solve a problem. The author Tom Clancy
has this to say about the effect his subconscious thinking has upon his
writing. “I think about the characters I've created, and
then I sit down and start typing and see what they will do. There's a lot of
subconscious thought that goes on. It amazes me to find out, a few chapters
later, why I put someone in a certain place when I did.” We use the expression, “I need to sleep on
it” to indicate the need to wait before making a decision but also because we
realize that something mysterious happens to how we think about things when we
actually do sleep.
One of
the most unattended difficulties we face is our complete ignorance in regard to
the effect of our unconscious thinking upon our daily activities. Does it impact your decisions? What role does it play on your moods? Is it influential in the sorts of
relationships you develop and maintain?
Is it possible to control and direct your unconscious thoughts to your
advantage? One of the rarely considered
aspects to thinking fully through Christ as part of you is the impact that has
upon the unconscious world. Later we
shall discuss the supernatural forces working within us but for today we will
consider only what role Christ plays in impacting our unconscious thoughts.
Who
doesn’t like the potential of a special degree of insight and understanding
buried within unconscious thinking if Christ is part of the heart? It must be reminded however that for every
person, unconscious thinking is corrupted by Sin. Degenerate and volatile forces of evil work below the surface of our conscious
thinking and that has caused us all sorts of problems and even pain. Paul the Apostle described this perfectly in
Romans 7. I do
not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I
do. And if I do what I do not want to
do, I agree that the law is good. As it
is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is,
in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot
carry it out. For what I do is not the
good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no
longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:15-20 NIV)
This unseen force, the work of Sin within our
unconscious that fights against even our best intentions is so familiar to us
that when we read what Paul has to say, it almost feels like he is reporting on
our own minds. But this is universal, the
inability to live according to our highest values and principles. What our conscious thinking attempts, our
corrupted unconscious undermines. There
is hope though and it is a real and trustworthy hope. Redemption, a technical term in the Bible
that speaks of the work Christ did for us by being crucified and raised from
the dead is how God takes out of us the Sin that corrupts our inner being. In
him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in
accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom
and understanding. (Ephesians 1:7-8 NIV) To understand just how crucial this is in
regard to the unconscious, we must remember that the term here which is
translated “forgiveness” has as its
primary meaning, “to put away”. What
Christ did by dying for us is to take away from us the Sin that is within
us. This brings us a real freedom to our
unconscious thinking, not just to our conscious decision making.
Before Jesus Christ died for us, Psalm 51: 6 was a
far off dream. Now it is possible for
you. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the
inmost place. (Psalm 51:6 NIV)
As we learned earlier, truth is the translation of a Hebrew word that
describes firmness, stability. God is
now free to take the chaos out of our unconscious thinking and remove the
corruption from it. How does He
straighten out our unconscious inner world?
He puts into it His wisdom, or to use the Psalmist’s expression, teaches
“wisdom in the inmost place.” What once
was a combustible combination of bitter memories, warped patterns of thinking
and a corrupted manner of perceiving what you are encountering, your heart, for
once has the potential of bringing you peace, joy and encouragement in a
supernatural form.
Hebrews 4: 12-13 tells insists that God is able to
dig into the deepest parts of your soul where no psychologist or mental health
worker can explore. For the word of God is living and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and
spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the
heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden
from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him
to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13 NIV) With no sinful act
or sinful damage able to withstand the cleansing and healing work of Christ in
the heart, the Lord searches, processes, evaluates and takes out of darkness
everything that wrecks you, all through the Cross. What is He unable to see in your heart? What is impossible for Christ to heal in your
heart? What wrecked habit or painful
memory can He not make right? With
humanity, it is impossible to clear up all this and make your heart right but
as Jesus told the disciples, "What
is impossible with men is possible with God." (Luke 18:27 NIV)
The Cross of Christ is the greatest miracle seen in
history for through it, we are brought out of the wreck Sin has cost us and by
it, God can work His way through the darkest and deepest parts of your heart
and fix it all. The Bible uses the
metaphor of light to express what God does in us. For
God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light
shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV) You might question this. Can Jesus Christ do what some of the greatest
psychologists and psychiatrists in history haven’t been able to
accomplish? Well yes He can! If you let Him have full access to you. The work of Christ in the heart is quite
simple. He retakes it and remakes it for
the glory of God in you. By His light,
Christ eliminates the darkness of your heart.
In other words, He heals all the damage caused by Sin in the inner parts
of your life.
It does not take deep insight to realize that
something is thoroughly wrong with the created order. From top to bottom, our world is broken and
we are broken too. For too long we all
lived with our brokenness. We know that the whole creation has been
groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption
as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all.
Who hopes for what he already has? But
if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans
8:22-25 NIV) Like the rest of creation,
there is inward sighing in you, deep places where there is moaning at how it
has been. The damage caused by Sin is
great and for some horrific. Yet, you
don’t have to be broken any longer. God
has a new way of life for you.
There is a wonderful promise found in the Bible and
it must be considered before you move on with what you are doing. In
the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought
to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words
cannot express. And he who searches our
hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the
saints in accordance with God's will. (Romans 8:26-27 NIV) Outwardly, you may not show any signs of
damage or turmoil. Nothing seems wrong
but inwardly there is sighing and groaning.
At those spots, those secret spots, the Holy Spirit works in you. In the deep places, He knows what hurts, what
is traumatized and damaged and there He intercedes for you. Where surgeons cannot enter and human
machines cannot reach, our Lord heals, He calms, He soothes. Without permission, the Spirit will leave you
alone but at your call, He touches the angry, inflamed, lonely, infected,
ruined places in your heart and He heals them. The places of the heart where you have lost
your childhood, your innocence, where the dreams you once had were stripped
from you, God will heal too. He will
give you a new dream deep in your heart and new love to make your heart
whole. With your permission, the Holy
Spirit will heal the damage in your heart.
Each evening, before you go to sleep, invite Christ
to heal the parts of your mind you can’t explore. Ask Him to be in charge of your dreaming and
purify it. Let your last thought before
you fall asleep be of your Lord alive in you remaking your inner parts and
repairing all the damage caused by the sins of the world. Remember He won’t just come in and do
whatever He wants. Our Lord “stands at
the door” of your heart and it is you who must let Him enter.
