Disarmed

I know very little about disarming anything.  I’ve never disarmed a bomb.  I’ve never disarmed an armed assailant.  I may have disarmed a few self-righteous church people, but likely for my own self-righteous reasons.  And sadly enough, disarming much in this life seems quite foreign to me.

As a little kid I loved to watch television shows where the good guy would knock the gun out of the bad guys hand and totally disarm and subdue his would-be aggressor.  Then I would spend hours in my back yard or basement subduing and disarming imaginary bad guys.  Kicking and swinging at nothing but what I saw in my imagination.  I know it sounds silly, but it made me feel tough in a child-like way.

About two thousand years ago, a very important “disarming” occurred, and for that I am deeply and eternally grateful.  Paul the Apostle writes in Colossians 2 verse 15, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

This is a description of a very important and powerful event that we may be prone to forget.  Prone to forget because, we still live with the vestiges of judgment and condemnation that often echo in our minds from past efforts at self-righteousness, not to mention from the mouths of Well-intentioned Dragons.  You know the kind of people I’m talking about.

They are the ones who by their own insecurities and bondages ply a pseudo-biblical-works dogma to the unsuspecting and often innocent “little ones” among us.  And if we stiffen or seem to chafe under their idea of righteousness we are considered rebellious, disharmonious or even back-slidden.

But may I respectfully challenge that kind of dogma.  For what Christ did on the cross, gives me the power and liberty to stand victorious over my old sin nature – it is gone.  He disarmed all the powers and authorities that held any claim over my past sins and failures.  And even more He disarmed the power of the lies that would hold sway over my present and my future.

So with gratitude and humility I embrace the canceled debts and charges against me.  Because of His suffering, His death on the cross, and His triumphal resurrection from the grave I will never be governed by a sin-based, lie-based, works doctrine or dogma ever again.

Debt-free people are the freest indeed.  They are also a threat to those in bondage to a debtors-ethic.  For though I owe Christ my all and everything, and I willingly give it, I can never nor should I ever attempt or consider “repayment” as part of my relationship with Him.  For that would then rearm our enemy and resume the cycle of self-righteous works and thereby put to shame the cross of Christ our only hope.

Once and forever Christ disarmed the enemies of our souls and led them as public spectacle down the permanent road of freedom and life.  So may we never concede to their influence again, nor rearm them with a lack of assurance and faith in Him alone.

Remember, they are Disarmed – forever.