ShepherdDave is clear-sighted,
about the sins of others, but mostly blind to his own sin, dumbing down law/sin to the place where he imagines himself following Jesus, being one of the good guys, so he feels superior to others, feels more righteous than others – especially outside-the-cup sinners, and imagines himself having a better understanding of the Gospel/Scriptures than others. Knowledge puffs up.
ShepherdDave suppresses awareness of his failure at following Jesus, suppresses feeling like a fraud, a pseudo-follower of Jesus, and therefore he longs for Heaven, where he will no longer have to deal with his flesh, the flesh of others, and the devil, because what consumes ShepherdDave more than anything else, all day every day, is avoiding failure. Exhausting lifestyle. Sadly, ShepherdDave does not experience the abundant LIFE mentioned by Jesus, and so instead, he longs for Heaven, where he looks forward to experiencing this abundant LIFE.
DumbSheepDave hardly even notices the sins of others, because he has an overwhelming sense of having been forgiven so much, that he loves so much — Jesus, others, self, and Jesus’ genius plan for DumbSheepDave’s life, that cannot possibly be improved one tiny bit. DumbSheepDave embraces and enjoys his lowly, pitied position as a clueless, childlike nobody. DumbSheepDave experiences abundant LIFE because he’s been freshly convicted of his sin of independence, but it doesn’t last long, because of the world, flesh, devil. But while he’s experiencing abundant LIFE, DumbSheepDave doesn’t long for Heaven at all, because he’s in the midst of enjoying his ShepherdJesus, and everything else pales by comparison, especially those things most treasured by ShepherdDave.
–DumbSheepDave, more receptive than ever, of the Spirit’s convicting work, yielding short seasons of sanity, hoping the pre-believers around him are noticing the difference his ShepherdJesus has been making in 2014
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