From The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering our hidden life in God by Dallas Willard:When we enter the life of friendship with the Jesus who is now at work in our universe, we stand in a new reality where condemnation is simply irrelevant. There is before God, Paul says, "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1). And as for the condemnation we may receive from others, I endeavor not to receive it, to just ignore or drop it. I have learned to look at it only while simultaneously holding in full view the fact that Jesus, so far from condemning me, died for me and is right now intervening on my behalf in the heavens. This helps me stay out of countercondemnation, with its pain and rage.
"Who is this one condemning me," I ask, "when set beside that One who does not condemn me?" I think I shall not be depressed about this condemnation of me, then, especially since I know that "nothing can separate me from the eternal love of Christ" (Rom. 8:33-35). And in this context it seems only intelligent just to have done with the whole condemning game.
(Image: slice of cover of The Divine Conspiracy)