How Often I Take It for Granted…
I was fortunate enough to grow up in a Christian home. I have been going to church since before I was born.
I accepted Jesus at 5 years old & I have had the influence, comfort, direction, & hope of the Holy Spirit with me ever since.
Sometimes I take all of that for granted… sometimes it’s easy for me to think that because I didn’t have years of living in sinful revelry beforehand that maybe the cost for my redemption wasn’t all too large.
But I’d be wrong… SO wrong.
And the older that I get, the more I can accurately see just how wrong that is.
Not Because of Me…
I am a sinner, saved by the GRACE of God, through Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:8; Isaiah 53:5; John 3:16-17; Romans 10:13)
How? Not by my efforts, but because God loved me (“the world”) so much that He sent Jesus to pay the debt penalty I owe God for my sin. (John 3:16-17)
When I was just 5 years old, as I was thinking about what I had heard in Sunday School & reading the simplified words of my children’s Bible, it dawned on me… I was mean to my sister sometimes… & God calls that sin. I didn’t always listen to my parents… God calls that sin….
And sin… hurts God… it makes Him angry… it makes me an enemy with God. (Romans 8:6-7)
Which means I was God’s enemy. I was going to go to Hell because I was not in fact good because I hurt God with my sin.
And it was at that moment all the pieces came together in my little child heart—THAT is WHY I NEED Jesus!
Set FREE!
So, I ran to my parents’ bedroom & asked how Jesus can save me, too, because I don’t want to make God mad at me & I don’t want to go to Hell.
And because my parents helped me understand that God loved me (and the whole world) so much that He knew I could not be good enough, so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay my penalty before God, taking the punishment of my sin on His own shoulders & dying on the cross to pay my debt so I could be debt-free before God… I accepted the covering of my sin through the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice that very night at 5 years old.
I am a sinner, saved by the GRACE of God, through Jesus Christ! (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:8; Isaiah 53:5; John 3:16-17; Romans 10:13)
GOD Condescended HIMSELF for US!
Jesus was not stopped by death. He rose again (Luke 24:6-7) as He was both fully man (aka He felt all the pain of His sacrifice both in His body & His heart) (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:34) AND fully God, conquering death, as well as the sins of the world, so that ANYONE who believes on Him through the admission of their guilt before God & a turning away of their way for God’s, calling on Jesus as their Savior… they will be saved. (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:8; Isaiah 53:5; John 3:16-17; Romans 10:13) God condescended Himself for US!
Because Jesus did not come to the world to condemn the world, but that through Him all might be saved. (John 3:16-17)
I take all that for granted somehow. I forget the weightiness of it. The sacrifice. The fact that GOD was willing to condescend HIMSELF for ME. GOD! LORD of ALL! For ME.
For you.
If GOD Saved Us… Why Give Us the Law in the First Place?
You know what it’s so easy to get hung up on? The law. Love. How they can possibly go together.
I’ve been talking a lot lately about my sin of silence… of how the truth sets us free… so shouldn’t we be bold in sharing it? Is it really loving to keep quiet about sin? To try to downplay it?
Do you know why God gave us His law?
Not to control us… He offers us everything when we come to Him.
Not to earn anything… His grace, through Jesus, is a free GIFT.
So, why?
Because, as His Word—the Bible—says, to make us aware of our NEED for HIM. (Romans 7:7; Romans 3:20)
How Do YOU Justify Sin?
Do you live in a way that God calls sin? Do you justify it & stuff it & say, “it’s only uncomfortable because people try to make me feel bad about it”?
Do you recognize the fact that if God calls it sin then He didn’t MAKE you so you CAN’T sin. It is something you CHOOSE… to have your desire met your way as your ultimate priority over pleasing or honoring your Creator, Savior, Almighty GOD.
The fact of the matter is that God tells us the beginning of wisdom is fear of Him because it’s saying we ought to ultimately recognize God as GOD… & that we are not. (Proverbs 9:10)
Did you know that God says He wrote His Law on ALL OUR HEARTS so that we are WITHOUT EXCUSE? (Romans 2:14-15; Romans 1:18-20)
That nagging little doubt… that question in your spirit… that ick you try to cover & hide & pretend isn’t there… it’s because your spirit KNOWS it’s wrong. It KNOWS because it KNOWS who is really in control & whether the WHOLE WORLD approves your sin or not, you will still have to fight that ick because it won’t go away. It can’t ever go away.
Without Jesus.
“Living Your Best Life”
Don’t be fooled into complacency, into the lie of “living your best life.”
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:25-26)
“The heart is deceitful above all things.” (Jeremiah 17:9)
“The heart is desperately wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
God showed us His love in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)
Without Jesus, there is no real hope, my friend. There just isn’t.
Judgment Day Will Come-But Grace Is Offered Now
And judgment day will come, whether or not you want to BELIEVE with all your heart that it won’t… it will.
And you will have all of your sins laid out before you, not a single secret one hidden from the all-seeing, all-knowing eyes of God. (Romans 2:16)
And you will have to give an account. (Romans 14:12)
You can try to hand Him all of your good deeds, but God already said it’s not based on anything you can do & that the wages of your sin is DEATH. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Isaiah 64:6; Romans 6:23)
Judgment day will come… but grace is offered now.
Repent & call on Jesus & be saved. (Acts 3:19; Romans 10:9-13)
When Will be Your Judgment Day? Are You Ready?
Will you have until you’re 92, lying in a nursing home, finally surrendering your heart to Jesus, being welcomed into heaven on your dying breath…?
Or will you die suddenly in a car crash on your way home & you thought you had more time to decide… but it’s too late?
When will your judgment day come?
Will you be ready?
The Good News
But, my friend, the very Good News is that while judgment day WILL come… GRACE is offered NOW.
God says that believing on Jesus is accounted to us as righteousness (Romans 4:5; Genesis 15:6). That means our debt account, where even our best is counted as dirty rags to God (because it can never outweigh our sin)… (Isaiah 64:6) when we accept Jesus’ debt-covering, our account overflows instead with HIS righteousness now counted as our OWN.
Will we automatically be perfect with never a sinful thought or screw up? Nope. You will be a work in progress until the day you die (that’s why we can’t ever trust our own goodness because we can never be acceptable aside from Christ)… but your sin will be covered.
God’s Law Is GOOD!
Why do I take this for granted?
Why do I shy away from sharing God’s law, in calling out sin as it is—wretchedness that God hates, wretchedness that has a death sentence attached to it?
God gave us His law so we would recognize how much we need Him… not because we’re expected to follow it to the letter IN ORDER TO be saved… but that we follow it to HONOR, PLEASE, & GLORIFY Him as GOD & because His law is Truth & Goodness.
So, when someone calls something sin (that the Bible calls sin), know it’s because they want you to KNOW your need, too… not because they, in contrast, are perfect… but because they know the One who IS.
I am writing this because I care about you knowing this. I want this for you. I want you to know the depth of God’s forgiveness, grace, & love! I want you to know that He makes all things new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Don’t Shy Away from TRUTH–The Truth Shall Set You Free
“Jesus said unto Him: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
What sins are you okay with? How much are you okay with in risking hurting God?
Where do you draw the line?
Judgment day will come… but grace is offered NOW.
Shine HOPE by not shying away from calling sin, sin (IN LOVE) (Ephesians 4:15) & by being willing to share the HOPE we have in God’s grace, through Jesus, that is offered NOW, so when judgment day is here we will be ready & know we did our best & told all we could so they would be ready, too.
Coming Next Week
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Bisa Tote (India)
Woven jute, dyed rope, and artisanal expertise make the Bisa Tote the perfect tote for any summer excursion! The earthy brown tones of the natural jute and leather mixed with the blue color block pattern are absolutely stunning and give this tote a modern coastal look. The ethically made Bisa Tote is handcrafted in India with an unlined interior, magnetic closure, and leather shoulder straps.
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