Reflection: You sin, you die!
Well, I said I was going to post some Christian/bible reflections, and this is my first one.
I was thinking about this earlier, and it's amazing what "truths" we have been preconditioned to believe growing up. I happened upon one of those truths today, and I really think god showed it to me.
when I was a child, I was led to believe (whether it was intentional or not, I don't know) that in the Old Testament, if you sinned, boom! You died right away. that was it! then, when Jesus came to die for us, you would no longer drop dead when you sinned because He would forgive you. there are some real dangers to this belief.
first, as you read the bible, you will discover many of the men and women there sinned and sinned a lot, yet they didn't just drop dead. So following this theory I believed, when Abraham, for example, went to Egypt because of a famine and told his wife to lie to the people, claiming she was his sister, (Genesis 12:10-20) that, to me, would have spelled sin right there. but Abraham didn't die. Hmm, something wrong with this picture. So now, for Abraham, it was okay to lie and to have a lack of faith, but for us, it is sin? and Abraham, following this theory to its ultimate conclusion, must not have sinned at all until he was very old. Obviously, as an adult, this sounds ridiculous, but as a child, and even when you know the truth in your head, it's hard to change your heart and thoughts to match up.
Here is the absolute truth of the matter. Jesus didn't just die for the sins of those of us in His time on earth and beyond; He died for the sins of those who came before as well. God sent His Son to die and knew he would do so; therefore, Abraham, and notably, David were able to find forgiveness for their sins. sin does still have its consequences, but one of them doesn't have to be eternal death. Lastly, as you may know by now, sin doesn't automatically mean you drop dead right away either. God's grace will take care of that for you, if you let it.
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." (2 Corinthians 12:9, NIV)
I was thinking about this earlier, and it's amazing what "truths" we have been preconditioned to believe growing up. I happened upon one of those truths today, and I really think god showed it to me.
when I was a child, I was led to believe (whether it was intentional or not, I don't know) that in the Old Testament, if you sinned, boom! You died right away. that was it! then, when Jesus came to die for us, you would no longer drop dead when you sinned because He would forgive you. there are some real dangers to this belief.
first, as you read the bible, you will discover many of the men and women there sinned and sinned a lot, yet they didn't just drop dead. So following this theory I believed, when Abraham, for example, went to Egypt because of a famine and told his wife to lie to the people, claiming she was his sister, (Genesis 12:10-20) that, to me, would have spelled sin right there. but Abraham didn't die. Hmm, something wrong with this picture. So now, for Abraham, it was okay to lie and to have a lack of faith, but for us, it is sin? and Abraham, following this theory to its ultimate conclusion, must not have sinned at all until he was very old. Obviously, as an adult, this sounds ridiculous, but as a child, and even when you know the truth in your head, it's hard to change your heart and thoughts to match up.
Here is the absolute truth of the matter. Jesus didn't just die for the sins of those of us in His time on earth and beyond; He died for the sins of those who came before as well. God sent His Son to die and knew he would do so; therefore, Abraham, and notably, David were able to find forgiveness for their sins. sin does still have its consequences, but one of them doesn't have to be eternal death. Lastly, as you may know by now, sin doesn't automatically mean you drop dead right away either. God's grace will take care of that for you, if you let it.
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." (2 Corinthians 12:9, NIV)