(no subject)
The Lord showed me something recently that was very powerful and leaves me wondering; how can we ever doubt that God wants to forgive us and has poured out His mercy on us? If you'll notice, the first people to whom the gospel was preached after Jesus died was....the people who'd killed Him. Isn't that awesome, that God extends forgiveness to the very people whom this world would say He should've judged? I mean come on, if that isn't exciting I don't know what is.
I think so much of the church is still caught up in this needing to work for forgiveness. This is exposed in a couple mentalities. 1)people have this feeling that when we sin we somehow need to pay for it by feeling guilty or praying enough, because we messed up bad and how could we? People are doing well and will tell you so, just as long as they haven't done their "favorite sin" in a while. What a bunch of hogwash, that's trust in the flesh! Why would we trust in something which has only up to this point brought us death. It's also pride because we say, "oh man, how could I have done that? How did I mess up again?" and so on and so forth. Man get off your high horse, what the heck else did you expect yourself to do? Somehow once we become a christian people get this mentality that, "oh, i should've known better so I should go and beat myself up for a while and feel bad that I messed up." This is a super immature attitude, here's what the Word has to say about this.
1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. God saved you to make you an example of His grace and He loves you so much. People seem to have this attitude that unless we repent (well actually it's not real repentance, just feeling bad, because real repentance would involve believing God) God won't give us grace or mercy. What the heck? God has already poured out all the grace and mercy He can and freely. Notice there's nothing in there about judgment, condemnation or anything about guilt or shame? Yeah, that's because THEY SHOULDN'T BE A PART OF THE LIFE OF A CHILD OF GOD.
Look at the Prodigal Son. Luke 15:20“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry... The son comes to the Father and starts to tell his father how unworthy he is. I don't know if I'm misreading that, but as far as I can see the Father doesn't even acknowledge what the son has said. He just rejoices in His being home.
What makes us think that God would look at us or treat us any different. HE LOVES US! People get all upset about being emotional in worship because people just talk about how much God loves them, but goodness gracious. So many people go to church each week and leave not knowing the awesome love the Father has for them. It's a travesty because people should be able to say with faith, "I have sinned yes, but God has forgiven me Hallelujah." I don't believe for a second that we need to spend time in the "guilt prison" after we sin. What we need is to get back into God's presence ASAP before the devil uses the opportunity to isolate and attack us.
He Loves Us!
I think so much of the church is still caught up in this needing to work for forgiveness. This is exposed in a couple mentalities. 1)people have this feeling that when we sin we somehow need to pay for it by feeling guilty or praying enough, because we messed up bad and how could we? People are doing well and will tell you so, just as long as they haven't done their "favorite sin" in a while. What a bunch of hogwash, that's trust in the flesh! Why would we trust in something which has only up to this point brought us death. It's also pride because we say, "oh man, how could I have done that? How did I mess up again?" and so on and so forth. Man get off your high horse, what the heck else did you expect yourself to do? Somehow once we become a christian people get this mentality that, "oh, i should've known better so I should go and beat myself up for a while and feel bad that I messed up." This is a super immature attitude, here's what the Word has to say about this.
1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. God saved you to make you an example of His grace and He loves you so much. People seem to have this attitude that unless we repent (well actually it's not real repentance, just feeling bad, because real repentance would involve believing God) God won't give us grace or mercy. What the heck? God has already poured out all the grace and mercy He can and freely. Notice there's nothing in there about judgment, condemnation or anything about guilt or shame? Yeah, that's because THEY SHOULDN'T BE A PART OF THE LIFE OF A CHILD OF GOD.
Look at the Prodigal Son. Luke 15:20“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry... The son comes to the Father and starts to tell his father how unworthy he is. I don't know if I'm misreading that, but as far as I can see the Father doesn't even acknowledge what the son has said. He just rejoices in His being home.
What makes us think that God would look at us or treat us any different. HE LOVES US! People get all upset about being emotional in worship because people just talk about how much God loves them, but goodness gracious. So many people go to church each week and leave not knowing the awesome love the Father has for them. It's a travesty because people should be able to say with faith, "I have sinned yes, but God has forgiven me Hallelujah." I don't believe for a second that we need to spend time in the "guilt prison" after we sin. What we need is to get back into God's presence ASAP before the devil uses the opportunity to isolate and attack us.
He Loves Us!