SIn

You and I are sinners and rebels because we are born in sin. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not doesn’t really matter. When we say we are sorry, Jesus Christ takes what we deserve. God died for you and me because of our natural disposition of sin. Do I truly believe that amazing reality?
We need the prevenient grace of God. When we accept God instead of what is evil, we go from condemned to forgiven and redeemed. It’s like being in a burning building. We sin over and over and beg His forgiveness and get it, but we stay in the building and allow it to catch on fire again every time he puts it out. The building goes from on fire to out; from condemned to redeemed. Yet, we remain inside because we are scared there is fire on the other side of the door. We forget that God wants us to check the door. When you and I get absolved that isn’t the end to what He wants for us. He says to avoid the near occasion of sin. His blood was not only shed for the forgiveness of sins, which is important, but for what sins are. God isn’t concerned with the consequences of sin; it’s more about the root of sin. This is where we must check the door and not be afraid.
What is on the other side is God’s love…because that’s what God is; love. He is there waiting for you and me the sinners. Think about this for a moment. The living God died for you and me, we still go against Him, AND He still loves us. Wow, how could He want me? How could He want to adopt me as His child? How can I possibly be worthy to be in His presence?
We are brought to share his heart…our understanding broken by His love. He asks us to work for him…to represent him here on earth. We need to go back to that burning building he brought us out of and get the rest. To save others the way that he saved us. We can’t say no, but it’s hard to say yes. This is the other part of our test of Faith on earth. He asks us to be the one people hate, mock, ignore, make fun of, deny and worst of all try to hurt and kill our Faith. Do we say yes to this? Do we sacrifice our reputation for God because He sacrificed his LIFE for us.
We’ve talked about this before…sacrificing our reputation as Mary did (who is supposed to be our role model in Holiness.) He wants us to represent him…which is amazing in itself.
How can we do this?
We will talk about this next time.
For now, I leave you with this thought – Is not the lamb that was slain worthy to receive the reward of his suffering?
May you grow in Christ forever
-Brian