"Timmy had been misbehaving and was sent to his
room. After a while he emerged and
informed his mother that he had thought it over and then said a prayer. "Fine", said the pleased mother.
"If you ask God to help you not misbehave, He will help you." "Oh, I didn't ask Him to help me not
misbehave," said Timmy. "I asked Him to help you put up with
me."
God puts up with a lot of our bad stuff. Our behavior can and does irritate him and
causes him to get angry. However, God is
no different than most parents when it comes to loving their children no matter
what they’ve done wrong.
God loves us for who we are, not what we do. God wants our faithfulness, commitment, and
our spiritual loyalty. He wants us to
grow in spiritual maturity. He desires
for us to read the book he spent over 1500 years writing we call the
bible.
God loves for us to chat with him. He loves morning conversations with his kids
as they drink their coffee or sit in a quiet place to chat. God loves it when his kids love each other
despite biblical differences. God also
loves it when each of his kids lives a life of integrity, ethics, and morals
based on Scripture.
A God trait is not holding grudges and not forgiving those who
do wrong. 1st John 1:9, says, “if we admit our
sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to
himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.” (MSG) Also, God says in Isaiah 43:25, “I—yes,
I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think
of them again.” (NLT)
Sin is a problem and it robs our
relationship with God. Romans 1:18 says, “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful….” (NLT) Also, a lifestyle that is not honorable before
God will cause eternal difficulties. 1st Corinthians 6:9 says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not
inherit the kingdom of God?” (NIV)
No one is perfect. No
one is sinless. No one has the market of
complete rightness. However, this isn’t
the end of us. We are not a stuck
people, rather a loved people. God said
in
2
Corinthians 12:9, “…my grace is sufficient for you….” John 3:16 says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and
only Son….” (NLT)
There are many who just focus on the sin and how horrible a
person is when they do wrong. Many are
made to feel worthless, ashamed, and condemned.
Being a Godchild means there is much more to the relationship with God
than just dealing with sin. God provides
so much for each of us. His hope for us
is that we accept what he has to offer.
No cost. No gimmick. No strings attached. No lies.
He just wants to show you something incredible! (more to come!)
Remember, Be God Controlled,
Brian
In hopes of a discussion on these matters I share my convictions on this:
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to not throw the baby out with the bathwater when we deal with sin in ourselves and helping others see their sin clearly.There is a time to focus on sin and a time to focus on grace. Certainly we need to emphasize God's unconditional love and help others see they are not worthless. Every life is precious to God...His love is like a magnet, pulling us in. Unfortunately many focus so much on the love of God, it has a reverse effect on the lives of the people influenced.
God's amazing love and mercy and forgiveness cannot be fully understood, period...but its even harder to understand when we are not in touch with our sin, or when sin is downplayed, when the standard is watered down.
Sin should cause us to feel shame, and if we're not yet disciples, dealing with sin should help us understand condemnation. Sin comes at a price and its important we not sugarcoat it. Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians that if his previous letter caused them sorrow, he did not regret it! He knew that sorrow would lead to repentance!The Bible itself says it is useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, etc. Correction and discipline are signs of love from God. Showing someone their sin should not imply anger, malicious intent, impatience, or devaluing of the person corrected. God wants us to deal with our sinful natures; to be cut to the heart...humbled, repentant, with godly sorrow.
God's grace is sufficient, but unless we are working out our salvation with fear and trembling...of what use is that grace?
A relationship with God is about surrender. We must accept the relationship on His terms, not our own. So there is actually great cost involved in becoming a Christian; we must die to ourselves..we must submit to His lordship, take up our cross, our purpose changes. Choosing to follow Jesus comes at great cost... just ask the Rich Young Ruler, the man who wanted to bury his father, the man who wanted to say goodbye to his family before following Jesus, the Jews in John 8 who learned they had to actually obey to truly be His followers...
I agree we are weak as people...we all need a lot of grace, many reminders of God's love, much forgiveness. God is incredibly patient with us.
There is a danger in over-emphasizing this side of things because it tends to disconnect people from the consequences of sin. It can give people the impression they dictate the terms of peace to God...We are called to be "strong in the grace" for a reason...so that our godly sorrow can result in true repentance because we can appreciate that amazing grace and love and know its there to protect us as we fight harder, stretch ourselves further to be more like Jesus.
Lastly, I think the point made about how God wants us to love each other (implying fellow believers?) despite biblical differences needs to be explained further. What specifically do you mean by biblical differences? Instrumental music in services or whether someone is saved by means other than baptism, etc...
Just my thoughts in love;
Mat