You might get this feeling when you do something you think is bad, that if God existed, He would be disappointed. So you believe your role is to please him. I believe this desire we have to please God is real, and I believe it is how He designed us, to please and glorify Him.
What would give more glory to God. That you say: I have been reconciled to God, because of what I did, or because of what He did?
In the last post said that God did something, in order to make us perfect, before it happened, their was this promise in the Old Testament:
Psalm 32
- 1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
Here's an extract from a fiction book that tries to explain it (the Shack)
“’…If you are able to judge God so easily, then you certainly can judge the world.’ Again she spoke without emotion. “You must choose two of your children to spend eternity in God’s new heaven and new earth, but only two.’
‘What?’ he erupted, turning to her in disbelief.
‘And you must choose three of your children to spend eternity in hell.’
Mack couldn’t believe what he was hearing and started to panic.
‘Mackenzie, I am only asking you to do something that you believe God does. He knows every person ever conceived and he knows them so much deeper and clearer than you will ever know your own children. He loves each one according to his knowledge of the being of that son or daughter. You believe he will condemn most to an eternity of torment, away from His presence and apart from His love. Is that not true?’
“I suppose I do. I just never thought about it like this. I just assumed that somehow God could do that. Talking about hell was always sort of an abstract conversation, not about anyone that I truly…’ Mack hestitated, realizing that what he was about to say would sound ugly, ‘not about anyone that I truly cared about.’
“’So you suppose, then, that God does this easily, but you cannot? Come now, Mackenzie. Which three of our five children will you sentence to hell?
‘I don’t want to be the judge,’ he said, standing up. ‘I can’t do this. I…will…not…do…this!’ Mack yelled.Here are some Bible verses:
‘You must,’ she whispered.
‘I can’t. I can’t. I won’t!’ he screamed. Finally he looked at her, pleading with his eyes. ‘Could I go instead? If you need someone to torture for eternity, I’ll go in their place. Would that work? Could I do that?’ He fell at her feet, crying and begging now. ‘Please let me go for my children, please, I would be happy to… Please, I am begging you. Please…Please…
‘Mackenzie…now you sound like Jesus. You have judged well…You have judged them worthy of love, even if it cost you everything. That is how Jesus loves. And now you know Papa’s heart,’ she added, ‘who loves all his children perfectly.’”
John 3 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.Justice is getting what you deserve.
Colossians 1: 19 For in him (Jesus) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
Ephesians 2: 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Mercy is not getting what you deserve
Grace is getting what you do not deserve.
Eg: If I kill someone I deserve death. (Justice), if I am not killed, I have not received what I deserve (Mercy), they have kept me alive, given me something I do not deserve (Grace).
God is perfectly Holy, perfectly just, perfectly merciful, perfectly gracious, perfectly loving, He is Love (1 John 4:8).
So what happens to all the evil in the world if God is righteous and just? It must get what it deserves! The thing we do in our heads trying to outweigh our bad deeds with our good deeds does not work! If you do bad to one person and good to another, the good does not fix the bad! From the previous verses, this is what God did:
God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Through Jesus, God reconcile(d) to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. God made him who had no sin (Jesus) to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. What do we need to do? believes in him, because to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. By believing this, we have understood the reality, that we cannot save ourselves, and therefore are not trying to take the place of God. God gets the credit for saving us: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
With all the previous post in mind I hope we can now establish the basics of the Christian Faith:
We like to view ourselves as good people! To convince ourselves, we can always think of someone who has done something worse than us! This logic is terribly flawed, because God's standard is perfection, so even mother Teressa or Gandhi fell short! God decided to make a way. He sent His son, who was with him since the beginning of time, to become a human being, live the perfect life, in order to show mankind what it takes to be worthy of the presence of God. Jesus' mission, was to offer up his perfect life as payment for the sins of mankind. Jesus became sin, so that sin died on the cross. God sees our sins no more if we allow Jesus to justify us. Jesus is the only way to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment