08/12/2022
Every day we hear a hundred different ideas on how we should live and some of them are offensive. Thats part of life. Dont let offense stop you from taking ideas seriously.
I had some serious thoughts on my heart today. When I was 21 I thought I had all the time in the world to do what I want. To have fun. To follow my heart. To try to fix my life myself. To run it my own way. Here I am at 30 and life has passed so quickly! Everyone at 60, 70, 80, tells me the same thing.
Take life seriously today. Who are you? Where are you going? Are you ready to meet God?
Is God insensitive to say He will bring the people He created to account at the day of judgement? Is He insensitive and offensive to have a lake of fire, a place of eternal punishment for sin?
Our sin (wrongdoing) destroys the world. It destroys families and ourselves. Sin is serious. From the smallest to the biggest. Every action has a reaction as they say. Each and every one of us is flawed and has sin. We live in a society that is so focused on the short term. It says we can do what we want morally, economically, socially, politically and if it seems good right now, we will do it. Yet, the damage is not taken seriously. Just changing course is not sufficient. Think of politicians. The damage thats done will be accounted for and will have consequences. Both here and in the eyes of God. You can choose, but you are not free from the consequence of your choice. I am not free from the consequence of my choice. Each of us, has sin. If we are honest with ourselves, at times we are selfish, dishonest, manipulative, self pitying, prideful, resentful, hurtful and the list goes on. Can we be good things? Yes, of course! But our sin and the damage it causes is still our responsibility. We dont cancel out a hurtful word spoken to one person, by speaking a kind word to another. Each action has a consequence for itself. So when we realise just how flawed we are and how much damage we can do and have done to others at times, what will we do? What will we do with our guilt? Justify it? Do we say "Yea, but Im generally a good person!" Well, you can choose that, but you still are accountable to God for every wrongdoing. God says the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23 ). So if you or I want to pay our own wages for our wrongdoing, we will receive spiritual death. So is God oppressive for requiring Justice?
Enter: Gods solution. The free gift God gave us that we receive by faith alone.
God gave Jesus, His only Son, to pay the penalty for our sin. And Jesus who was with God from time beginning, willingly went to earth to face what we faced and took the penalty for our sin. He was perfect, God in human form, and saw that we just. Can.Not.Clean ourselves up. We are incapable of taking control of our sin. Our heart is bent towards it. Instead of saying, "Well, you can have what you deserve", He said, "Im going to make a way". His heart was moved with compassion for our need. Jesus, willingly went to the Cross and bore our wages. He died for our sins. He died for your sin. For my sin. He rose again, defeating death to show that we to can have a new spiritual heart and life by placing our faith in His finished work. Finished! Guilt free! He saw that we cannot free ourselves from our guilt and cannot save ourselves, so He did it for us. He said He did it because He "so loved the world (John 3:16)", not to condemn the world, but that the world "through Him might be saved (John 3:17)". That brings tears to my eyes! The amount of stuff Ive done against God and been guilty of doing to others! And God still saw, "She cannot save herself, Im going to make a way she can clear herself of those consequences and have a new heart." Just by coming before God and saying, God you're right, I have done wrong and I cant fix it. Please take it from me. By placing my faith in Jesus, God said Im free and His presence is with me. I dont deserve love like that! And He did that for you to! That Truth will change your life.
Its not a religious choice, because church and religion wont do anything for you if there's no knowing God.
Be free! Choose life, choose a new heart! God loves you enough to clear you, to give you an amazing gift, but you also have a choice. To reject Him, to pay your own penalty is not worth it. The Lake of fire isnt a party. Nothing that seems fun in this world is anything compared to the presence of God in your heart. Nothing that seems like gain: possessions, a good time, pleasing people is worth it.
Today we will all make a choice what to do with God, but we are not free from the consequences of our choice.
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
Mark 8:36
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
Isaiah 1:18
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Ephesians 2:4-5
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Romans 1:20-23
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
John 3:16-17
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6