My first real post! Starting things off positive.
I want to talk about the love we receive yet don't deserve - God's love for us. I tend to overlook His love and take it for granted.
Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
John 3:16 is, by far, the most popular verse in the Bible. Whether you read it yourself or saw the guy at NFL football games always holding up the sign, you've heard it somewhere. It sums up essential Christian doctrine in a few short words; it shows how much God loves us. But I think we have heard it so many times that we don't understand the magnitude of what this verse is saying because we don't realize who (or what) we are.
We are "the world" that God loved. We are the reason he had to send His son to die a gruesome death. Jesus died for us because we failed to keep God's standard of right living. Even that statement cannot be fully appreciated because it has been said so many times within Christian circles that we begin to take it for granted. We don't realize how sinful we are. One slip up and you lose. I know I can't firmly grasp this concept, but I got a glimpse of it one day in church. Here is one of my stories...
At one of my old jobs, I was no stranger to workplace gossip (Proverbs 11:13 - A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.). One day while sitting in church, I received a text message from a coworker asking me if I had told another coworker about a rumor (which I knew to be true) that was spreading around the workplace. And I had.
Before you think "well that's not so bad, it was a small sin", remember God's standard. I was caught red-handed, In church of all places. Not only did I sin, I betrayed the confidence of my two good friends. Also, as a representative of Christianity and Christians all around the world, I failed my brothers and sisters in Christ and made us look even more hypocritical. After reading that text message, I came to the realization that I'm not as "holy" as I thought I was. I felt like I didn't deserve to be in church anymore because of that small slip up. I deserve hell just as much as the people I'd like to think I'm better than.
I heard the piano in the background at the end of the sermon, playing the children's song "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so". And then it hit me. I'm a complete and utter failure, but Jesus still loves me and died for me. The burden was lifted off of me and I, for once, felt truly grateful that my sins have been forgiven (I should note that I also apologized to both friends, and told them I understand if they no longer trust me. There are still consequences we have to deal with when we harm others, even though God sees us as sinless).
This brings me to my next verse, Romans 5:8 (posted above).
Jesus died to save a bunch of failures. God loves people who broke all of his rules, and sent His only Son to die for them. He didn't just die for the people who "weren't that bad". He died for the worst of humanity. Think about the most evil person alive. Whoever you think that is, Jesus died for them too. God will forgive ANYONE of their sins if they believe in Him.
I heard the piano in the background at the end of the sermon, playing the children's song "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so". And then it hit me. I'm a complete and utter failure, but Jesus still loves me and died for me. The burden was lifted off of me and I, for once, felt truly grateful that my sins have been forgiven (I should note that I also apologized to both friends, and told them I understand if they no longer trust me. There are still consequences we have to deal with when we harm others, even though God sees us as sinless).
This brings me to my next verse, Romans 5:8 (posted above).
Jesus died to save a bunch of failures. God loves people who broke all of his rules, and sent His only Son to die for them. He didn't just die for the people who "weren't that bad". He died for the worst of humanity. Think about the most evil person alive. Whoever you think that is, Jesus died for them too. God will forgive ANYONE of their sins if they believe in Him.
It really doesn't make sense to us, to send our closest loved one or ourselves to die to give our enemies a chance to live. Because we can't comprehend the negative side of what happened, we cannot fully appreciate the positive outcome of Jesus's death. It's like a student with a 4.0 GPA gave away their perfect grades to the failing, slacking, partying student with a 0.0 GPA so that the bad student could have a chance to graduate (that's one of many metaphors used to describe what happened, but it still does not do justice to what Jesus did for us). No one in their right mind would do that, But God did. Which is why hearing about God's love for us should never get old. In fact, it should mean more and more every time we hear it because in between each time we hear it, we break his laws and disobey him, yet we are still forgiven and technically more forgiven than the last time as we keep racking up more sins.
I could go on, but I'll stop there. God loves us and we don't deserve it.
It is because of this love that we should strive to keep his commandments, no matter how hard it is. This brings me to my next topic...
"Trying to Live Right".
Until then, God Bless...
Until then, God Bless...
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