Loves Sacrifice

                                         God so loved the world that He gave

                                         His only begotten Son, that whosoever

                                         believeth in Him should not perish,

                                         but have everlasting life. 

                                                    ( John 3:16)

    Many ministers have made the mistake of preaching from the pulpit ; “ Don’t you know that someday you’re going to die and God is going to flash all your sins upon a giant screen in heaven for all of humanity  to see?”  How tragic it is for these ministers of the gospel, for they have misunderstood God gracious gift of LOVE!   And in doing so they have condemned those that accepted their teaching as the truth, to a life of failure, and over whelming feelings of unworthiness to be loved by God. 

     In truth, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. But we should never allow anyone to make us believe that God would  ever  judge us as unworthy of His LOVE, or His Gift of salvation simple because we have failed in some way to live up to the churches, or some ministers expectations. Nor should we allow ourselves to be laid astray by teaching with  in the church, that promote condemnation and fear, instead of God grace and mercy. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon  the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers, nor we were able to bear? We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ  we shall be saved, even as they. ( Acts 15:10-11)     

    We often  fail as Christians to see the simple truth behind God loving sacrifice. Through the shed blood of Jesus Christ  on the cross, we are justified by God.  Justification carries no guilt with it, and has no memory of past transgressions.  Unlike people who often have a problem forgetting, let alone forgiving transgressions against them, God doesn’t have this problem. And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more  (Hebrew 10:17) He not only does He forgive, He has chosen to forget. He has chosen to whip the slate clean and remember our sins no more!!

     Does this mean that our actions and attitudes doesn’t matter to Him  anymore? Although our status as beloved children of God remains intact. Although our actions do grieve God,  His LOVE for is un wavering . The simple truth is, that despite our behavior, 

God no longer  sees  us as condemned sinners.  By His grace and the shed blood of Jesus, we have been fully restored  to Him, we have been redeemed. 

Accepting our redemption

    Most Christians, including myself, have a difficult time thinking of themselves as pleasing to God. This is because we tend to link pleasing with  performance. Therefore, we tend to be displeased with anything less than perfection in ourselves, and even in our relationship with God. 

As a result, we tend to believe that God views us under the  same standards. The truth is, we can’t possible reach a stage of perfection while we live upon this earth, no matter how hard we try. For as long as we walk this earth even our best effort at self-righteousness is as filthy rags to God.  ( Isaiah 64:6) Thank God that through the shed blood of Jesus, our sins are forgiven , and Christ’s  righteousness has been given to us. As a result, we can stand before God with that assurance of our redemption, and His LOVE .  When we begin to accept  the full reality of our redemption we begin to live the life as a person that has been redeemed. And as a person that has been redeemed there is not condemnation. 

    Although, I have been a Christian most of my life, I haven’t always felt that I was truly forgiven by God for any of the sins that I have committed in my life time. Even when I have felt drawn to Him to ask His forgiveness for something I had done that I  knew  was wrong,  I have had a problem with believing that He could possible love me enough to truly forgive me. As a result, I found myself  often questioning my own salvation.

    I am not alone in my assumption. Many Christians struggle with feelings of  lack of worthiness when it come to being LOVED by God, let alone being forgiven by Him. We view our sin as so bad that God couldn’t possible LOVE us, let alone forgive us.  And more often than most us care to admit, we all have struggle to accept our own salvation in the face of the fact that we still continue to sin no matter how hard we try to stop ourselves. Therefore , we often question  our own REDEMPTION, based on our inability to meet a certain standard of behavior. 

     Why do we question our own redemption? Because we simple  can’t believe that we   deserve the price that Jesus paid on the cross for our REDEMPTION.  As a result, we walk around in varying degrees of  guilt and self-condemnation,  failing to accept the fact that There is no condemnation to them which that are in Christ Jesus….

( Romans 8:1a)

      The truth is, we don’t deserve to be saved, let alone redeemed. And we don’t deserve that gift that Jesus gave through His shed blood. But whether we deserve it isn’t the issue. The issue is that Jesus scarifies His life that we might live. It was His free gift of LOVE.

    Perhaps as you read this , you have come to realize that you are unsure of your relationship with God and need to conclusively make that choice now. But before you can do that you most come to accept that fact that you  and I can not pay for our sins, nor is it required. Christ  has already paid for our sins with His shed blood . All that is required of us is that we accept this free gift of  His LOVE. For by grace ( unmerited favor) you have been saved ( rescued from spiritual death and hell) through faith (trust); and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God… not as a result of works, that no one should

boast. ( Ephesians 2:8-9)

     If you  have already made that choice and accepted Jesus as Savior, then ask yourself, as I have asked myself over and over again;  “ Am I trusting in my own ability to earn acceptance with God? “ If the answer is yes,  then you  real don’t understand God’s LOVE at all.  Understanding God’s LOVE  , and accepting it as unconditional, is the first  accept our  REDEMPTION as children of God. Once we have accepted our 

redemption, we can then begin to feel secure in our salvation, and have faith in His great and every lasting LOVE. His LOVE that has the power to see us through all our trials, and tribulations.