If you were a good Christian what behavior in your life
would you not have such a problem with?
What do you think about when you look at this area? What do you imagine God thinks when he looks
at this area?
What do you think is the purpose of the commandments in
the Bible? Contrary to what you may have
thought their purpose is not to be a checklist of things to either do or not
do. The purpose of God’s commands is not
to use them to get ourselves out of the mess we are in; it is to show us just how
useless it is for us to even try to get out of that mess. If it wasn’t for the commandments in the
Bible that attempt to describe God’s perfection, how else would we know just
how corrupt and horrible we really are as people? Think of it sin in terms of dirty, stinky
laundry; God’s law is not the way we are washed, it is the smell test to
determine just how nasty we smell. (Romans 7:7-13)
The way we end up using the commandments as a checklist
is as Fabreeze to cover up our stink.
Instead of realizing we are completely unable to fix ourselves we just
try to change the way we act. If we just
check all of the boxes on the spiritual checklist we will be clean. That may fool others for a while, and even
ourselves, but sooner or later that cover-up wears off and the B.O. that has
soaked into the fabric wears off.
Think back on that area of your life that you said you
are struggling with. When you look back
at your Christian journey is that what you see?
Every Christian tends to see all of those times when they have failed to
measure up to the “does and don’ts” of the Bible. But how does God look back at your Christian
journey? What is it that He sees? He sees and remembers nothing at all
regarding your failures! (Isaiah 43:25)
When Jesus, who is 100% God, died on Good Friday and was resurrected on Easter,
He handed each person in the world the ability to erase their failures from the
mind of God, if they would only believe that Jesus died for them. We define being a “good Christian” by looking
back on our lives and not seeing any sin. The good news that God offers to you
is that he already sees your life that way!
YOU ARE A GOOD CHRISTIAN!
Now I must ask, is that the ultimate goal of Jesus? Would you believe me if I said that it
wasn’t? The ultimate goal of our Savior
goes way further than the miracle of washing us clean of our sin. What is the ultimate goal then? The ultimate goal of Christ’s death and
resurrection is to include us as part of the Framily of God. Jesus accomplishes this goal through the Holy
Spirit, sent by Him to live in us when we accept Jesus. (John
14:16, 17; Romans 8:14, 16) Remember
the fact that you already are a good Christian as you read the New Living
Translation of Romans 5:11: “So
now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord
Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.”
What is the mental picture that you have when you think
the word God? Does this mental image
make it easy to relate to God as a friend?
Have you ever thought that the reason God seems so remote is that you
haven’t ever let Him finish His work from Easter in you? God is not waiting for you to fix the
problems in your life before He will have anything to do with you. God does not hear your prayers for help and think,
“When will she/he ever get it right?”
No, God hears from you and thinks, “I love talking with you so
much! I want to be involved in
everything in your life, but unless you bring it up first, I won’t barge in,
because I want to let you be your own person.”
Take the risk of relating to God as your friend. You will not find Him to be the taskmaster in
the sky you have been afraid of or angry with; He loves you and cannot wait to
wrap His arms around you today and every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment