Here's a little review of last Wednesday evening. Think about these statements.
1. God does not like us just the way we are. OK, people are going to get mad at me for this. I can see it. But buck up it's true. This is why the Bible teaches that we MUST repent from sin. Repentance is turning to God and away from self-righteousness (which is a sin) and other aspects of sin to trust in Jesus as Savior. It happens in our conversion experience, and it happens continually as God reveals sin in our hearts as believers that we must flee from (thus sanctifying us). In Acts 17:30 Paul plainly tells the people in Athens that God commands all people to repent. He doesn't like them just the way they are, because they are sinners.
2. God loves us for what we are. What are we? People made in His image. Genesis 1:26 tells us this very plainly. The fact that we were made with the original purpose of demonstrating the righteous character of God in His creation and rule over the earth is a BIG deal. God loves us because He created us for Himself!
3. God loves us in spite of who we are. Romans 5:5-10 is one of my favorite passages of scripture. Paul clearly states that before we come to faith in Jesus and become part of his family, we oppose His will. This makes us enemies. God loved us even though we sinned, making ourselves His enemies.
4. God loves us too much to let us stay this way. God called us to Himself, sent His Son to die in our place, and The Holy Spirit is present with us in our lives because He doesn't want us to be sinful enemies of Himself . He wants to buy us back from sin, make us alive again, pardon us completely, and give us the ability to become more and more like Him. Romans 8:29 tells us that God's purpose for every Christian is to be conformed to the image (likeness) of His Son Jesus.
Are you able to accept these truths?
Embrace the God who is worthy who embraces us even though we are not.
1 John 4:19
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