Grace [greys] noun- the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God. For the past few weeks as I have been reading through the Old Testament books of 1st and 2nd Kings, I have seriously wanted to jump into the pages of the stories and literally shake some of the kings and scream "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!!!" So many of the ancestral kings followed in their father's footsteps of sin even though they saw how much sin had ruined their lives.
Punishments for sin were handled very differently before Jesus came. People paid the price for their sins in the Old Testament times. Once Jesus Christ came and died for all of us, He alone took upon Himself the punishment for all of our sins. Many of the Old Testament kings were stuck in their sin--as well as the sins of their forefathers and they had to face the consequences. Yes, we do have consequences for our sins today. If we make a wrong choice for example, we may end up not in the best of circumstances. But here is a problem.....and I know that I deal with it too! Today we have the grace of God when we sin. God unashamedly 24/7 loves us and forgives us....and we know that. Have you ever heard of the phrase "pet/favorite sins"? Many times we keep walking in our sin simply because we know that we will be forgiven of it. We try to water down what we are doing by telling ourselves that our sins are not that bad and that God will always forgive us. Let's be honest here. Sin is sin. It doesn't matter if you are gossipping, binge-eating, or having pre-marital sex. There is no sin that is greater than another. Yes, God will forgive us every time we mess up and confess what we have done. However, if you are asking for forgiveness with the intention of repeating that very same sin, if that true repentance? I don't think so. True repentance is filled with sorrow for what was done and the drive to move on. True repentance in God's eyes is seeking His forgiveness and making the conscious choice to learn and grow from your mistakes. Is God's grace ever limited? Absolutely not. And thank goodness for that! But let me challenge you today to stop taking advantage of God's grace. Jesus will always love you and forgive you, but today, let's make the choice to learn and rise above our sins. You can't truly grow in your relationship with Christ if you are stuck in sin. That's definitely something worth thinking about.
Punishments for sin were handled very differently before Jesus came. People paid the price for their sins in the Old Testament times. Once Jesus Christ came and died for all of us, He alone took upon Himself the punishment for all of our sins. Many of the Old Testament kings were stuck in their sin--as well as the sins of their forefathers and they had to face the consequences. Yes, we do have consequences for our sins today. If we make a wrong choice for example, we may end up not in the best of circumstances. But here is a problem.....and I know that I deal with it too! Today we have the grace of God when we sin. God unashamedly 24/7 loves us and forgives us....and we know that. Have you ever heard of the phrase "pet/favorite sins"? Many times we keep walking in our sin simply because we know that we will be forgiven of it. We try to water down what we are doing by telling ourselves that our sins are not that bad and that God will always forgive us. Let's be honest here. Sin is sin. It doesn't matter if you are gossipping, binge-eating, or having pre-marital sex. There is no sin that is greater than another. Yes, God will forgive us every time we mess up and confess what we have done. However, if you are asking for forgiveness with the intention of repeating that very same sin, if that true repentance? I don't think so. True repentance is filled with sorrow for what was done and the drive to move on. True repentance in God's eyes is seeking His forgiveness and making the conscious choice to learn and grow from your mistakes. Is God's grace ever limited? Absolutely not. And thank goodness for that! But let me challenge you today to stop taking advantage of God's grace. Jesus will always love you and forgive you, but today, let's make the choice to learn and rise above our sins. You can't truly grow in your relationship with Christ if you are stuck in sin. That's definitely something worth thinking about.
1 comment:
Good word, girl. Definitely easy to take advantage of grace.
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