I Suck, God is Awesome

The title of my writing this morning is from a friend of mine, Jared Carter. During our discipleship study, with three other friends, Jared Campbell, Nelson Pereira, and Rob Whitehead we broke down our relationship with God and His with us. One of the themes that came up time and time again is that God’s mercy and grace and love are not what we should be getting, but, that is the thing with God, He is bigger and better than we.

This morning the question in my study by James MacDonald that hit me the hardest is this, when we die and are standing before God and He asks, “Why should I let you into heaven?” How will I answer? How will I plead my case for entrance. The answer from MacDonald shocked me a bit, but is true, “You Shouldn’t. Lord, I can’t believe I’m even here.”

This is so true. I don’t deserve the mercy and grace and love of God. I am a sinner who fails time and time again. I sin consciously and unconsciously. I cannot escape sin in this world. Yet, even in all of that He loves me and provides for me and has pardoned all of it so that I can enter His kingdom and rule with Him.

“5he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” – Titus 3:5 (ESV)

“8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” – Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)

As sinful as we are, we are not able to get to Heaven on our own. We need help. There is nothing we can do to get there. No actions we can take. No tasks that check the right box. We cannot reach God and lay down a list of items completed to reach the pinnacle of favor with Him. We need His mercy, grace, and love. We need what He has already provided and offered to us, salvation. God gave His Son Jesus to die. He died for me. He took my sin upon Himself so that I would not have to die for them myself.

When I stand before God, and He asks why He should let me into Heaven, my answer will be something like this. I gave myself to you. I have believed that you gave Jesus to die for my sins. You shouldn’t let me in because I don’t deserve it. But I know you and love you and trust you and you mercy, grace, and love. GOD, I suck and YOU ARE AWESOME!!! I choose you.

What is you choice? Are you choosing to keep trying to measure up? What if you choose to surrender to Him and His mercy, grace, and love and recognize that we suck and God is Awesome?

The Way Out has Been Paid

Our way out of the consequences of sin has been paid. Yes, prepaid. We no longer have the payment for sin due. We only need accept the payment has been made and be grateful.

Notice what I wrote above, accept and be grateful. There is no repayment that can be made. I cannot make up the debt. God provided the payment for our sin and there is nothing we can do but accept that the payment has been made and be grateful for it.

“10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” – 1 John 4:10 (ESV)

“23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” – Romans 3:23 (ESV)

I am a sinner and will always be a sinner in this world. But, the escape from the consequences has been provided. Christ came to this world to walk as I do and take on the sin that I commit and then He died so I do not have to. Not that I will not die, but Christ died in my place as the consequence for my sin.

“23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23 (ESV)

I was destined to die for my sin, and Jesus came, or rather was sent, to die in my place. It is the only way out and it was made so by God. God’s grace (getting what we don’t deserve) and mercy (not getting what we do deserve) is demonstrated in His offering of forgiveness for the sin that we are born with and will always have in this world. This offering of forgiveness is made possible only by payment and that payment was made by Jesus’ death.

Our role in all of this is to believe and choose the gift of salvation provided thanks to the payment for our sin. That payment was extreme and I will say, Thank you God for providing and Thank you Jesus for paying and Thank you Holy Spirit for walking with me daily. I believe and choose to escape the consequence of my sin through acceptance and gratefulness in you and your grace and mercy.

What is your understanding of the consequence for sin? Are you able to get out of it on you own? What if you accept that the payment has already been made and you should believe and choose to accept and be grateful for the grace and mercy of God?

Sin Leads to Perish

“16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 (ESV)

See in the verse above, “should not perish”. Perishing is the consequence related to sin. There is no varying degrees of sin, sin is just sin. Whether you tell a little white lie, or swipe a pack of gum, or rob a bank, or engage in immoral acts. All sin is in the same bucket of working against God and for that His wrath is the result of that working against Him.

Perish: “1: to become destroyed or ruined: cease to exist 2: deteriorate, spoil” – Merriam-Webster Online

Let’s talk about that perishing for a moment. Notice the definition above from Merriam-Webster Online. The one that gets me and is most like the Biblical review is to “deteriorate, spoil” and then there is “ruined”. Yes, there is the destruction and ceasing that comes with perishing but from the Biblical review, we will be cast into the lake of fire, Hell, and will be tormented, bonded, will have our memory, will fully experience lake of satisfaction, and will be separated from God. There is not full destruction of us, only that we will be miserable for eternity. I have written about Heaven based on my study and it is going to be wonderful, beautiful, and frankly a place of immense joy and glory. As lovely as it will be, think of the exact opposite as it come to Hell.

Look back at John 3:16 above. There is a way to avoid the consequence of Hell.

James MacDonald writes, “The key word that unlocks the door to John 3:16 is believe. And believe always includes choice.”

So the choice is to perish or celebrate eternally. God gives a way to avoid the consequence of sin. Make no mistake, we are still and will always be sinners in this world, but as we believe in the salvation provided by Christ taking our sin upon Himself and dying for us, we have an escape from eternal anguish.

It is important to understand sin and the consequence of it so that we are able to make an informed choice. When we gloss over the perishing part, we are not taking into account the long term impact of our choice and only work with the now in which the evil one is working hard to deceive us as to the consequences.

MacDonald writes, “Hell will go on forever because no amount of punishment for sin can justify the choice to reject the forgiveness God so freely offers.”

“9The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” – 2 Peter 3:9 (ESV)

Even as we continue to sin in this world, God is not giving up on us. He is waiting patiently for our choosing of Him. We have until that time when we cease to exist in this world to choose to believe. But, we have to get on the ball as we do not know when that time comes. And I don’t know about you, but I do not want to perish.

What is your thoughts on the consequences of sin? Are you of the varying degrees and consequences camp? How do things change for you when with the understanding that all sin is sin and the consequence of that sin is perishing eternally?

Sin – Why Keep Talking About It

Well, because it is always a part of our lives. It is rooted in our DNA. I am a sinner, and I cannot escape that, in this world. I am no different than each of you. We are all sinners and need to understand that as we go through this world. We cannot escape it in this world, we can pursue God who provided the way out of sin, and He is waiting on us.

Back to this sin and why we cannot escape it in this world. James MacDonald has identified 5 reasons; We are determined, diseased, deceived, desperate, and destined sinners. I know what you are thinking as I thought the same, those are pretty strong reasons and if this is so, how do I escape.

“23For the wages of sin is death,” — Romans 6:23a (ESV)

Each of the above are terminal reasons. And even read the above verse. We are to be put to death for our sin. So there really is no escaping our sin, in this world. “Everything happening in the universe and in your heart that is sordid and sideways is because of sin” – James MacDonald. We are headed for certain death thanks to our sin.

“2020The soul who sins shall die.” – Ezekiel 18:20a (ESV)

So, if we are destined to die thanks to sin, why discuss it. Shouldn’t we just discuss things that are more positive, like getting what we want from this world. Even the bible says to let tomorrow worry about itself. Well, let’s discuss that. If death has been determined and we cannot escape it, we should think about positive things. How about we think about the way to escape. Remember above how I phrased the no escape, “in this world”. There is an escape and we should discuss that.

“23but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LORD.” – Romans 6:23b (ESV)

Look at that, the back half of Romans 6:23 gives us the answer. Eternal life is free from God with our belief in and trust in our savior who took our sin upon Himself and died, so that we do not have to. Yes, we will die, or pass, from this world, but we will live eternally in the New Heaven and New Earth without sin. So there is an escape, through Jesus Christ.

Here is what I have thought about this morning. I am, and all of us are, a sinner. I cannot escape it in this world. I am determined, diseased, deceived, desperate, and destined a sinner. It is in my DNA thanks to my ancestors, Adam and Eve. As a sinner, I am doomed to continue to experience sin in this world, as long as I am here. The consequence of my sin is death, but I can escape that consequence through the life giving sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He took my sin, yes mine, and paid for it with His death.

That is what I should think and discuss, the idea that my sin is there, and in this world I cannot shake it. I have to remember sin by talking about it and then shift to the escape from it. Jesus died for me and in the New Heaven and New Earth I will finally escape sin thanks to Him.

What are your discussions of sin? Are you working to try and avoid it for something more positive? What if you did keep talking about it to be reminded of your sin and then added in that the only escape is in the New Heaven and New Earth thanks to our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ?

Sin is at the Root, God Knows and Solves

This morning I am reminded that at the root of all my issues is sin. Yes, that is right. Everything that is at odds in this world is a result of sin.

“12Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” – Romans 5:12 (ESV)

Remember how we got here. Adam and Eve fell for the lies of the evil one and did the one thing that God told them not to do. As a result of that doing, they and we were cursed to live lives full of sin. Until that first sin, things were to be just as God drew them up. Wonderful and lovely. Yet as a result the lovely and wonderful were put on hold.

But, God provided the way out, Jesus. You see, Jesus came to this world to provide the way for us to return fully to God as we were intended. We are His greatest creation and God wants us to return there. Jesus came to restore us by dealing with the root cause of our issues, sin. He came to take it on Himself so that we would be spared. He provided forgiveness for our sin.

“2And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.’” – Matthew 9:2 (ESV)

Jesus was in the mode of healing people during this time. He had been doing so and the people knew it so they brought Him another to heal. And Jesus surprised them all. He healed the root of the issue, sin. The surprise was that this was not really what they were looking for, they were hoping to have their friend walking away. But Jesus was there to solve the deeper problem, not just that which was on the surface.

Isn’t this what we should all be looking for in our lives, the solving of the root issue so that we can get on with things and not worry with the issue any longer? I know for me it is. I have plenty of issues in my life that are getting in the way of my just moving on, but to know that God has taken care of my deep rooted issue, sin, I know that I will be able to get through them. God blots out my sin and forgets it as gets to the healing of my soul.

“25I, I am he

who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

and I will not remember your sins.”

— Isaiah 43:25 (ESV)

What a great thing. God forgives and forgets. I am a sinner, yes, but I am also forgiven of those sins. I am hard on myself for the sin, but God has forgotten them thanks to my salvation. God has gotten to the root of my issues and solved it so that I can move on to do that which He has for me, completing the tasks He has for me, bringing glory to Him, and celebrating my adoption into the family of God.

Where are you as relates to your issues in life? Are you still trying to solve those that are on the surface? What if you sought God and allowed Him to solve the root of them all, sin, by accepting Him as the only one who can forgive them?

Choose to Believe

“16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 (ESV)

This morning I was taken to what is likely the most well known verse in God’s Word, John 3:16. It is so well known that it has been seen at all types of public events, sports games, concerts, and countless others. People will have it with them for all to see, but how many are clued into fully the weight of this verse.

In my study this morning, James MacDonald writes, “The key word that unlocks the door to John 3:16 is believe. And believe always includes choice.”

Isn’t that true. We have to choose in order to believe. I was reminded in my study that even being undecided is a choice. Choices are not binary but have additional options that are not really considered. For example, believe or not believe or just walk away from the idea altogether. There are three options, not just the two initially thought. So therefore, being undecided is a choice just as the other two.

Too often, we find something to carry as a badge. Whether a verse, a quote, a poem, a way of doing things, or any number of others. We have chosen to carry the badge and in a lot of cases, we believe in our heads that it is quite the good thing. And where that badge may be powerful in your head and impacts other when seen, is it in your heart as well as your head.

I choose God’s Love. I have seen in my study the value and impact of God’s Love. I have taken it to the point where it is firmly implanted in my head. I have believed in my head. Where that is a great place to start, I have to be honest with myself in applying my belief to my heart as well. I have to connect the two. I have to take the intellectual belief and infuse emotional belief to gain the full value and impact of God’s Love.

I am not saying that I have not done so. What I am saying is that I have to be conscious of my belief. I have to choose to connect my head and my heart through belief in God’s Love. I have to know that whether situations are good or hard, leaning on God’s Love is that which will get me through.

Let’s go back to John 3:16. Look closely at this verse. See that God’s Love is demonstrated in what He did for you and me. He gave His Son to die so we would not have to. Jesus, His only Son. And why did He send Jesus, because He loves us. He chooses to love us. He chose to save us from our sin. The sin that we brought upon ourselves and have no escape on our own. He chose to afford us eternal life with Him. God’s Love is for us and I choose to believe.

Where is your belief? Do you choose belief, unbelief, or are you walking away? What if you made the choice to believe with both your head and your heart to know that you can lean on God’s Love regardless of the situations you find yourself in?

Choose God’s Love

“8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” – 1 John 4:8 (ESV)

If God is love, then how could He allow difficult things to happen to us. Well, that is a good question and one that burns up the airwaves when there is a tragedy. I am sure that everyone has thought it at some point, I know that I have which now sends me right to His word to understand.

Here’s the thing, James MacDonald says it well, “God’s love is a protecting love, but it’s not a preventing love. God doesn’t always keep hard things from happening. Here’s why. He has a higher purpose for our pain:” He is right. There is a purpose in God’s plan for us and He will stop at nothing to have that purpose fulfilled by us.

MacDonald lists three reasons God allows the hard things, to humble us, to restore us, and to refine us. We are God’s precious creation and He demonstrates it through His hard love for us.

God is in it for the relationship He has with us. That relationship is not there if/when we are not close to Him. Yes, He is still our Heavenly Father, but He wants to interact with us and not just be there. Sometimes He allows things to happen to bring us back to Him. When those hard things happen He is getting our attention and we should look straight at Him and let Him know that we hear Him and need His guidance and love in dealing with it. And then we should be asking Him about what else He wants from us.

Hard things happen to us and it is just that, hard and I am sorry for the difficulty we experience. I am human and will continue to be hurt when these things occur. In dealing with it, we have to remember to turn to God and jump in His loving arms. It is okay and expected to grieve. It is okay and expected to feel hurt. And, it is also expected that we turn to Him and allow Him to show us the way through it. Was He bringing us back to Him after some time of our drift away or was He strengthening our faith in Him to resolve.

God is love and that is it. He spreads that love to us in different ways. It may be comfort and guidance or it could be through restoration and refinement. Either way God loves us and wants the best for us. I choose God’s love.

What is your view of God’s love? Do you expect all comfort and grace? What if you see God’s love as His strengthening you in your relationship with Him through comfort and guidance and restoration and refinement?

Choose the Right God

Yes, that is correct. One must choose the right God. There are a lot of gods out there that we tend to lean to, but there is only one God. James MacDonald indicates, “When someone tells you he believes in God, as him to clarify which God he believes in.” This will allow them the opportunity to not only give you there belief, but also give them a chance to reflect for themselves which God they choose.

MacDonald, in the study I am doing, gives 4 “fake gods” that we tend to believe in. The gruff God, the game God, the guessing God, and the genie God. Each of them we attribute to God Himself and as such are skewed by who God really is.

The gruff God is the one that is always irritable and in a bad mood. I will say that I am currently in a season of being this way personally, but God is not gruff. He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil and is merciful.

“35But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” – Luke 6:35-36 (ESV)

The game God is the one that is playing games with you. He is hiding from you. It may seem as thought He is this way, leading you a certain way only to bring you hardship on you way. But God is not here to trick you. He is here to lead you in the righteous way through teaching and experiencing.

“16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)

Then there is the guessing God. This is the God that would seem to change with the wind and keep you off balance, not knowing which way to go. But God does not change and there are no variations of Him. He is the same today as yesterday and will be the same tomorrow.

“6For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” – Malachi 3:6 (ESV)

“17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” – James 1:17 (ESV)

The genie God is the one who we take out when we need Him. We find ourselves with a need of some kind and take Him out so that He will grant us a wish and then put Him away for next time. The thing is that God is with us always and provides for our needs and He is there when we need Him most, likely doing all of the heavy lifting for us. See the end of the poem by disputed authors “Footprints in the Sand” to see where God is.

“The Lord replied, ‘The times when you have seen only one set

of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.’” – disputed authorship

I choose God. Not a conditional God. I choose God with the greatest of all descriptors, Love. God is love and that is the only God I need, and frankly the only God that matters.

“8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” – 1 John 4:8-9 (ESV)

Which God do you choose? Are you even aware that we may find ourselves believing in a fake God? What if you were to believe in the kind, merciful, teaching, unchanging, always present, loving God?

Facts Leading to Faith in God

Faith – 2 a (1): belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2): belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1): firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2): complete trust – Merriam-Webster Online

I think it is interesting that the definition of faith above indicates that there is no proof, yet we ignore facts that are true and cannot be explained. And those facts lead to our faith.

In my study this morning I was pointed to evidence for faith in God. Cosmological, evidential, and moral. Each makes a case for having faith in God, and the question is asked by James MacDonald, to choose whether or not you believe them or not. Again with another choice. It is up to us to choose.

“3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” – John 1:3 (ESV)

The cosmological evidence is that all things in this world are based on an effect with a cause. God created all things, even the universe, which may be too big for us to fathom. But read the verse above once again and think it through. Isn’t it proof.

“1The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

— Psalm 19:1 (ESV)

The evidential evidence is that all things made for our existence are perfect. Our place in the solar system is perfect for us to live. Our distance from the sun. How fast we go around the sun. The moon we have. The atmosphere. All things point to proof that we were not an accident. Isn’t that proof.

“14For when Gentile, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15They show that the wok of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them” – Romans 2:14-15 (ESV)

And then there is the moral evidence. We know right from wrong and we do not have to be taught it. It is in our DNA. Other creatures created by God do not have that in their DNA as it was us that were created in God’s image, no other. God is the moral right and as we are created in His image, we have the moral right as well. Isn’t that proof.

Well there you have it. Three examples of facts that point to proof for having faith in God. When you look up the significance of the number three, you will find that it points to balance and completeness. It has long been my favorite number and as such I choose to believe the proof leading to my faith in God.

What evidence to you have to have faith in God? Did you even know that there was evidence? What if you look to all of the evidence, will you choose to believe the proof?

Choose God

Did you know that we choose God? I started a new study this morning on choices and the first choice that is pointed out is the choice to choose God.

It seems like a pretty simple thing and why wouldn’t we choose God. But there is a little more to it than first thought. James MacDonald writes, “He is less like the options on a new car and more like the person you decide to marry.” Now that is an interesting point when it comes to choosing God.

How often are we in the business of choosing God in a time of crisis. The wall of the house has a crack and we choose to pray that the damage is only on the surface as opposed to deeper in the foundation. Or, we are at the doctor and get some less than favorable news and choose to pray that God will take the challenge away. I know that I am in the prayer closet when things are not going great.

But, what about when things are just pressing along. Are we choosing God for those decisions that are not based on crisis? Did you choose to pray for God to provide you with your spouse for a lifetime? As you look to what church to attend, are we choosing to pray for God’s direction? Are you in a place where things are going well and are you choosing God’s direction on what is next?

I have a prayer list that I work through daily and on that list is everything from worship of God, to thanksgiving for His provision, to what is next for me and us as a family. When I look a the list, I see that I am choosing God for the purpose of His leadership. I have chosen to have Him be the guide for me. But, this morning I was convicted to whether or not I choose Him for my dependence. Am I choosing God as the author of my life or to get me through the decision I have made in my life. What a difference.

“13You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” – Jeremiah 29:13-14

I chose God, and yet, as seen in the above verses, am I reliant on Him to take me were He would have me go and be or, am I expecting Him to get me where I want to go and be. I have to choose more definitively. I have to be all in with God at the top of my priority list. I have to choose to serve God in all that I am and do.

“14Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.” – Joshua 24:14 (ESV)

Who do you choose? Are you choosing God when you are in crisis or you “need” Him? What if you were to choose God knowing that He chose you and you devote yourself to Him?