Okay, I’ve spent 13 weeks talking about the GRACE OF GOD and how we are FREE FROM THE GUILT AND CONDEMNATION OF
SIN! So here it is for those you who believe I have been giving people free
reign to sin or to live a sinful life without repercussions, or those of you
who want to bring up the scripture in Romans 6:1 which says, “What shall we say
then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? …” Before I say anymore about
this scripture, which is where my point will be made; I have to say I do not
believe sin should be justified in anyone’s life! I do not believe we should
live a sin-filled life and just go around saying and doing anything we desire.
But what I do believe is Christ died for our sins and as Christians we should accept His FREE GIFT OF GRACE, stop
focusing on the sin and or the attempts not to sin, and focus more RECEIVING
HIS LOVE, GRACE AND MERCY AND SPREADING THAT AROUND for others to see! The rest of that scripture then goes on to
say, “CERTAINLY NOT! How shall we who
died to sin live any longer in it?” and didn’t you and I die to sin
according to the rest of this chapter when we accepted Christ as our Lord and
Savior? I know I did, and I hope you did, but if you feel you didn’t, please
continue reading Romans chapter 6, and as you read, please pray for
understanding so that you may interpret it in the right context!
I realize the very thought of teaching someone that it is
okay to not feel guilty or condemned by the very thing that got us into
trouble in the first place, starting with Adam, may seem like blasphemy to some,
and it is a very understandable thought, but if you get one thing from my
blogs, please let it be this! THE
ACCEPTANCE OF GRACE IN YOUR LIFE IS NOT PERMISSION TO SIN; IT IS PERMISSION TO
NOT HOLD GUILT AND CONDEMNATION IN YOUR LIFE ABOUT SIN!
According to Titus 2:12, It is the teaching of the Grace of
God that will ultimately bring people to a place of not desiring to sin. “For
the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Teaching us
that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously and godly in the present age.” There it is. It is not guilt,
condemnation, or your own self-effort that brings you to a place of not sinning
in your life. IT IS ONLY THE ACCEPTANCE
OF THE GIFT OF GRACE THAT BRINGS YOU TO A PLACE OF NOT DESIRING TO LIVE UNGODLY
ANYMORE.
Did I hear you say, “How does this work?” How does Grace
bring us to sin more? Well here is a picture you may be able to relate to. If
you as a child was unconditionally taken care of by your father, given
unconditional love, grace and mercy for everything you did in life good or bad,
and you knew your father only desired the best in life for you and always
wanted to protect and provide for you, would you truly want to do something to
hurt him or sin against him or would you want to do good and please him? Now
think about it in the opposite way: If you as a child had a father who always
scolded you, always wanted you to live a perfect life, always looked over
everything you did in life with a fine tooth comb, had certain standards and
laws for you to live up to, even though He knew you couldn’t live up to them,
not because you didn’t want to, but just because of the nature in which you
were born, would you want to please him or would you hold grudges, and
resentment towards him and be afraid of Him? (Note, this type of fear is not reverential
fear, more on that in a later blog) Don’t you think you would be cold and
distant toward him, and not desire to have a personal relationship with him, (which
is what most non-believers do) because in all your striving to do right in
life, you could never live up to his standards anyway? ROMANS 2:4 says, “…. The GOODNESS of God leads us to repentance.” Not
the chastisement, the rebuking or the guilt and condemnation of our sins!
But here is where most Christians get things twisted as
well. They begin to think okay because Christ has given me so much, I must give
to Him in return; and this my dear is not His desire. He doesn’t want us to
give to Him. He just wants us to RECEIVE
FROM HIM. Once we get in the mindset of thinking we have to do, do, do for
Christ, we get caught up and forget He
has done, done, done and we then begin to strive in our own self-efforts to
live a perfect life, which then leads to being self-centered, living a life of
guilt and condemnation anytime we sin (which is actually daily) and worst of
all living by our works and not by faith in Christ’s FINISHED WORK!
Please know this my friend; God doesn’t desire that any of
us live a life of sin, but because this is not and was not His desire for us
and because He knew we could not live up to this desire, He sent His One and
Only Son to fulfill it! He sent Christ to die for our sins, but most of all He sent CHRIST for us to
RECEIVE HIS GRACE!!!!
Forever In HIS GRACE!
Toinette Neube
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