April 14th

April 14th

As Christ followers we may have let our view of God become skewed in one direction or another, when what we really need is balance.

How do you picture God? Loving shepherd or distant wrathful Judge?

There are a few things to consider about how we should picture Him…First our viewpoint of God should be from the perspective of a Christ follower, which is different than that of an enemy of Christ or just a lost soul. An enemy of Christ will see God as a hateful entity. A lost soul may not know what to think but bases opinions on rumors spread around the world by the enemy.

Let’s look at John 3, most of the time we stop at verse 16 and quote no further, but the next verses give us a bigger picture.

John 3:16-21 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Jesus came to save, not to condemn. The world interprets Jesus and His arrival as one of judgement and condemnation, but the whole purpose of Jesus is to save, as stated in verse 17.

Look at verse 18, the world already stands condemned because they don’t believe. Jesus has not instigated that condemnation. The whole world (who doesn’t believe) starts out condemned. But Jesus offers a way to escape condemnation.

Once you believe, you should not feel condemned because Jesus set us free from that. So, for believers let’s clarify: There is a difference between condemnation and conviction, just like there is a difference between humiliation and being humbled.

Conviction is not comfortable, but it is designed to draw us back to Him and away from sin. There is no place for condemnation in the life of a believer because Jesus already freed us from that. There IS a place in our lives for conviction. The enemy would like to fool us in to thinking we are condemned when we do wrong, let’s not fall for that!

Romans 8:1-2 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you a free from the law of sin and death.

Conviction, that tickle from the Holy Spirit that tells us that we should not be doing whatever it is that we are doing, (or should I say that prickle from the Holy Spirit,) is designed to save us from ourselves and nudge us back to the heart of Jesus. Even though it is not comfortable, we should welcome that in our lives. We can see it as a reminder of the love of God who desperately wants to keep us safe.

As believers, do we have a balanced view? God is the Almighty, All Powerful God who can only tolerate perfection in His presence, however we are not perfect, but because He loves us and wants us with Him, He provided a way to cover us with HIS perfection so that we CAN be with Him. God is not hateful, He is HOLY. He is so HOLY that anything not perfectly Holy will be disintegrated in His presence. He knows that, so He provided a way for us.

As Christ followers we do not have to fear the wrath of God the way the world does because we are covered by His grace. We DO have to revere and respect Him, we DO need to fear being separated from Him. That fear and reverence will help keep us from choosing sin. We also need to balance that reverence and respect and fear with a remembrance of His love for us, and we balance the gentle Shepherd with the fierce warrior that defeated satan and is coming back to declare that victory once and for all someday. So which is it? Is He a gentle, loving Shepherd, an Almighty, All Powerful, Perfectly Holy Judge, A Prince of Peace, or a Fierce Warrior King? YES!!! He is ALL of those! And as Christ followers we get to nestle ourselves right into Him and experience ALL of who He is to us. This week, let’s ask Him to straighten our hearts out and dial in our perspective of Him so that we can see Him and treat Him properly.

Jesus, thank you for being ALL that I need. Help me not to get so focused on one of your aspects that I have an imbalanced view of you. Help me to be wise and discerning when the enemy tries to make me feel condemned or unloved. Help me to understand how to spread the truth about your coming to those you place in my path. Thank you for reminding me of your great love for me.