A Free Gift
What
if I told you if your Bible sat on that little bookshelf in the
corner of your room collecting dust for the rest of your life you'd
still go to Heaven. You're probably thinking, “Woah!
Woah! Hold up, Jacob. That's probably heresy.” Let
me explain.
Remember
when you were a kid and your dad would go on a business trip and then
he'd bring you back a present? After he gave it to you did you have
to ask for it? No way!
It was already there. Salvation is the same way, when we ask for it,
it's there. Plain and simple! After we get it, we don't have to earn
it. Am I saying don't read your Bible? Definitely not!
It offers so much revelation, and it is God's Word. Read it!
What
I want to communicate is that we don't have to strive! Ever! We can't
DO anything to earn love, to earn salvation, to earn forgive, to earn
grace. It's just there. “Stop acting as though you can earn it, I
don't love you because you deserve it, I love you because that's who
I AM. Let. Love. Win”. There it is. He loves us, because He loves
us.
So
often as Christians we think back on the week, or month, or year and
our thought process (at least mine is), “Well, I
didn't read my Bible this past week (or month...or year..) my
relationship with God isn't good.” or
“Well, I sinned x-amount of times today. I'm
just a sinner, and I don't really have a good relationship with God
right now.” And
to that I say, WHAT
NO! If
that was the truth we might as well be back in the Old Testament
offering sacrifices up for our sins to in-turn EARN FORGIVENESS. Why
do we put Jesus back on the cross when He already did it once and
for all! Jesus died for your sins, and that wasn't just it! He became
the eternal sacrifice! Jesus, GOD IN THE FLESH, is now a man forever.
FOREVER. His sacrifice wasn't just once, but it is eternal. Crazy,
I know!
I
think the same analogy goes for forgiveness as I used before for
salvation. We sin, we feel dirty, we beg God for forgiveness, “God,
please forgive me, make me clean again.” Why
is it every time I'm stuck in sin all the sudden people start giving
me words from God like, “I just see purity all over you”. And
usually my first thought is, “Crap, they must
know I'm stuck in sin and they are doing that whole prophetic...say
the opposite of what you see...speak life ...thing”.
No! That's not really the case at all! God sees us, in all of our
sin, exactly as that. Pure. Righteous. Holy. No matter if you're
sleepin' around with your boy/girlfriend or not! (And I'm talking about while you're saved. YUP!) We can't earn
righteousness! We can't earn purity. It just is. Why? Because of the cross. So lately God has been showing me to switch my mindset of forgiveness, instead of saying "God, please forgive me", I'm starting to say "God, thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you that I am PURE. And that sin, that's not me!" WHY? Because the cross was once and for all! He ALWAYS sees us as pure. Our robes of righteousness don't get dirty when we sin! They are always clean because HIS blood WAS AND IS the eternal sacrifice, and we CANNOT earn our righteousness. YOU ARE CLEAN. ALWAYS.
Yesterday,
I heard this little clip from a podcast that Adam Cox was speaking
on, “What if I told you you'll never be more of a son or daughter
than you are today”. There's so much truth packed into that one
tiny sentence! Can I be more of a son to my dad? NO! When I was born
I was made his son for my whole life. I can't be more of a son or
less of a son. It's just who I am, it's in my blood. We may get
greater revelation of our sonship over time but that definitely
doesn't make us more of less of a son/daughter. We are, because we
are. Sin or no sin.
I hope more than anything this is freeing, to know that grace is always there and there's no such thing as "grace giving you a license to sin", that there is no such thing as "cheap grace". Why? Because grace is NOTHING but freeing and it does NOTHING but make us feel clean, and SIN IS NOT BIGGER THAN GRACE, OR FORGIVENESS! :) Don't put Jesus make on the cross when He has risen.
I pray this blog was freeing and maybe caused you to be set free of the chains of the old mindset of sin that tries to weigh you down. The gospel...it's a happy deal.
The end.
I like this Jacob.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jim :) You're the bomb ! I hope to see you soon!!
Delete