Couple More Thoughts

One thought leads to another. My mind wanders and chases rabbits.

I was thinking about faith and what it means. Some equate ‘faith’ with doing good, being good. “I believe in God, therefore I will do good stuff. If I don’t do good stuff, God will get me, He will punish me, He will send me to hell.” We cower at the feet of God likes slaves trying to please a vicious task master. Or, we think of God (unconsciously) like an abusive husband whose wife feels like “he only beats me because I’m not good enough, so if I do better he’ll treat me better.” We can even quote scripture verses that back up our views of faith. He’s even portrayed that way by many churches. Eventually you realize that you’re not good enough, then you either give up and slip away, or surrender to playing ‘religious’ games and hope no one finds out what a hypocrite you are and hope maybe God will accept you in the end.

We’re told that “Without faith, it’s impossible to please Him. We must believe that He is, and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” But we like to add, that He’s a punisher of those who don’t seek Him.

A thought came to me today. What do we place our faith in? We like to sing, “Jesus loves me this I know.” But how many actually believe that? How many actually believe that, “God so loved the world…?” Do we really believe that God loves us? Do we place our faith, hope, our lives on “God loves us?” Or do we place our faith in “God loves us if we’re good. God loves us if we’re religious. God loves us if we act ‘spiritual.’” We just don’t put faith in “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”

We don’t trust God’s love for us that all we have to do is walk through the door (Jesus) and we’re saved. We believe God’s love is conditional. We don’t believe that God’s love for us is not based on what we do.

God loves us. It’s such a simple concept, yet, so hard to grasp. It’s so freeing to know that when we are unlovable, God loves us anyway. He loved us so much He made the only sacrifice acceptable to cover our sins to make us acceptable to Him. We no longer have to strive to make ourselves acceptable because in Christ we are accepted. God’s love is not something I have to earn. God’s love is something all I need to do is accept. Faith is not about hoping just maybe I’ll obtain God’s favor if I’m good enough, or religious enough, or perfect enough. Faith is knowing that even if I’m not good enough, religious enough, or perfect God loves me anyway and He did it for me. He did it for you. Jesus died that we might have life. Our life is Christ.