Freedom not punishment

Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. Acts 13: 38 – 39

There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears in not made perfect in love. I John 4: 18

When Jesus died on the cross, he took all of our sin past, present and future and the guilt and the shame upon himself as the perfect sacrifice.  He took all the punishment that was due to us for our sin.  Our sin incurred the death penalty. As it says in Romans 6:23 ‘for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.’ Jesus took the death penalty for our sin and in a divine exchange, gave us the free gift of eternal life.  It was a complete, finished work.

However, as Christians, when we do wrong our mind set can still be that God is angry with us and wants to punish us. We need to get hold of this divine truth that God does not want to punish us for anything.  Jesus took ALL the punishment due to us for every sin when he died on the cross.  God does not want to punish us when we do wrong but to set us free from sin and its consequences.

If we look at God’s Word in the light of God’s desire to free us from sin, it takes us from a vengeful God ready to pounce on every wrongdoing to a God that longs for his people to be liberated from the burden of their mistakes. 

This amazing thought can free us from fear; fear of failure, fear of sinning, fear of punishment, fear of judgment, fear of disappointing God.  We cannot disappoint God because he knows what we will do before we do it. Disappointment comes when things do not work out as expected.  If God knows what is going to happen, he cannot be disappointed. 

When we sin or when God shows us our shortcomings, our proud thoughts and bad attitudes, we must resist every temptation to think that God is angry or disappointed in us. We must take hold of the truth that God is liberating us from these shortcomings.

God hates sin because it separates us from his unconditional love.  God has dealt with sin in sinful man through Jesus’ death on the cross (Romans 8: 3 – 4).  Let us live in the joy of being forgiven children of God who need have no fear of their loving heavenly Father and let us walk in that wonderful freedom. 

Choose life

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. Deuteronomy 32:19

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. II Corinthians 10:5

There can be times in our lives, when we seem to keep stumbling over the same issue. This may be a past hurt, disappointment, deep regret, an issue of forgiveness or something similar that seems to haunt us. Recently I kept stumbling over some similar circumstances and instead of jumping over them, they caused me to stumble every time.  A good friend of mine gave me this advice:

Choose life.

What she meant was that whenever one of these things came up, instead of dwelling on the past hurt, disappointment, regret or unforgiveness all of which can lead us in a fruitless circle that brings no release - choose life. Choose to take that thought captive which keeps making you stumble and refuse to dwell on it. Instead fill your mind with thoughts of life. These may be thoughts of thankfulness, forgiveness, salvation, healing, God’s goodness, faithfulness, grace, mercy and so on. We should declare God’s truth instead of thinking about those things that have gone wrong.

Soon after my friend said this to me, a thought about something painful came to my mind. I was just about to share it when I realised where this would lead. Instead I took the thought captive and replaced it with thoughts of life and thankfulness.

Choosing life is not the same as sweeping things under the carpet and pretending something has never happened. It means recognising something was hard, difficult, disappointing and that maybe someone, including yourself, may need forgiving. However having done that, instead of focusing on these things, you choose instead to look at the positive Godly aspects of life.

Martin Luther said, ‘You may let a bird fly over your head but you do not have to let it land in your hair and make a nest.’ By which he meant that thoughts may come flying past but we do not have to let them land and make a home in our minds.

Today if you keep stumbling over an issue, can I encourage you to stop letting it dominate your life and instead take the thoughts captive and ‘choose life’ which will bring freedom and joy to you. 

Journey versus destination

Whenever we are on a journey, whether between two places or on the journey of life, I think it is very important that we not only keep the destination in mind but also make the most of the adventure. Too much focus on either of these to the detriment of the other can cause us to live an unbalanced life.

If all we have in mind is the destination then we get so little joy from our travels and we may not make the most of the adventure.  If our focus is on the journey and we forget our destination, it is very easy to get lost.

We were once travelling between two places in Britain and instead of using the easy but unexciting motorway, we went cross country. It was a wonderful journey, full of interest and beautiful scenery but we had to keep our destination in mind.  If we had forgotten where we were going, we would have had a wonderful journey until we realised we were hopelessly lost.

The same can happen on the journey of life.  So many Christians are enjoying the journey, concentrating on the ups and downs of life, growing in their knowledge of God but with so little focus on where they are going.  Heaven is our destination. This is what gives meaning to the journey. Knowing that we are going to spend eternity in a perfect world with a God who loves us more than we will ever know, should change our whole perspective of life.

 I am always surprised by Christians’ reaction to death. Many do not want to talk about it but death is the doorway to a wonderful eternal life. Of course we grieve when a loved one dies but Paul says we ‘do not grieve like the rest of mankind without hope’ (I Thessalonians 4:13). Our loved ones (if they are Christians) are with Jesus rejoicing with him; no more tears or pain.  That is good news which should change the way we grieve.

Every person has a final destination and many non Christians do not want to think about this. They are fearful of death and what will happen.  They have no hope but one of our highest callings after loving the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind is to share the good news that no one need fear death if they have given their lives to him. 

On the other hand, only focusing on heaven means we may rush through life missing so many wonderful opportunities and life experiences; some of which are hard but always worth it.  God did not call us to an easy life, he called us to walk with him, growing more and more like him each day. The journey will always be of great value because Jesus is with us.

So as Christians I believe we should be keeping in balance the value of the journey whilst always keeping our wonderful destination in mind. One without the other leads us to an unbalanced life.

Lord I want to ask you to help me make the most of my life’s journey, enjoying the experiences and valuing and benefitting from every circumstance both good and bad. However Lord help me also never to lose the focus on my wonderful destination – spending eternity with you in heaven. May the joy of that destination flood my life so that I live my journey with hope and expectation. In Jesus Name Amen. 

Trusting God in the bad times

One of the hardest things I think we are called to do as Christians is to accept the place that God has put us in with grace and trust especially when it is the last thing we would ever want. It may be a place of great trial and difficulty and we do not feel we have done anything to ‘deserve’ it but this is where we find ourselves.

There is an incredible clip on YouTube of a young mother dying from cancer explaining how she is managing to cope in this heart breaking situation.  Four months later she died leaving two small children.

This is some of what she said: People ask me why is God taking me away when a murderer gets to live a long life? There is an implicit assumption in this that I am a good person – I deserve better.  I am not a good person.  I do not deserve better.  As it says in Romans 3: 23 we have all done wrong things.

I have railed against not being able to do what I want.  It is frustrating and I get angry but the root of this is unbelief. What I am saying is I do not believe this is right for me.  God you do not know what you are doing. If you do know then you are not good or you are not in control. I don’t want this.  God you are not being fair because you are not giving me what I want. This is what our hearts say when faced with circumstances we do not like but God is good. He is in control. He is fair.

When I try and make him into a God who serves me – I sin. Our natural bent is to sin and that is our greatest problem.

I am so challenged by this.  I am not in the circumstances of this young mother but I have been in circumstances I do not like. I may rail against God and what is happening. I too get angry and frustrated but this will not help me or those around me.

Too often our default position as Christians is that God is good and therefore only good things should happen to us as his children. When bad things happen, it must be because we have sinned or because the devil is attacking us. This may be true or we may be in this place just because that s where God has us at this time.

Trusting God in these times is the answer; believing that God is good, he does know best and he has a bigger picture and purpose that he is working out in our lives. He has not forgotten or abandoned us but is holding us securely in his hand despite all our emotions that tell us otherwise.  We can and must trust him.