This is Good News for You

Have you ever felt like someone was watching you? Did you ever think about what God would say if He could tell you what He thinks of you and how He sees you? I used to think about this a lot and I figured that God would understand everything about me and would see me as “OK” because He knew what made me tick and would know that I was a result of “input --> output.” Garbage in --> garbage out.

Later, I learned this is only partly true. God does know what makes us tick. He knows everything about us. He has said this about the human race:

There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one (Romans 3:10-12)

Wow, that is pretty serious. He is not making excuses for our failing to be good people. We are all doing our own thing, fulfilling our selfish “needs” and desires. If we are honest with ourselves, we know this. This goes for all people. Even people who are kind and seem selfless are not pure in motive all of the time … none of us can be pure all the time! Therefore, according to God, none of us is good enough.

For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10)

So there you have it – who can measure up? This “standard” is dictated by the nature of the One setting the standard. It is as though God is a consuming fire … and sin … is like a dry piece of kindling. The kindling cannot be in the presence of the fire without being burned … they are incompatible. And so it is with those of us who have sin within us.
We are incompatible with God.

It would seem, then, that because of how perfect God is, the standard for goodness is such that only He can reach it … and alas, He became one of us. Jesus Christ is God as a man. He is the one man that ever fulfilled all “righteousness.” He was really the best man that ever walked the earth. He knew no sin. He had nothing within him or about him that was incompatible with God … which is no surprise … since He was God in the flesh. The Bible teaches that because of this perfect nature, He was the only “lamb of God” who could take away the failings (sin) of all others.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

You see, an ordinary person cannot take away the sin of others … or take any consequence of others’ sins … because He is so weighed down with his own sins. This man, Jesus was altogether different! He had no sin of His own. This Jesus came here with a specific purpose relative to all mankind.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor 5:21)

He took every sin of every person who has ever lived upon His shoulders when He suffered and died upon the cross. He died with that sin upon Him. Then, because He has the very life of God within Him and was without any of this sin problem of His own, He was able to rise from the dead … truly!

The resurrection proved that sin has no more ultimate power to burn us up as a piece of dry kindling, because our sin has “passed through the fire” so to speak. Christ’s death and resurrection has paved the way for you … if you will but take hold of Jesus and His gift of salvation. You will be saved from the consequence of sin which is death, if you but trust Him for this work that He has done to bring you life forever with God. It is a gift you must receive, as any gift. Instead of consequence now, God is doling out life to whoever will receive this Jesus. This goes for all people!

This message is for you, whoever you are.
This is all that God asks – that you look to Jesus Christ in simple faith, believing that He has done this for you. Receive His generous offer of a life that never ends – His own life within you. God is very aware of you, He is watching you … and if you receive Christ as He has planned, He will no longer see you as someone who has missed the mark, but He will look upon you as His very own child. This change makes you compatible with God!

Of course, your body will still die, but your eternal being will not have to burn and die forever, because you will have life instead of the death caused by sin. You can be God’s very own “son”! This is the best gift ever. (And it comes with a new and improved body too, just in case you were thinking that floating aorund in a nebulous eternity sounds scary.)

… as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name … (John 1:12)

… this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11-12)

He has done all this for you; receive Him today. He wants to give you this great blessing, this wonderful gift.