08.09
Sometimes Christians speak and act more on the negative. We talk about sins and guilt and hell and short-comings and what not. While those general ideas are true, that’s not the end of it. Not unlike the saying, “it’s darkest before the dawn”, there are things that are the illest, but it sometimes does take getting through the ills of life. For example, with God, many times it’s after the fear that comes the love, after the suffering comes the joy (like Jesus and the cross and the resurrection), after the guilt comes peace, after the anger comes patience, after selfishness comes kindness, after rudeness comes goodness, after rejection comes faithfulness, after violence comes gentleness, and bad choices some self-control.
When Jesus died, God put the punishment for all our sins on him. If we believe this, then we don’t need to be punished for them anymore. Also, Jesus came back from the dead to show us that they really are paid for, that there is life after death. We might not be in Heaven yet, but this life we live, with still live with God. All this only comes through Jesus. Sounds narrow, but what if it’s true? There is only one God and God is real. He created people good and to be godly (not God-like), but we aren’t in how we live. Repenting, which means, practically speaking, “to turn around”, is what we all need to do. It might seem like a bad thing at first cuz of what we have to admit our wrong-doings, but it’s such a great thing afterward cuz of where we end up. We went from good to sinful, but forgiveness through Jesus and following his ways, that’s what makes us (increasingly) good again. Did Jesus say, “repent for Hell is near”? No, he said that it was because Heaven was near.
If we run this race thinking that beating bad or evil is the goal, then we better cross it, because it’s really for the stuff after the finish line that we run – cuz that’s where the goodness is. Guilt for our sins is real, but so is forgiveness and it usually comes after admitting them and being sorry about them to God. Hell is real, but God’s original place for people wasn’t there, but with him (Hell was made as a prison for the devil). Through Jesus we live a new life – not just a better one. Let’s stop focusing on the negatives in life and people and treating them accordingly. Let’s run the race, but let’s make sure that we also run for the life after the finish line.
