Missed part 1? Find it here!
GRACE
In the last section, we ended with the question Doesn’t God forgive our sins? Doesn’t He show us grace (not punishing you for something you deserve to be punished for)? After all, in 1st John 1:9, it says:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So, if we confess what we did wrong, He forgives us, right?
In Romans 6:1-2a, Paul questioned us:
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that
grace may abound? God forbid.
Basically, do we keep sinning so that God can forgive us? Is grace there to cover everything? Paul says, “God forbid.” That’s a pretty powerful way of saying NO!
God doesn’t take pleasure in watching us sin just because we know we will be forgiven.
That isn’t the way the system works! Of course, if we sin on accident or without meaning to, we can confess (tell God what we did wrong and ask forgiveness for it), and He will forgive us.
But if we sin on purpose, making an intentional decision to do something against God’s Word, we are doing wrong. God doesn’t want us to sin deliberately! Especially if it is with the excuse that His grace will cover it. Eventually, those actions will come back to bite us!
HOW THE WORLD SEES US
How can us sinning deliberately hurt us (and others)? One example of this is if we swear in front of a non-swearing Christian: we may hurt them or otherwise badly influence them, especially if they have just been saved.
Case-example-that-actually-has-nothing-to-do-with-swearing (but sorta relates to what we’re talking about): one of my adult friends who is not saved has turned against Christianity because a man who said he was saved and tried to share God with her was arrested recently for dealing drugs (a bit harsh of an example, but hey! It’s the world we’re talking about ;D).
Also, if we are out in public acting like everyone else, no one can tell us apart—and they have no desire to ask for “a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15b). They don’t see any difference; therefore, they don’t see anything special in Christianity compared to all the other religions out there.
Another point: if someone hears a professing Christian swearing and then saying that they are a Christian, the person watching will NOT have a good impression of Christians in general. They will be prejudiced against them! (Thankfully, the friend I mentioned earlier does not feel this way!) This is terrible because their chance of getting saved is very slim. Of course, it is up to God—but it just got much harder.
Basically, we don’t want to make people think that way!
On the other hand, if we show a cheerful, thankful, and giving attitude all the time, people will be drawn to talk to us, and we can share the gospel message with them. They will see a difference!
So . . . why do we act like everyone else???
To be continued in What Are We Saying? Part 3
God bless,
Janet
All scripture taken from the King James Version.
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