There is one Eternal, Sovereign, Creator God, who is perfect and good. We ALL chose to rebel against, alienated ourselves, and disobeyed God and we look for satisfaction in every place. We look to ourselves, others, and other things to fulfill what we were made for, worship and the giving of glory to God. We are incapable of coming back to our Maker, because we love ourselves, our sins, believing they will fulfill us.
God sees the state of man, and to make right what we make wrong, to bring His name glory, loves us enough to rescue us, coming as fully God and fully man (Jesus), a missionary to a people group that desperately needs Him but does not know it. He lived perfectly to be the perfect sacrifice to all who would believe, understanding His mission was to die for the cosmic treason the human race has committed against His Father. Jesus died.
But then Jesus rose. Jesus now is alive! He conquered Satan, sin, and death in order to bring us back to our Maker. Jesus now has full authority, and without His payment for our sin, we are in eternal debt to God. He will use this authority to come back, and judge every soul that has ever lived, either to enjoy eternity with Him, or to spend eternity being tortured by Him, according to their belief about Him.
Often, the Gospel is wonderful news because we are saved. Paul repeatedly reminds us of our state before being saved. Because we should remember what it was like not knowing, not caring, or hating, Jesus and all He stood for. In order to love others, it is essential we remember how Jesus loved us when we were yet sinners, not on His good side. This will allow us to have genuine love towards the couple sleeping together, the gay guy at Starbucks, the drunk partiers, the self-righteous Mormon. We were all once dead in our trespasses. But Jesus is good. This will help us get away from the inclination of our hearts to malign the Gospel. We don't want to think about all its implications. We will sound judgmental, we will stop focusing on God's love. So we let them walk away... and they are dead in their sins. Hostile towards their Creator. Bound for Hell. And we go, "Well I love them, that's why I don't preach at them." What a great love. A love for ourselves. "I'm saved, I'm being sanctified, I go to church, I will be in eternity with my Father. You? You can go to hell for all I care, but here, come to my Fall Fest, come to my event, enjoy 'conversation' with me."
Jesus save us from ourselves please. We often hate your mission, your purpose, your calling. We love our agenda, because deep down, we still want to be a little God. We want the power, the approval, the control, the comfort of ruling our own lives and ruling the people around us. Strip us, oh God, of everything that is us. Let us just be You. People are souls that need saving. Money is a resource, possessions are tools. You are our commander, our mission is a rescue mission, and all people are hostages. Please Spirit.
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