When I was a child, I was afraid of God. I am not speaking about a healthy fear of God, but a feeling of distress about the idea of God. It was rooted in the idea that God was very legalistic – you do wrong and it’s over for you. There was no grace in my idea of God.
Unfortunately, too many in the world see God as a legalistic, smoting, I will abandon you if you do wrong type of God. It makes my heart hurt that so many believe God to be so cruel.
If we get down to it, yes, God deals with right or wrong actions/thoughts/etc. in black and white terms. There are no blurred lines when classifying something a sin versus not a sin. And, yes, Hell really exists. But God is truly a loving, caring Father. He does not classify the person based on their sin because we are all sinners.
God’s love is eternal. It existed long before we did. His love isn’t given to some and not given to others. Thankfully, all we need to do to experience his grace is accept Jesus as our Savior. Easy, simple, done.
My favorite part of who God is that God loves you even before you accept him. He cares for you even before you accepted him. He wanted you long before you wanted him. That is grace and that is love.
Even if you are reading this and you have been a believer a long time – remember this! Remember that you were known by God long before you knew him. His grace was there before you needed it. Accept it and move on. He wants you to live your life in peace!
“He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.”
Psalms 103:10-14 NLT
“You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
Ephesians 2:2-10 NLT
Boldly Radiant 