Love and Justice
God's love and His justice are two sides of the same coin. God doesn't suspend any of His love to execute His just judgment of sin, and He doesn't suspend justice to pour out His love into an undeserving life, like mine.
This is why Jesus sacrificed His own life for people. Because God made me to be with Him forever, Jesus was the only possible way forward. Jesus took the punishment that belonged to me. When He did that, He offered me the gift of everlasting life.
When someone holds a gift out to you, what is inside the box isn't yours until you accept it. If you don't take the box into your hand and unwrap it, you never really get the gift, even though it was bought and paid for just for you.
You take this gift of life from Jesus like you would accept a gift of a new shirt: you give up your right to not have the gift...which means your right to your own dying life, and the punishment that you are entitled to along with it because of the mistakes you have made and give it to Jesus. In return you accept the everlasting life and approval by God that, because He lived a perfect life, Jesus was entitled to. Then you put on this new life: You commit, to the best of your current ability, to living under the leadership of the author of Love, who made this beautiful exchange possible.
This new shirt is size xxlarge, to accommodate the fullness of life you are growing into. You won't fill it out totally at first (you might carry some of the old habits into the new life). That is ok, as long as you commit to getting to know the One who loves you completely, you will grow into the new life. God knows the difference between rebellion and learning to live in a new way.
This was God's plan from the beginning. Contrary to popular belief, there aren't two versions of God. There isn't a judging god of the Old Testament and a loving God of the New Testament....only a perfect, never changing, just and loving God of mankind. He made us to be with Him. He paid for us to be with Him forever!
Jeremiah 31:33 "But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day," says the LORD. "I will put My instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, 'You should know the LORD.' For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know Me already," says the LORD. "And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins."
35 It is the LORD who provides the sun to light the day and the moon and stars to light the night, and who stirs the sea into roaring waves. His name is the LORD of Heaven's Armies, and this is what He says: 36 "I am as likely to reject My people Israel as I am to abolish the laws of nature!"
37 This is what the LORD says: "Just as the heavens cannot be measured and the foundations of the earth cannot be explored, so I will not consider casting them away for the evil they have done. I, the LORD, have spoken!
This is why Jesus sacrificed His own life for people. Because God made me to be with Him forever, Jesus was the only possible way forward. Jesus took the punishment that belonged to me. When He did that, He offered me the gift of everlasting life.
When someone holds a gift out to you, what is inside the box isn't yours until you accept it. If you don't take the box into your hand and unwrap it, you never really get the gift, even though it was bought and paid for just for you.
You take this gift of life from Jesus like you would accept a gift of a new shirt: you give up your right to not have the gift...which means your right to your own dying life, and the punishment that you are entitled to along with it because of the mistakes you have made and give it to Jesus. In return you accept the everlasting life and approval by God that, because He lived a perfect life, Jesus was entitled to. Then you put on this new life: You commit, to the best of your current ability, to living under the leadership of the author of Love, who made this beautiful exchange possible.
This new shirt is size xxlarge, to accommodate the fullness of life you are growing into. You won't fill it out totally at first (you might carry some of the old habits into the new life). That is ok, as long as you commit to getting to know the One who loves you completely, you will grow into the new life. God knows the difference between rebellion and learning to live in a new way.
This was God's plan from the beginning. Contrary to popular belief, there aren't two versions of God. There isn't a judging god of the Old Testament and a loving God of the New Testament....only a perfect, never changing, just and loving God of mankind. He made us to be with Him. He paid for us to be with Him forever!
Jeremiah 31:33 "But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day," says the LORD. "I will put My instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, 'You should know the LORD.' For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know Me already," says the LORD. "And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins."
35 It is the LORD who provides the sun to light the day and the moon and stars to light the night, and who stirs the sea into roaring waves. His name is the LORD of Heaven's Armies, and this is what He says: 36 "I am as likely to reject My people Israel as I am to abolish the laws of nature!"
37 This is what the LORD says: "Just as the heavens cannot be measured and the foundations of the earth cannot be explored, so I will not consider casting them away for the evil they have done. I, the LORD, have spoken!
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