Hiding From God (Part VII)

As most of you know, we have been thoroughly taught that God, like Santa Clause, is out to catch us in our naughtiness; consequently, we need to develop some keen hiding skills in order to avoid being caught and having to suffer the consequences! Well, do I have some good news for you!Hiding from God’s Presence need no longer be a concern for you, even when your behavior is most despicable, because God chose to give to you unconditional access into His Presence, as is evidenced by this: Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:19-22; emphasis mine).

In other words, you can now feel comfortable in God’s Presence even when you are doing the most despicable sin you can imagine. Never again do you have to hide from Him! As you remember, Adam and Eve had reason to hide because they owned their own sin. You, however, have no reason to hide because Jesus has already taken ownership of your sin (1 Peter 2:24), and God punished Him to the full extent of the Law’s requirement—death. Boldly, confidently, and unashamedly, run to Him! His arms are open wide to receive you!

In my not so humble opinion, this is good news--really good news!

Blessings,

Mac

Part VI & The Blessing of Blessings that Most Miss

If we know anything, we know that, as Christians, we need to stop sinning; however, none of us are able to get the job done. Thankfully, God knew that we would not and, therefore, graciously sent Jesus to do for us what we could never have done for ourselves--permanently and perfectly fix our sin problem! I cannot speak for you, but I can speak for myself and I will say this: I am very thankful that He fixed my sin problem--perfectly and permanently!

With that, on to Part VI:Striving to stop sinning, to overcome the power of sin in your life, need no longer be a concern for you because God chose to break the power sin had over you by releasing you from the Law—the Law of Moses, the Ten Commandments, the law of sin and death, the ministry of death, the ministry of condemnation—as is evidenced by these passages: (1) For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace (Romans 6:14; emphasis mine); (2) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13; emphasis mine). In other words, through Jesus’ death, God severed you from the very thing that gave sin its power, namely, the Law (Romans 7:8; 1 Corinthians 15:56); consequently, sin has no power over your life, unless, of course, you decide to give it power by placing yourself under the Law.

Whatever you do, do not do that!