Watch the vid below by El Stevo McVeyo over at Gracewalk.org – my comments follow:
It’s called the GOOD NEWS for a reason!
I like how Steve called it the primary reason and the secondary reason…
The primary reason:
“… I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” John 10:10 (the message)
The secondary reason:
To have your sins forgiven.
What’s the point in having your sins forgiven in the first place? As I’ve mentioned before it’s because it’s the only way that God could place his life into you, in the form of Christ.
Why this lie is dangerous…
The reason why this lie is dangerous is because it gets you focusing on the wrong things.
If you think the only reason why Jesus came was to forgive your sins, then you’ll join many of the Christians today who understand their sins were forgiven at the point of salvation… and now they’re just waiting around to die and go to heaven.
Even worse, if you only acknowledge that your sins were forgiven, you think you’re incomplete… that there’s something ELSE you have to do in order to earn God’s favor.
That’s when the “religious treadmill” of modern Christianity kicks in!
You’re told to make God happy (after all, he DID forgive you of your sins right? So you SHOULD try to repay Him) you should read your Bible ten minutes a day… pray during a quiet time… be in Church every time the doors are open (and give generously)…. serve on all the commitees at church… add infinity.
What kind of good news is that?
(note: I’m not saying that all these things are bad, but they become CHORES when we think we have to do them… instead of JOYS when we realize Christ took away our sins to give us His life to empower us to to do them!)
NO–the good news is that your sins were forgiven BECAUSE God wanted to place the very life of Christ inside you to empower you to live a GREAT Christian life.
… To take the burden of service off of you–to empower you to do those things that most Christians think of as “chores”…
… to give you a more abundant life…
… to share his love with you, to LAVISH his love on you (the Bible says He’ll never stop doing good to you (Jeremiah 32:40) …
That’s something to talk about—THAT sounds like good news doesn’t it?
So the next time someone says accepting Christ is JUST to get your sins forgiven, STOP, and share with them the REAL reason!
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