Frowney face. Smiley face.

OK. Here we go.

It’s been a while since I have written anything. How’ve you been?

So, I’ve been really struck with a couple of things lately. Two great ____ (fill in the blank: truths, elements, realities, things) related to Christianity. Or maybe, more specifically, our relationship with God through Jesus.

There’s a before and after kind of thing that I’ve been thinking about. And, they’re both very important. And, I think, they are both necessary. Neither one of them is complete in itself.

There’s the repentance and the celebration.

So easy to say with one word. So incomplete (at least for me) if left at only one word.

Repentance. Lamentation. Feeling awful about your sin. Confessing that to God. Absolutely necessary. God is holy. God is everything perfect and pure. God is without sin, blemish, or anything else we could possibly associate with “bad”. We are not. We are sinful by nature. That’s who we are. There is nothing we can do to rid ourselves of this ugly truth. When we approach God, we do so as people all together different from Him. That’s what the word “holy” means. God is different. God is other. God is unlike anything else. And that includes us. Especially us.

We HAVE to approach Him in this way. And that requires a deep sense of sorrow on our part. Our sin offends God. Our sin is terrible. We have a very real reason to feel the need to repent for our sin. We OUGHT to feel that way. We should recognize that separation from God, and feel awful (I am intentionally trying to use words that will convey magnitude and weight here). I believe that if we don’t understand this, then we can’t really approach God properly. Ever.

Leviticus 19:2 Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Romans3: 9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
…23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,


Get it? Repentance.

Now, here’s the second part…!!!

Celebration. When we come to God, as repentant sinners, and ask God for his forgiveness…. HE FORGIVES US!! Actually, technically (and it’s real screwy to try wrapping your mind around it, but…) He’s already forgiven us. He’s already made it possible for us to be forgiven. Wwwaaaahhooooo!!!! Yeeeeeaaaahhhh!!! (those are the sounds we make when we’re really excited and happy!)

God loves us (prideful, hateful, deceptive, and on and on sinners) so much that he sent Jesus to make a way for us to come to Him (holy, perfect, righteous, beautiful and on and on forever HIM). I grew up with the Sunday school understanding of that. “God ‘made a way for us’. God ‘paid the price for our forgiveness’. God ‘saved us’.”

Yeah, that’s true. But the way in which God “paid the price” is very very important.

Our redemption came at the cost of Jesus Christ’s life. His actual, physical blood and life. His body broken for us. Literally broken. His beaten, whipped, nailed, stabbed body. And not only that. But his death. His life ended on the Roman instrument used for public, humiliating execution. The cross. Jesus, the Son of God died on the cross. His heart stopped beating. His lungs stopped breathing. His life was ended BECAUSE He was “paying the price” for us.

AND, it doesn’t end there either. His death ALONE, would not have completed our salvation. But, after being dead for 3 days, He came back to life. Physically. He was dead. Body in a tomb. Then, He wasn’t. Body no longer in tomb.

THAT is how he made a way for us to approach God.

And He did it!! Luke 1: 76And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins
Psalm 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

It is possible for us to come to God. And, we can approach him with boldness! Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
How crazy is that?! It’s awesome. Who are we to boldly approach God?! I’ll tell ya. We’re HIS. He forgave us. He forgives us. We can come to HIM!!


That’s the celebration. We can come to God.

Without considering both aspects of our approach, we miss something. If we dwell on the need to repent and don’t celebrate our redemption through Jesus, then we become gloomy, droopy, Eeyore-like Christians. If there’s no celebration in our Christianity, we are robbing ourselves of a joy that God fully intends for us to have. It’s a joy that is found IN Him.

And if we think that we can truly celebrate God’s wonderful gift of salvation, without a repentance, then we are wrong.
Acts 2: 38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

With no repentance on our part, our celebration is hollow and fake. We cannot truly celebrate God’s mercy without a realization of what it is, exactly, that requires God’s mercy in the first place. Lot’s of people try it. But it’s no good.

Anyhow. That’s what’s been on my mind lately. God is so great. It is so awesome to praise Him (which He is worthy of, and deserves), and be blessed by Him through it.

I guess I ought to write more often and less (than this) each time.

OK. Bye bye.