So I was praying through the blogosphere this morning and I came across this in Ragamuffin Ramblings. It is required reading for us even if we don't embrace all the words. Check it out:So I’m convinced your deepest problem is not the cigarettes you smoke or the alcohol you drink in secret. It’s not the slander you speak and the gossip you cherish. It’s not the pornography you pleasure yourself with when no one’s looking. It’s not the baby you aborted; it’s not that you betrayed your brother, cheated on your bride, lied about the whole thing, and retaliated with murder [King Herod]. It’s not even that you slaughtered the Lamb and killed the Messiah. Your deepest problem is that somewhere deep down inside, you believe Jesus the Messiah rose from the dead just to kick your ass, when, in fact, He rose from the dead so you would believe all is forgiven. It is finished! Justice is accomplished. And the Father is pleading, "Come home, come home, come home!
2 comments:
You know, I think that just about gets to the heart of it.
Forgiveness is so hard to receive but receiving it is so necessary.
And too many people are still scared of Jesus.
I wonder how much of that is the fault of us preachers.
As a preacher, I always find myself competing with the powerful image of Scary Jesus. Now, sometimes Jesus should be temporarily scary because we are too easily letting horrific things happen while we do nothing. But ultimately Jesus is...well, the one who died on the cross when he had every opportunity, and every encouragement, and every just reason, to kick all of our asses. How could anything we do after that warrant retribution?
I think this post nails it, and is short enough to be a precision instrument. Very well said.
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