Howdy Howdy,

Well at lunch time I heard some really great teaching again. BUT, I was in too much of a hurry to type it in there then. So now I hope I can remember enough of it to make sense.

Today is Good Friday, Good for us (Believers) because Christ died for us. He didn't get killed for our sins, He gave up His life and received the full wrath of God for our sins.

Anyway, they were talking about one of the most shameful things that happens worldwide in relation to Christ dying for us. I'll start with the same analogy I heard them use. (This will be directed towards teens, tweens & young adults).

Imagine you doing something to totally offend your parents or an adult you respect. This thing not only offends them but they absolutely hate it when it happens. It may even hurt them emotionally or mentally.

Now, imagine when this adult discovers what YOU'VE done & finds you, they love you & forgive you completely with no retribution planned.

Now, you can either do this thing to them again, knowing it hurts them and knowing they forgave you, OR you can try to NEVER do it again and try to become a person who deserves that forgiveness (knowing you cannot ever deserve to be forgiven like that).

The choice is yours. How you will react is 100% up to you.

This is the same situation that happens with believers. They have been forgiven for every ugly, terrible sin in their life (not just to date, but for eternity-past, present & future). Now some people keep on doing what they are doing, knowing (or not caring) it hurts God or that He hates it. This is every sin under the sun: the big ugly obvious ones, down to being rude to adults, disobedient to your parents, etc. Seeing one movie when you told your parents you were seeing a different movie, THAT IS SIN.

The biggest shame world wide (which after hearing today's teaching I pretty much agree with) is.. Using the free love & grace of God as an excuse to keep on doing your sin. If you claim to be a believer and you don't try to focus on Christ and follow God's will for your life...that is shameful, sad & disappointing. Now we all know that each and every one of us will fail and fall. But if you don't recognize that you are falling away and repent, you are bringing shame to the teaching of Christ and what it means to be a believer.

Yeah, I know, I'm sounding like I'm on a soap box again, BUT to me, this is important. Go in knowing you will fall sometimes, but at least try to live for Christ & acknowledge Him each time you slip, slide or fall away. When you carry on like "it's your life and nobody's going to tell you what to do" -in your mind you say "I'm not going to do this just because you want me to" (even if it's something you should do)-you are shaming yourself and embarrassing the body of Christ.

Remember...

Your worst days are never so bad
that you are beyond the REACH of God's grace.
And your best days are never so good
that you are beyond the NEED for God's grace