I stayed over at my aunt's for weekend. So naturally I followed her to her church this morning. The speaker was Pastor Tryphena Law (soon to be ordained as Reverend). What was being said is no alien to me. In fact, they are stored in one of the narrow compartments in my memory. Everyone knows exactly which destiny awaits those poor things kept in the storeroom - being forgotten eventually. The same goes to some part of the education received. It is amazing when you are facing certain situations in your life, where you tell God, "God, God, I cannot do this.", "God, I am not worthy to worship You.", "O Lord, how can You degrade Yourself to love someone so evil like me?", God, through various creative ways, will remind you of His faithfulness, love and grace. And today, I was reminded through the words of Pastor Tryphena.
Indeed, we are but slaves to sins. It is the nature of all human beings, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) We are like sheep, focus only on the grass - which can be seen as the worldly wealth and gratifications, and hence can be easily led astray and turn to our own ways rather than God's. Similar to doing business, nothing is free. We pay for all our wrongdoings, and "the wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23) Imagine once you die, you are separated forever from your loved ones. Thus,we are separated eternally from the communion with God the Father in heaven, for our God is a just and holy God who cannot tolerate sins.
However (just like the typical fairy tales, there are always 'buts' somewhere to turn the pessimistic positive), our God is faithful, just, and loving therefore He is quick to forgive us our sins once we confess and repent. (1 John 1:9) He laid on His only begotten son, Jesus, the iniquities of us all. Jesus, a 100% sinless man (who is also 100% God), bore our debts and paid it all on the cross using His own flesh and blood. The theory here is easy. This is common sense. When the floor is dirty, if you use a dirty piece of rag to wipe it, it will still be dirty. In fact, sometimes it worsens. To wipe it clean, a clean cloth is required. A sinner cannot save another sinner. They need Jesus.
Now, you will wonder, when and where and how can I gain this favouritism from Jesus to cleanse my sins so that I can get away from my horrible punishments? What do I need to do to enter the "I will save thee" list of Jesus? The solutions sound easy (be careful you might drop your spectacles), yet it is not as easy as it seems. To have this salvation, you do not need to do something dangerous which require massive physical strength. I daresay it will caught you by surprise, just as I did when I heard it. This salvation that Jesus is offering you is FREE! Surprise! The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." You do nothing and pay nothing for a gift. All you have to do is simply stretch out your hands and receive it. By receiving the gift, you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, by faith. I say faith because it is abstract, something you cannot see. But you can feel it, I am sure. It is like the wind, you cannot see it but you can feel it. And to show that we are well-educated and have etiquette, we say 'thank you'. Similarly, out of gratitude we choose to obey His teachings and commands. This is not doing good to earn salvation, but is doing good as thankfulness for the grace shown upon you.
There are a good news and a bad news. Normally you will choose to listen to the bad news first right? So there you go. Bad news, you still need to die. What? Die?! I thought you mentioned salvation just now? Yes, I did. Be patience until I deliver the other part. The Good news is, it is metaphorical. Now, you say, I am confused.
Upon receiving and inviting Christ Jesus into our lives, we are crucified with Christ on the cross. Remember, when Jesus died on the cross and was buried, He rose from the death on the third day. He conquers death! He wins the war with great victory! Together, all our sins are buried in the tomb.We died to our old self and are born again as the new creations in Christ. We repent and resist the sweet temptations of sins. (Clarification: Temptation itself is not a sin. It is when we give in, we sin.) Then, we are officially freed from slavery to sins. We gained freedom from the control of sins. Is not this a great news?
But many times people think their ways are higher than God's way. Even after God has forgiven their sins, they still refuse to let them go. They think they are unworthy of becoming God's children and a bigger distance is created between God and themselves. This is the bondage of sins. An extremely unhealthy one. Try to understand, Jesus comes to save sinners and to help the poor. If you admit you are sinful, Jesus is for you. Hence, actually sin does not pull us away from God but it builds the opportunity for us to realise to what extent we need Jesus in our life. By holding on to the truth, freedom is in your heart. By having faith in Jesus (even as small as the mustard seed), salvation is yours.
For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will - to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ... And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:4-8;13-14
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