The following is an excerpt from the message I prepared for women I visited at the county jail on Thanksgiving Day.
"Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls."~ Mother Theresa
Friday Freelance: TWO LIES
#salvation
It has been my observation that if people do not draw close to the Lord, they may be a prisoner to one of two lies:
"I'm good enough."
"I'm not good enough."
I've found this to be true whether or not they've come to a point of affirming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Someone believes the former lie when they've failed to grasp the magnitude of sin. They either see themselves as "pretty good," and have yet to realize that the wages of sin is death; or they don't fully appreciate the cost of Jesus paying the penalty for their sin, because they don't see themselves as all that bad to begin with. They may think God unfair for any suffering they endure because they view themselves as undeserving of it.
Someone believes the second lie when they've failed to grasp the magnitude of God's love. They know full well how much they've sinned, and are overwhelmed by it. They may believe they could never be good enough for God to love them, let alone die for them. Even if they've accepted forgiveness through Jesus' blood, they believe themselves unworthy of any favor from God. They may wallow in suffering because they believe they deserve it.
"For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life."
~ John 3:16 (NIV)
This verse is said so often that we may hardly hear its ability to defeat both lies. There is no such thing as "pretty good" or small sin, because all sin puts a person on death row. God did not give His one and only Son to die because we only needed a little bit of salvation. Not a single human being is without the sin which requires payment of his or her life. The person who loves little has not sinned little, but simply failed to understand how great all sin is.
Understand that if God gave His one and only Son to die for you, He highly values you, and sees you as worthy of His very best love. If He's already given His Son, He'll deny you no good thing—in His timing. He does not allow you to suffer because you deserve it, but so that you may be like Him, sharing in suffering as His Son experienced. If you choose to draw near to Him, He'll carry that suffering with you.
Eternal life is not something we wait to experience when we say good-bye to this world. Eternal life begins on the day we transact business with Jesus Christ, giving Him our sins and our lives, accepting from Him His forgiveness and His eternal life.
Eternal life is a life of joy, which cannot be imprisoned.
Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
photo from columbiamissourian.com
How did women react on your message?
ReplyDeleteSuch a powerful message sis, bless you.
ReplyDeleteDenise, you're supposed to be taking time off! Glad to see you, tho!
ReplyDeleteNatasa, it was pretty amazing. There were about 100-125 women. I could see about two dozen of them crying shortly after I started talking about family. I said I know some of them are believers in Jesus (because of being there regularly), and that I'd come to spend the day with family because they're my sisters in Christ. Then I asked, "How many of you can say you've met Jesus Christ and your life has changed because of it?" I expected perhaps a dozen or hands to go up, and I was prepared to shake their hands (we're not allowed to hug them). More than half the hands went up. As I shared the above message, I saw some women nodding. And by the time I finished sharing, a third of the women or more were crying. I walked away feeling that the Lord had gone before us, as we'd prayed. And incidently, we were allowed to pass out tracts, but were not given opportunity for one-on-one follow-up for this particular visit. As we passed out tracts, though, I made it a point to connect with individuals as best I could. The outpouring of their affection and gratitude was overwhelming.
Amen and Amen. Every day is a day to grow more and more like Christ. As we come to the realization of the sacrifice God made for us (for me) and truly KNOW, we understand the gift, the love, the pure heart of God towards us. Thank you, I needed to read this today!
ReplyDeleteMay your day be blessed and may you be a blessing as you go in His steps,
~ linda
Linda, I agree that the greater our realization of the sacrifice God made for us, the more we understand His heart for us. I don't think either can ever be too great. I'm blessed to have you share. :D
ReplyDeleteSeems underneath that "not good enough" hooey we start to believe that we could be good enough but for _________. 'Bout the time we get that wrestled down we move into the other camp: I'm good enough.
ReplyDeleteOh, to make it a whole day grasping that He is enough for me. This would be my grandest day ever.
Lyla, I hadn't thought about us going back and forth, but I immediately see the truth in that. *sigh* Balance, must continually seek balance. Thanks for pointing it out.
ReplyDeleteI just spent some time here getting acquainted. :) Very glad to see your place. I appreciated how you condense it to these two lies.
ReplyDeleteMonica
Monica, I'm glad to have you here. I pray for inspiration, and give all credit for any good you find here to the Lord. :D
ReplyDelete