December 2015

and allows us to enter into His presence draped in
the mercy of Christ’s sacrifice.
However, if we have not been a good witness, if
we have not served others before we serve ourselves,
if we have not studied Scripture and made
the honest effort to live a godly life, we will have to
answer as to why. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may
receive what is due us for the things done while in
the body, whether good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10
Let us remember that our God is a holy God. Even
though He is long suffering and slow to anger, He
cannot, by His very nature, be in the presence of
sin. Sin separates us from God. It blocks us from
having a full, loving and rich relationship we were
meant to have with our Creator. When Jesus took
on the sins of the world on the cross, God had to
look the other way. How it must have broken His
heart. Why would we not think the same occurs
when we continue to sin?
We break His heart in two ways when we do not
repent of our sins and endeavor to live a more
blameless life, walking in love as Christ loves us.
First, we cheapen the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice
if we consider it as a “king’s x” card to slap down
each time we sin without any desire to improve.
There is a difference between simply asking forgiveness
and striving for true repentance. Secondly,
if our sinning continues, we cannot receive
the full benefit of His blessings. Guilt creeps in.
Like a rebellious child, we avoid close contact.
We don’t want Daddy to know what we did. We
separate ourselves from Him. When we turn our
backs on Him and try to hide our sin, just as Adam
and Eve did, it grieves Him. Our Father God wants
nothing more than to be in relationship with us.
Once we accept the Holy Spirit into our lives, our
sinful nature begins to decrease as the light of
Christ shining through us increases. Or at least
that is the way it is supposed to work. Not to say
our works will save us, but out of gratitude for
the fact we have a bridge to the Father through
Christ’s suffering and death on the cross, should
we not strive to become more Christ-like?
Perhaps we would draw more people to Him if we
stood out from the crowd a bit. Maybe more would
notice a peace, a deep happiness and a purpose
that envelopes us. They would look in puzzlement
at us who do not need crutches such as drugs,
alcohol, wild behavior or illicit sex to be content or
fill the void in our lives. They would notice we are
the first to forgive, to lend a hand, and to not hold a
grudge. They would see us as honest, trustworthy
and reliable. Maybe they’d wonder why negative
grumblings do not come out of our mouths, but
marvel at our positive attitude even during times
of stress and tragedy.
By glorifying our Lord through our attitudes, good
works and love, they may just realize “I’m okay,
you’re okay” is a falsehood and want what we proclaim
instead.