In the musical The Greatest Showman, P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) assembles a group of social misfits and turns them into a team of incredible circus performers. One of the standout themes of the film is this hunger for acceptance. The misfits have grown accustomed to being shamed for their appearance or status in a culture where “polite” society disdains outsiders as problematic. But Barnum, a flawed and, at times, abrasive man, nevertheless sees potential in these outsiders and tells them they cannot let the elites define them.
The Greatest Showman reminds me of a parable that Jesus told in Luke 14 about a man who hosted a banquet.
Here’s the context for when Jesus told this parable. Jesus was a guest in the home of a “ruler of the Pharisees,” and several of the religious elites would have been sitting in a U-shaped pattern around a table. Luke implies that Jesus was invited to this dinner party so that the Pharisees could evaluate Him, because he says “they were watching Him carefully” (Luke 14:1).
Unprompted, Jesus tells the ruler that when he has a banquet like this, he shouldn’t invite family and friends; instead, he should invite “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (v. 13). Just imagine how that would have landed, as the religious leaders look at one another uncomfortably. To break the ice, one said, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
In other words, “Why don’t we just celebrate the fact that we’ll all be included in the banquet hall in the kingdom!” Here’s where Jesus gives the parable of the great banquet.
“A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet He sent His servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses.” (Luke 14:16-18, ESV)
Note that the servant announced the dinner was ready to “those who had been invited.” Kenneth Bailey explains that in that Middle Eastern culture, the host would send out the initial invite seeking an RSVP to find out how much food needs to be prepared, and those who RSVP’d would receive a follow-up message once the banquet was all ready.
So, these guys who give various excuses for not coming had already said they would be coming. Scholars note that the excuses given were incredibly lame. For instance, one says, “I need to go see the land I just bought.” But, much like today, in the ancient world, you wouldn’t purchase a piece of land before first going to see it. The second says he can’t come because he has to go examine some oxen that he bought, but that again wouldn’t make sense. No farmer would purchase livestock prior to examining them.
Today, this would be like someone saying, “I know I said I could make it to your wedding and reception, but I’ve gotta go take a look at the car I just bought.”
The last excuse, Bailey points out, is the biggest insult. He says he’s married a wife, and he can’t come. What kind of excuse is that? Did he forget he’d be married when he RSVP’d? He didn’t even ask to be excused. He basically just said, “I’m married, so I’m not coming.”
The master of the house gets angry. He’s been publicly insulted in an honor-shame culture. But here’s where Jesus drops a bomb. Instead of retaliating against those punks who just insulted him, the master tells his servant, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame,’” intentionally echoing what He’d just said a few verses earlier (v. 21).
The image is startling. Jesus is directing this parable at these religious leaders sitting on either side of Him. They were the ones who knew the Hebrew Scriptures. They knew the promises of the coming Messiah, and they claimed to be awaiting the arrival of God’s kingdom. They are like the guests who had RSVP’d to the banquet.
But when the Messiah finally shows up and announces God’s kingdom is arriving through Him, they are unwilling to go to the party. So, what does Jesus do? Does He angrily cancel the banquet? No, He goes out to the margins of society—to prostitutes, beggars, tax collectors, and sinners. And He says, “Come to the banquet. The food is ready!”
I love this image, because it teaches us how to think of mission. Many people will reject the invitation to meet Jesus, but that should not deter us. We simply must go to the ones who are hungry for God.
Religious hypocrites are those that make a show of devotion to God. They use lots of “God talk,” may go to church, and claim to be on God’s side, but they don’t actually want God. If God was to show up in the flesh, they wouldn’t recognize Him.
Others make only a half-hearted commitment to follow Jesus. They RSVP that they want to go to Heaven, but Jesus is such a low priority for them that the moment something “more pressing” comes along, they have plenty of excuses for ignoring Him.
What I love about this parable is that it shows the incredible grace of God. He wants people to experience His joy. Those with hearts that hunger for Him will come to His banquet. When the servant says he has invited everyone from the city and “still there is room,” it reminds me of the greatness of God’s heart for the lost.
The master says, “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled” (v. 23).
It’s like the kingdom is ever-expanding, and God wants Heaven crowded. But why does the servant have to “compel people to come in”? Here’s what I see. The invitation is going out to the marginalized, the outcasts, the misfits, to those who have always felt that they don’t belong. But they hesitate.
Why do they have to be compelled? Because at first they cannot believe that some great noble hosting a grand banquet would want them there. They have been convinced that they are worthless, that no one would want their company.
Here’s the part that breaks my heart. Many people believe this today, and they struggle to believe that God could really love them this much. Grace is not easy to believe. It sounds too good to be true. The hope of the gospel will always feel unreal until you understand the depth of God’s love for you.
If you want to know how deeply God loves you, you have to understand that God is the one hanging on the cross. There we see God in the flesh laying down His life for a world that had rejected Him, spat on Him, insulted Him, and treated Him as the ultimate outsider. The Bible says Jesus became sin for us so that through the shame of the cross, we might be welcomed in.
I don’t know about you, but when I read this parable, I want to go tell everyone I meet how much Jesus loves them! I want them to know about the redemption He accomplished for them and for the world. If people reject the invitation, I don’t want to be discouraged. I want to go “to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in,” that the Lord’s house may be filled.
The parable ends with Jesus giving a warning: those who were initially invited but never actually came will never taste the banquet. They were so close, but never actually entered the Kingdom of God.
Are you interested in learning more about Jesus Christ and what He’s done for you? I’d love to hear from you!
It’s hard to trust every promise you hear these days. Most of us have had the experience of someone breaking a promise they made to us.
I remember a time early in our marriage when Whitney was away at a women’s Bible study one night, and a man selling vacuum cleaners came to our house. I told him right away at the door that I’m not interested. He said, “Oh, I’m not really needing to sell you anything. All I have to do is get enough demonstrations done, and then I get paid for that.”
“Really?” I said. “You mean you get paid just for coming into my house, vacuuming my carpet, and then leaving without me spending a dime?” “That’s right,” he said. So, I reluctantly agreed, but I made him promise that he wouldn’t try to sell me anything.
As it turns out, his demonstration included telling me about every part of the vacuum cleaner. I listened respectfully as he explained the marvels of every brush, wand, and hose. He finally got to the point where he demonstrated the vacuum cleaner’s power, but not before dumping some dirt on our carpet. No, he didn’t ask first. Just dumped some dirt and said, “Watch this.” Apparently, he only planned to clean up the mess he himself was going to make.
After about 15 minutes into this demonstration, he said, “You know, you seem like a nice guy. I want to tell you about an exclusive sale we’re only allowed to give to a few.” Oh boy, here it comes.
No, I didn’t buy the vacuum cleaner. And no, I wasn’t impressed with the fact that he broke his promise and tried to sell me something.
We all know what it’s like when someone breaks his or her promise. It’s irritating in cases like my encounter with the vacuum salesman, but in other cases, it can be devastating. We hear politicians make promises they can’t keep. We hear bosses make promises and then forget to keep them. Husbands and wives make vows and then break them. And so, because there’s a sour taste in our mouth from all the broken promises, sometimes it’s hard for us to believe God when He gives us a promise.
But not all promises are meant to be broken. Some are so unbreakable that they are rooted in eternity. God is a good Father, and a good Father never wants His children to doubt His love for them. He wants them to know they are His–not just for today, but forever.
Something every Christian wants is assurance of eternal life, but we will never have it until we learn to look away from ourselves to Jesus Christ as the Author of our salvation from beginning to end.
The Apostle Paul delivered this promise in Romans 8:
“For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30, ESV)
The phrase “those whom” occurs four times in these verses. The reason for that is to emphasize he is describing the same group throughout this whole section. Also, note that God is the main Actor here. God is the One who works all things together for good (v. 28). God foreknows, predestines, calls, justifies, and glorifies.
Those Whom He Predestined, Called, Justified, and Glorified
Predestination means “determine before” or “mark out for a destination.” In other words, God marked out this group ahead of time. Calling means God supernaturally called you to Himself through the preaching of the gospel. Third, justification means God declares you to be right with Him. That happens at faith (Romans 5:1). The moment we trust in Jesus as our Savior, God wipes out our record of sin. Essentially, God takes your record of sin and puts it through a cosmic paper shredder. And then He burns that. There is no longer any legal record of your sin debt in God’s courtroom. But on top of that, God credits us with the perfect life of Christ. That’s what it means to be justified. To be glorified means to be made glorious, brought into the glorious presence of God. It is to be brought home to glory in Heaven to be with your Creator for all eternity.
It’s essential to understand that God can legally and righteously do all this because of the cross. It’s like this. We were on death row, ready to face execution as a penalty for our sins. We broke God’s Law, and we offended His holiness. But then—glorious good news!—Jesus came and took our place on death row and endured the penalty for our sins. He stepped in and the hammer of judgment fell on Him, not us. So when we put our faith in Christ’s sacrifice, God can legally declare us just, holy, and righteous, because Jesus willingly exchanged our record for His. He got our sin; we get His righteousness.
Please notice from all this that our legal status as being right with God had nothing to do with how good we were. We all like to say to ourselves, “You know, I’m not perfect, but at least I’m doing better than that guy.” We love to compare ourselves to others.
Surveys show that nearly every American thinks that he or she is morally better than average. But, if you do the math, you can’t have 98% of people doing better than average. It just doesn’t work.
My Only Boast: The Cross
The more you understand the gospel, the more you see that our confidence before God can’t come from looking at ourselves. Our confidence has everything to do with the fact that our sins could only be paid for one way. There was only one way we could escape judgment—not by works, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus could expunge our record of sins. Only Jesus could rescue us. Our confidence is in Him.
Paul said, “The only thing I have to boast about is the Cross. That’s it! Otherwise, I’ve got nothing!”
So often Christians struggle with assurance, because they look first at their own life. They think, I haven’t lived the life God wants me to. I haven’t lived up to all the things that the Bible calls me to be. My life doesn’t always perfectly show the fruit of the Spirit. So am I really saved?
There is a place for considering your own life. The Bible does say to examine your life and consider whether you are loving Jesus and seeking to honor Him as Lord of your life (2 Cor. 13:5). Because if you have no signs of repentance, that’s a serious concern. James says, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).
But the problem is that your works were never meant to be the basis of your assurance. If they were, you would never be confident of salvation. You would always see there was work to be done and changes that needed to happen. Because we aren’t perfect. No, the ground of assurance is not in looking to yourself but looking outside yourself to Christ on the cross and then the empty tomb and then seeing Him right now at the right hand of the Father interceding for you. It’s about letting the truth of the gospel wash over you again and again.
Those with true, saving faith don’t become bored with the gospel. If you’re bored with the gospel, then the fullness of the gospel hasn’t sunk in. Because the glory of God’s grace, the beauty of Christ’s personal love for you, and the joy of forgiveness are never boring.
Take this promise of Jesus to heart.
“Those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:37-40, NLT, emphasis added)
Let me encourage you to come back to this promise over and over and plead with the Holy Spirit to drill these truths into your heart until you can say, “Yes! That’s true of me! I have come to Jesus in repentant faith, so God has promised eternal life to me.”
This same security is found here in Romans 8:
"And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified.” (Romans 8:30, ESV)
Have thoughts on this post? I’d love to hear from you!
This is the question lurking just below the surface in every human heart. Have I done enough? Do people accept me for who I am? Am I good enough?
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the most stunning message in history. It’s the message that God saves us by sheer grace, but it starts by telling us what we don’t want to hear. It tells us that we have come up short. That we came into this world needy, desperate, and hopelessly lost in sin. That we are by nature in rebellion against the God who made us. I know that sounds harsh. It flies in the face of our culture’s messaging and much of what we were told since we were little.
We’re told “You are enough,” “You have what it takes,” and “You’ve got this.” Apparently, we are mind-blowingly awesome in every single way just the way we are. Sound familiar? It’s interesting how often we have to tell ourselves (or be told) we are awesome.
According to Christianity, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” and we need to know how valuable we are as God’s image bearers. But the Bible never encourages us to look within for a boost of confidence or tell ourselves, “I don’t need outside help.”
I recently saw a school sign that read, “It’s easy to forget, so here’s a little reminder: You’re Awesome!”
Isn’t it a little strange that we are so incredibly awesome, and yet we have to be told that repeatedly? (I also find it a bit ironic that when someone actually seems to believe this and starts boasting about how awesome they are, we call that person a narcissist).
Brené Brown tells us, “We live in a culture of scarcity, of never enough. There is only one way out of scarcity – and that is enoughness. At some point we need to say: I am enough.” We look at that quote and think, Yes, I am enough. But somehow we struggle to believe it. If I really am good enough, smart enough, and have enough “enoughness”… why do I need to keep hearing this from people like Brené Brown?
The truth is that Brown’s counsel only leads to greater self-obsession, which is ultimately exhausting and joy-sapping. Self-validation is a weighty burden the human soul was never meant to carry.
I have a theory. I think the reason we crave words of approval is that deep down, we know the truth: Something is deeply wrong inside. I’m not everything I should be.
The Bible basically says, “Yes, there really is something wrong with you. Only…it’s worse than you think. But the good news is that if you can believe the hard truth about how bad you really are, you are finally ready to hear the good news of grace.”
The Bible tells us that hard truth we so desperately need to hear. Now, I’ll warn you, it can sting a bit to hear this for the first time. Just remember what Jesus said: “The truth will set you free.” You’ll be ready to receive the cure, only if you’re willing to hear the diagnosis.
On your own andapart from Jesus Christ:
You’re not righteous or good. (Romans 3:10)
You’re dead in your sins. (Ephesians 2:1)
You’re selfish by nature. (Romans 2:13)
You’re caught in a web of self-deception. (Romans 3:13)
You’re prone to bitterness, anger, and hatred. (Romans 3:14-17)
You don’t fear or revere the God who gave you life. (Romans 3:18)
You suppress the truth about God, because you don’t want to be accountable. (Romans 1:18)
And because of all this, you deserve the just and holy wrath of God. (Romans 1:18; Ephesians 2:3; John 3:36)
Ouch! But as much as that might hurt to hear, remember the Bible doesn’t create sin in our hearts; it simply shows us what’s already there. We will never look for the remedy until we understand we have a spiritual disease called sin, and this disease will kill us unless something drastically changes.
Very often, people new to Christianity and the church will hear this much and tell themselves, “Okay, if that’s true, I better change my act.” This is our default setting. We tell ourselves that if we have gone astray, then we must simply get back on the right path. If we have become morally filthy, then we must clean ourselves up.
The problem is that we are trying to atone for our own sins, and that will never work. What we need is the atonement of Jesus Christ. And until we know what Jesus went through for us, we will never understand how deeply God loves us. Without the cross, God’s love will always seem like a shallow idea rather than a soul-transforming reality.
The gospel explains that we could never be good enough, but Jesus was good enough for us. As the Son of God, Jesus lived the perfectly righteous life we should have lived. And He died the death we deserved in our place as our Substitute.
The culture is constantly trying to build up my self-confidence, but confidence in myself is not the answer. My confidence is this: At the Cross, Jesus bore all my sins and fully paid for them. He endured the punishment that was coming to me. He paid the debt that I owed because of my sins. My confidence is His blood and righteousness.
Or, as Paul put it:
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which[b] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)
On our own, we could never be good enough. Only Jesus is good enough. And through faith in His righteous life and substitutionary death, we are forgiven of all our sin and reconciled to a holy God. God declares us to be as righteous as Jesus. This is the doctrine of justification. Faith unites us to Christ, and then His righteousness is imputed to us. Once we are in Christ, God the Father sees us clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
I am not enough. Jesus is enough.
To be justified by faith in Christ means you are no longer looking to your own moral performance for your standing with God. You can be honest about your personal shortcomings and sins, because you stand righteous (or infinitely good enough) in Jesus Christ. Your confidence isn’t in your awesomeness; it’s in the awesome love of God.
But here’s the radical truth: God loved you and me when we were everything on the list above. You and I were once as lost as can be, and yet God loved us even at our lowest. Knowing this love personally will give you all the confidence you need to face life’s various challenges. God is now for you. Who can be against you? (Romans 8:31)
Have thoughts on this post? I’d love to hear from you!
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15, NIV)
It’s not easy to talk about abortion. In our culture, merely expressing pro-life convictions can earn you the label “bigot,” “misogynist,” or “ignorant.” When I joined some college students for a prayer vigil outside a Planned Parenthood in Salem, Oregon, several years ago, one middle-aged woman pulled her car over just so she could scream, “How can you be so stupid and hateful!” Ironically, the only one showing hostility was her.
Thankfully, no one in our group responded in kind. Instead, the young woman next to me said, “We love you! We don’t hate you!” Still livid, the woman got back in her car and sped away. After she left, a middle-aged Christian woman participating in the prayer vigil turned to me and said, “That makes me sad.” She said it sincerely, without a hint of contempt. “I used to think like her. I had an abortion a long time ago, and the only reason I’m here today is because of Jesus.”
This dear woman was not there to express hatred and condemnation. She wanted to express the love of Jesus to the women pulling into the parking lot about to make an immensely important decision. She wasn’t there to name-call or retaliate with anger. But the one thing she couldn’t do was remain silent. Even by telling me her story, she was speaking the truth in love.
We Bear a Message of Life
My pro-life convictions rest on the basic recognition that every human life is a gift from God. Each one of us came into existence at a specific point in time in our mother’s womb. Scientists have learned that at the moment of conception, there is a flash of light in the womb.[1] Human beings have only recently discovered this, but our Creator has seen every time one of His image bearers came to life.
Take God and His Word out of the equation, and I really don’t have much to say on the issue. And I definitely wouldn’t be able to say anything in love. If you leave God and His gospel out of the conversation, someone can always make some kind of utilitarian argument for why abortion is a good idea in certain cases. It is because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, first and foremost, that Christians are called to speak the truth in love regarding the sanctity of every human life. It makes no sense to claim to follow the One who is Life and not be pro-life.
Many people, including pastors, would love to leave the topic of abortion alone. They point out that any time the word “abortion” is mentioned, sparks fly, and emotions run hot. In the minds of many Christians, we should just vote accordingly and otherwise avoid the subject altogether. But the gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of life, hope, and forgiveness. If we cannot speak about the hundreds of thousands of human lives taken every year by abortion,[2] then either our gospel is impotent (Paul calls the gospel “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” Romans 1:16) or our belief in the gospel is.
If you are a Christian tempted to think that there is no real value in speaking the truth in love about abortion, I want to challenge your thinking. I say that not because I enjoy walking into a hornet’s nest, but simply because God calls us to represent Jesus, no matter what the circumstance.
In Scripture, there is the repeated theme that those who belong to God must speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. The Jewish Queen Esther even risked her own life by speaking up for her own people when their lives were in danger of being snuffed out.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. (Proverbs 31:8-9, NIV)
Who is more needy and vulnerable than the baby in her mother’s womb? Like Esther, we must accept the risk and speak up for those whose right to life is being trampled.
On the other hand, you may be a passionate pro-life advocate ready to defend the cause at the drop of a hat, but your tone tends to be derogatory, inflammatory, and harsh. In that case, I don’t want to quench your passion, but I do want to urge you to temper your language with gentleness and love. Jesus urged us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. When you love God rightly, you will love your neighbor well. Scripture calls us to speak the truth about the crucial issues of life—even if they are controversial—but to do so out of love for others.
“A Patient Is a Person, No Matter How Small”
Dr. Bill Lile is a pro-life doctor who models speaking the truth with love and grace powerfully.[3] Borrowing from Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who, Dr. Lile’s trademark statement is, “A patient is a person, no matter how small. And patients have rights.”
I first heard Dr. Lile speak at the Options Pregnancy Resource Centers annual banquet in 2022. I was impressed with the way he confidently, yet graciously, shared some encouraging news about advances in fetal surgery. He even described an open-heart surgery at Cleveland Clinic for a baby at 27 weeks gestation. The surgeon successfully removed a teratoma—a rare type of tumor—that was on her heart. He pointed out that during the surgery both mom and baby needed their own anesthesiologist. He then showed a digital illustration of how this astonishing surgery took place.[4]
Dr. Lile told the captive audience, “If you can do open-heart surgery and have a separate pediatric anesthesiologist for the baby in the womb, is that a patient? Yeah, a patient is a person, no matter how small. And patients have rights.”
As an obstetrician who has even delivered quadruplets, Dr. Lile could speak with clarity and confidence about the humanity of the preborn baby. But he did so with kindness and humility, rather than sounding like someone with an axe to grind. Most importantly, he connected the issue of saving preborn babies to the message of ultimate salvation and forgiveness found in Christ.
Fear of Man Is a Snare
As Christians, we need to know how to address abortion because, whether we like it or not, it exists as a real issue that people in America face every day. We need to face it squarely, guided by the lens of Scripture and the character of Christ. Yes, we need to be careful how we speak about sensitive topics, and we need to be sure we are listening well to those that are hurting. But this doesn’t mean we need to permanently zip our lips.
Too often, I think Christians have avoided talking about abortion out of fear of being labeled “judgmental” or “too political.” It’s in those times of fear that we should recall what Jesus said:
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28, ESV)
In the same way, do not fear those who try to kill your reputation or unfairly criticize you. Don’t fear those whose opinions will evaporate on the day of judgment. Fear the One whose opinion eternally matters. “The fear of man is a snare,” the Bible reminds us (Proverbs 29:25). May you and I avoid this snare!
At the same time, in principle, we should not relish controversy. In fact, if you love to just stir the pot whenever you get the chance, that’s not a great sign. There is a kind of fleshly craving to say things that will upset others. But we are called to be ambassadors for Christ and speak about real issues of life that confront us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor who stood up to Hitler and the Third Reich. He spoke out against their horrible treatment of Jews. Nazi ideology held that the Jewish people were subhuman. At the time, Bonhoeffer was warned by many of his fellow pastors to keep silent about what the Nazis were doing if he wanted to avoid trouble. Bonhoeffer responded, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” In other words, there is no neutral approach when innocent lives are being taken. To be cowed into silence was to swear loyalty to Hitler. And that was something Bonhoeffer could not do.
God has given Christians guidance on how we are to live and speak in a world where lies and deception meet us at every turn.
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15, NIV)
Christians are followers of the risen King, and we have been appointed to speak the truth about His kingdom in love. Notice the conjunction here. We’re not merely to smash people with the hammer of truth and let God clean up the mess. We are to speak the truth in love.
Balance Grace and Truth
It’s not easy to balance truth and love. Early on in our dating relationship, my wife Whitney took me horseback riding. If you have ever ridden a horse, you know how important balance is. If you start to fall one way, you can’t overcompensate, or you’ll fall off the other side!
In a similar way, it’s very challenging, but we must try to balance truth and love. This is how the church grows into maturity. We build one another up with love and truth. Christians have often fallen off the horse on one side or the other, but we need both!
When we communicate truth to a lost world, we need to be careful that we are speaking from a place of love and understanding. It does no good to interrupt, tear down, and scream. We already have enough of that today.
Engage with Questions
That means we need to listen well to those with whom we strongly disagree. James 1:19-20 says, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”
This is why perhaps the most effective way to begin a productive conversation with someone in favor of abortion is to pose some important questions. Ask them with the goal of understanding them, not so that you can pummel them or make them look foolish. The goal should be helping them see the error in their thinking with a spirit of gentleness.
Christian apologist Scott Klusendorf suggests the following questions when you are engaged in an abortion conversation:
“Do you believe that every innocent human life should be protected?”
“What is the unborn (preborn)?”
“What is your understanding of what happens in an abortion?”
“What’s wrong with a law that says you can’t kill innocent human beings and, if you do, there will be consequences?”
“Why is it legally okay for Laci Peterson to kill her unborn child, but if Scott does it, he’s convicted of murder?”
“When you say the Bible is silent, do you mean the word abortion is never mentioned or that we can’t draw any inferences from what’s taught there?”
If someone was to say, “The unborn are human, but they are not persons” some follow-up questions might include:
“What’s the difference? Do you mean there’s a group of humans whom we can set aside to be killed while others can’t be?”
“Have you considered what your view does to the concept of human equality?”
Become a student of the other side. Seek to understand them. Ask questions with gentleness and grace, always aspiring to leave the impression that Christ is loving this person through you. You don’t want to beat anyone up, but you do want to bring light into clouded thinking and help people see the truth of what is at stake.
But don’t be cowed into silence. Speak the truth in love as a faithful ambassador of our Lord.
Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!
*If you are interested, I encourage you to check out Options Pregnancy Resource Centers in Albany, OR at their website here: https://www.optionsprcfamily.org/ You can find out how to support this important organization and hear testimonies of women who found love and support when they walked through their doors.
A cartoon depicts Moses standing on top of God’s mountain, holding the two tablets of the Ten Commandments. With a big grin spread across his face, he says, “Hey, these are great! From now on, nobody will have trouble distinguishing right from wrong.”
What makes the cartoon funny is that we obviously do still struggle distinguishing right from wrong. In many ways, this is the problem of our age. It isn’t just a problem today; it’s the perennial problem of the human race. We were created to be good, but we’re not.
Despite having the actual tablets the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God, the nation of Israel still struggled with moral degeneracy and idolatry.
The Ten Commandments tell us in very plain and straightforward language moral truths that should be painfully obvious already. Don’t we already know it’s wrong to lie? Isn’t it obvious that it’s wrong to commit adultery?
But because of sin, we all have a tendency toward self-deception. Yes, we know certain things are right and wrong, but sin has a way of muddling what should be crystal clear. The simple fact is that, as fallen people, we don’t like the idea of a God telling us what to do.
“The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” (Romans 8:7, NIV)
We’d much rather have our own ideas about right and wrong. That’s what sin is—rebellion against the kingly authority of God. So, we desperately need a word from God. We need God to put His moral law in bold, clear writing because so often we try to avoid what should be obvious.
The Law Expresses God’s Righteous Character
Modern people might scoff at the Ten Commandments, but God knows better. Paul wrote:
“So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Romans 7:12, ESV)
The philosopher Plato once posed the problem called Euthyphro’s Dilemma. The question he asked was “Is something good simply because God commands it, or does God command it because it’s already good?” But what Plato missed is Option C. When God commands something, He is not just giving us some standard outside of Himself. No, He is expressing His own goodness. God is perfectly good in every way. His moral character is matchless. So, His Law simply expresses what He is like.
That the law of God is a reflection of God’s character has tremendous implications. For example, as you study the Ten Commandments, you are glimpsing the glory and holiness of God. Telling lies is wrong, but it’s ultimately wrong because God is the God of truth. God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 6:18). Adultery is wrong first and foremost because God is the faithful one who keeps covenant with His own (Deuteronomy 7:9).
So, when we talk about keeping the Ten Commandments, we’re really talking about living like Jesus. He kept them perfectly.
Knowledge of right and wrong is inescapable. The Bible even says that the moral law is written on our heart, even before we read the Ten Commandments.
“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.” (Romans 2:14-15, ESV)
The Ten Commandments make explicit the moral truths God has wired into our hearts. And this self-evident knowledge that some things are really and truly right (showing kindness to a loved one) and some things are really and truly wrong (torturing children for fun) is powerful evidence for a Creator.
Why? Because if there is a moral law that I, an American, am obligated to keep and Pharaoh, an ancient Egyptian, is obligated to keep and everyone from all times is obligated to keep, then it must come from a transcendent Source above all of us.
Unlawful Use of the Law
“Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully…” (1 Timothy 1:8, ESV)
When Paul says that the law is a good thing so long as “one uses it lawfully,” the clear implication is that there is an unlawful use of the law. What is a wrong way to use the law? In context, Paul was addressing false teachers who misused the law by misapplying it to Christians. Very likely, he was describing legalistic Judaizers, a sect with whom Paul frequently clashed. These Judaizers taught that Christians were still under the law in the sense of being legally bound to the Old Covenant.[1]
Elsewhere, Paul tells the Romans, “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14, BSB). When we live as if we are still under the condemnation and covenantal obligations of the law, sin will inevitably master us. It’s only when we experience the free grace of God and the removal of condemnation through the cross of Christ that we can present our bodies to God “as instruments of righteousness” (Romans 6:13).
The Judaizers told new believers that they couldn’t eat any of the foods that were off limits in the laws given to Israel (1 Timothy 4:3). The laws of the Old Testament are wrapped up in God’s covenant He made with Israel, “the Old Covenant.” So, the laws that you find in Exodus and Leviticus, for instance, are all part of the Old Covenant that God established with the nation of Israel. It’s essential to understand that the Old Covenant was never intended to last forever. God planned on replacing it with a new covenant from the beginning.
“In speaking of a new covenant, he [God] makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13, ESV)
This is an important issue, because a lot of Christians today still treat the Old Covenant laws as if the Old Covenant was still in force today. But the Book of Hebrews teaches that the whole system of laws was fulfilled by Christ. What does that mean? It means we—as followers of Jesus—are no longer bound to the Old Covenant, but to the New Covenant. In this sense, we are not under law, but under the grace and blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. Christ fulfilled the law for us, and our identity is in Him.
“But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.” (Hebrews 8:6, ESV)
We can’t afford to be wrong on this. You as a Christian are no longer bound to the Old Covenant. The laws of sacrificing animals each year in Leviticus are now “obsolete.” You can put the knives away! You are no longer bound to that. The food laws—like not eating pig—are no longer a covenantal obligation for God’s people, whether you are Jew or Gentile. That’s why Paul can say to Timothy (a half-Jew) that those who forbid the eating of certain foods are following the “doctrine of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Paul says such people “require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:3-5, ESV).
Thus, Christians are permitted to eat bacon! Of course, the issue is much bigger than that.
The system of animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant given to Israel never truly took away sin. Such sacrifices were always meant to be temporary, reminding the people that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Ever since Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly and died the death that the law required in our place, the Old Covenant has been replaced by the New Covenant. The cross was the great turning point. Jesus said in the upper room, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). His death established the New Covenant as a new way for God to relate to His people.
We, as the Church, are the New Covenant people.
The New Covenant and the Law
It’s important to note that even though the Old Covenant has been superseded by the New Covenant, the moral principles found in the Old Covenant carry forward to the New. In other words, we should not “unhitch” from the Old Testament, as one popular pastor recommended. How do we know that? Because there are numerous examples where New Testament authors reach back to the moral principles of the law to ground their argument. Here are two examples:
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” (Ephesians 6:1-3, ESV)
Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? (1 Corinthians 9:8-9, ESV)
Paul even tells us that the moral prohibitions still represent sound doctrine:
“We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine.” (1 Timothy 1:9-10, NIV)
Because the law was always an expression of God’s righteous character, the principles of the law have abiding relevance for New Covenant Christians, but this is not the primary purpose of the law.
The Law Is a Mirror
The law is like a mirror to show us our true moral condition. This is what theologians have often called the “first use of the law.” In other words, it is the primary purpose of the law.
Paul says the law is for the lawless (1 Timothy 1:9). It’s for sinners. It’s for those living in rebellion against God. Okay, but hang on a second. Aren’t we all sinners? Doesn’t Paul elsewhere say: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)? So, what does Paul mean here: “the law is for the sinful” (1 Timothy 1:9)? Is the law for us or not for us?
Well, right before saying we’ve all sinned in Romans, Paul says this about the law:
“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:19-20, ESV)
So what’s the primary purpose of the law? To show us our sin. To show that we are accountable to God. When we look at God’s moral law, where God says, “Honor your Mother and Father,” “You shall not lie,” and “You shall not steal,” we are looking both at who God is and who we are. The law shows us what God requires and prompts us to ask, “How do I measure up?”
Even a child can look at just those three commandments and recognize he’s broken God’s Law and is therefore a little lawbreaker. But although the law can show us that we’re in big trouble, what it cannot do is offer us the hope of forgiveness. That is where the gospel comes in.
The law rightfully condemns us. Most people tend to think, “I’m a pretty good person. If there is a Heaven, I’m sure I’m headed there.” But the law humbles us and shows us that we are actually not good. “There is none righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10).
I heard a chaplain talk about a time he was sharing the gospel with a group of college football players. They were hanging on his every word until he got to the “sin part.” Those listening were big, tough athletes. Some were popular, admired, and surrounded by girls. They had so many things going for them, and not all of them appreciated this talk about sin. One of the star players came up to the chaplain afterwards and said, “Hey, I don’t like you calling us sinners!” He stormed off without waiting for a reply.
The football player was right about one thing: the Bible’s message about our condition is not flattering. If you haven’t been offended by the Bible’s portrait of sin, then maybe you haven’t looked closely enough (see Ezekiel 16; Ephesians 2:1-3; Romans 1:18-3:20). If you’ve spent your whole life falling more and more in love with yourself, this message of sin is going to burst your bubble.
In his second letter to Timothy, Paul warns:
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy.” (2 Timothy 3:1-2, NIV)
Baby Boomers have been called the “Me Generation,” but in reality, this could be said of every generation. An article in the Smithsonian said:
“Although selfies flood the current visual landscape, this social media phenomenon did not invent obsession with the self. In fact, a spotlight on the personality of the self is a defining element of American culture. Every generation is guilty of putting the “Me” in its ME-dia, and with each generation of media technology, the “Me” gets bigger.”[2]
We all have this innate tendency to be self-centered and self-involved. So, hearing that we are sinners is offensive because we are telling people that the self cannot be at the center; it must be crucified (Matthew 16:24). The question shouldn’t be, “Is this a flattering picture of me?” but “Is this an accurate picture of me?”
The Law Points Us to Christ
The law of God shows us our true condition because it reflects the righteousness of the God to whom we are accountable. And we can only see our desperate situation as we come into contact with the righteousness of God. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones made this profound point:
“You will never make yourself feel that you are a sinner, because there is a mechanism in you as a result of sin that will always be defending you against every accusation. We are all on very good terms with ourselves, and we can always put up a good case for ourselves. Even if we try to make ourselves feel that we are sinners, we will never do it. There is only one way to know that we are sinners, and that is to have some dim, glimmering conception of God.”[3]
The Book of James likewise says the law is like a mirror showing us what we are really like (1:23-25). But the law can never save. We can’t redeem ourselves through law-keeping. That is why Paul tells Timothy the law must be used lawfully. There is a right way and a wrong way to use the law. If the law is used to show you that you are accountable to God, that’s the right way. But if you try to keep the law to save yourself, it will only leave you worse off than before.
By showing us we are unrighteous, the law gives us a hunger for the righteousness that can only be found through faith in Jesus. As we are united to Christ by faith, we are clothed in His righteousness and justified based on Christ’s sinless life and death in our place.
At the end of the day, you can either be under the law or under grace. Under condemnation or under Christ.
So, thank God for His law today. The law is there to show us our need and point us to Christ. Ultimately, that’s what God was always aiming for by giving Israel the law. They needed it to see their need for a coming Messiah (Galatians 3:24).
Just like a mirror only shows you your appearance but cannot improve your appearance, so it is with the law. It shows us our moral condition so that we will turn to the Savior. And there is no greater and lasting happiness than the joy of knowing you are totally forgiven.
“Happy are those whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned.” (Psalm 32:1, GNT)
Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!
[1] Biblically, a covenant is an agreement that God established for how He promised to relate to His people.
[2] Amy Henderson, Smithsonian Magazine, smithsonianmag.com, October 15, 2014.
[3] D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Seeking the Face of God: Nine Reflections on the Psalms (Wheaton: Crossway, 2005), 34.
Our world tends to think of prayer as the last resort. We go to prayer when we are desperate. It’s amazing how tragedies drive even the most irreligious to prayer.
For instance, after the tragic school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, everyone from politicians to news anchors to celebrities all said, “Pray for Newton.” When a co-worker or friend gets diagnosed with cancer or tragedy strikes, even secular people will start talking about the need to pray.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s right to pray when things get rough—I believe our innate sense of God tells us that sometimes prayer is our only hope. And I’m thankful that there are still times when our national leaders will direct people to pray. But let’s remember that prayer is not the last resort. It’s not the thing we only turn to when all other resources are spent. Prayer is something we want to be doing all the time. Why? Because there is never a time in life when you don’t need God. Prayer is our lifeline to Him. The Apostle Paul urged the churches to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
What does that mean? It means we never hang up the phone with God. This doesn’t mean we are literally praying out loud or even in our heart every waking moment. But it means our whole life should be based in prayer. We are encouraged to take everything to Him. Take your decisions in life to God. Talk to Him about even the little things in life. Tell Him how you’re feeling about your circumstances.
And this is the glorious thing: an infinite God never runs out of time for you. As our perfect Father, He is eternally available to His children.
This is what makes Him so incredible. He never tires of hearing from you! So, share your heart with Him.
The right time to pray is always NOW.
Sanctified through Prayer
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (James 5:16, ESV)
God cares about your holiness. He wants you to live in accord with His Word. The moment you trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior, you became God’s child and were made secure in His hands. God’s wrath is no longer hanging over you because your sins are under the blood of the Lamb. That being said, there are still times you have to face consequences for your sin in this life. Scripture tells us: “God cannot be mocked. Whatever you sow, you will also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
Because God is a loving Father, there are times when He won’t respond to our petitions, simply because we are living in unrepentant sin. It’s a form of discipline, not unlike times that I send my son to his room because he’s disobeyed. But the goal is always restoration.
“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (Hebrews 12:6, ESV)
That’s why it’s so important that we be willing to confess our sins to each other, too. God wants His church to live free from the entanglement of sin. We can know that grace and forgiveness will flow freely when we admit to one another where we are struggling. In fact, the deepest relationships can happen in a church where people feel the freedom to talk about their battles and can ask for prayer in areas of personal hurt.
It’s only our own pride that gets in the way of freely sharing struggles. But remember, no one is immune to the effects of a fallen world!
A Daring Prayer
You know what a daring prayer looks like? It sounds like this:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24, NIV)
Search me, God. Uncover what I’m trying to cover. Show me where I’ve gone wrong, and then bring me back to the way of righteousness and holiness, so that I may walk closer to You.
Something that God has been teaching me is that when I pray, the most important thing I need to do is bring my true self before Him. He doesn’t want us to put up a front or think of prayer as some kind of performance. He just wants us to be real with Him.
This is why the gospel is essential to a vibrant prayer life. If we know deep in our heart that God is absolutely for us in Christ and that He has wrapped His robe of righteousness around us, we will be able to freely confess sin. He doesn’t want us to reduce prayer to a charade.
It’s no different with human relationships. Obviously, if you only have a conversation with someone once or twice a year, you’re not going to feel very close to them. Even if you see someone regularly, but conversations never go deeper than the weather or the latest sports scores, you won’t truly know them.
On the other hand, the person with whom you freely share your convictions, express your deepest struggles, and speak with raw honesty is likely your best friend. Why? Because you haven’t brought a fake version of yourself. You’ve been absolutely real with them.
That’s what it means to bring your true self before God. It means being utterly truthful with Him and asking for His cleansing power to renew you. And remember, God already knows all about your dirty laundry. The purpose isn’t to inform Him; it’s to relate to Him.
And when we are “confessed up”, first and foremost to God, but also to one another, we can know that our prayers will be powerful.
“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16b, NIV)
Righteous and God-honoring prayer is effective. It’s powerful. Prayer accomplishes things. It changes the story. It unleashes God’s powerful work in the world as few things can. God is sovereign over all things. He certainly doesn’t need us and didn’t have to set things up this way. But He has chosen to accomplish His will through the prayers of the saints (and by saint I mean “believer in Christ”).
Maybe you haven’t thought of prayer like this before. But as a Christian, know that you have an unlimited supply of spiritual dynamite at your disposal. It can blow away the biggest worries, the most fearsome disasters, and the toughest obstacles. The prayer of the righteous is powerful! You may feel most powerful when you are standing tall, but you are actually most effective when you are on your knees, because that’s when you’re tapping into God’s power.
Many are familiar with Jesus’ famous words: “First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5, NIV). His point was that we tend to see the faults in others before we see them in ourselves.
For example, when you’re on the freeway, have you ever noticed it’s always the other guy that doesn’t know how to drive? Those who drive faster than you are the maniacs that are trying to get themselves killed. Then, there are the slowpokes. It’s always their fault for making you late! But notice from this example that everyone is judged by you. You are the gold standard of good driving, and everyone else is measured by you.
That reminds me of the woman at an airport who, while waiting for her plane to arrive, sat down with a book and a package of cookies she’d just purchased. After she’d become engrossed in her novel, she suddenly noticed the man sitting next to her fumbling to open the package of cookies on the seat between them. She was so astonished that a stranger would help himself to her cookies that she wasn’t sure what to do. So, she grabbed a cookie and ate it. The man said nothing but reached for another cookie himself. Well, she wasn’t going to let this guy eat all of them, so she grabbed another. When they were down to one cookie, the man reached over, broke the cookie in half, and got up and left. The woman was appalled. Where did this guy get the nerve? The announcement came to board the plane, so she gathered up her purse. Still angry at the man’s audacity, she reached in to grab her ticket. It suddenly dawned on her that she really shouldn’t judge others too harshly—for there in her purse lay her still-unopened package of cookies.
What is your gut level response when you’ve been wronged? How do you respond to derisive comments about your appearance, ability, or beliefs?
The greatest example of all in this respect is the Lord Jesus Christ. How did the One who reigns supremely over the entire universe respond to insults?
“Indeed this is part of your calling. For Christ suffered for you and left you a personal example, and wants you to follow in his steps. ‘Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth’. Yet when he was insulted he offered no insult in return. When he suffered he made no threats of revenge. He simply committed his cause to the one who judges fairly.” (1 Peter 2:21-23, J. B. Phillips Translation)
Seek Reconciliation, Not Retaliation
When Saturday Night Live comedian, Pete Davidson, crudely mocked Congressman-elect Dan Crenshaw because of his eye patch and glibly remarked, “I know he lost his eye in the war or whatever,” no one anticipated how Crenshaw would respond. Instead of firing back in anger, Crenshaw showed incredible humility and compassion for his mocker. A torrent of comments came in from SNL fans who criticized Davidson, calling his remark “disgusting” and chewing him out for his disrespect for a modern war veteran who had been injured in the line of duty defending the country.
In response to the backlash, Davidson spiraled downward into a pit of depression and self-loathing, even to the point of contemplating suicide at one point. Davidson wrote on Instagram, “I really don’t want to be on this earth anymore. I’m doing my best to stay here for you but I actually don’t know how much longer I can last. All I’ve ever tried to do was help people. Just remember I told you so.”
Many might have expected Crenshaw to join in the criticism and even say something like, “Serves him right for mocking a veteran.” Instead, Crenshaw did the unexpected thing. He reached out to Davidson in a friendly and encouraging way. He told the comedian that everyone has a purpose in this world and that “God put you here for a reason. It’s your job to find that purpose. And you should live that way.”
Instead of firing back, Crenshaw built a bridge. And instead of getting defensive, Crenshaw showed humility. Crenshaw, the Navy SEAL trained in military strike and defense seized the grace opportunity. He put Davidson’s own well-being before his pride and chose to show unconditional love. Interestingly, when Crenshaw reached out to Davidson, he learned that Davidson’s own father was a firefighter who had been killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when Davidson was only seven years old. When they later appeared on SNL together, Crenshaw offered high praise for the sacrifice that Davidson’s father had made. When the segment was over, the humbled comedian leaned over and whispered, “You are a good man.”
When we seize the grace opportunity, we can actually win over even our enemies. It all begins with not retaliating when someone belittles us.
Confront without Condemnation
“Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.” (James 4:11, NIV)
Isn’t it interesting? James says that when you retaliate by verbally tearing someone to pieces—especially your own Christian brother–you are not just judging that person, you’re judging the law! You’re becoming a critic of God Himself, because you’re essentially telling Him, “You need help in judging the world!” But God never needs our help in judging others. He can do it just fine on His own.
This doesn’t mean there’s no place for confronting someone caught in sin. But when you condemn others, you’re essentially putting yourself in the Judgment Seat reserved for God.
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.” (Romans 14:9-10, ESV)
Paul’s argument works like this. Have you died and returned to life? No? Then who are you to make any kind of final judgment about a person? Never forget that it’s not just the person who wronged you, but you too who will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
So even when you confront others in sin, don’t condemn them with your words or actions. Do you really want to be the one who says, “God’s judgment isn’t severe enough”?
If you study human history, it is remarkable when you consider how much bloodshed, battles, and wars have been caused by this deep personal desire to get even—to settle the score. Because of vendettas, the Capulets war against the Montagues, and the Crips war against the Bloods. When the mighty Samson was bested in a game of riddles, his desire for personal vengeance sent him into a fit of rage, in which he slaughtered 30 Philistines and torched a grain field. And today, we are tempted to torch one another with our words, instead of taking the opportunity to show grace.
The cycle of retaliation and slander can even happen in the microcosm of a family, where one brother is always seeking to one-up another.
Romans 14:4 says, “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls.”
Honor Your Opponent
The great evangelist Dwight L. Moody once had his own grace opportunity when preaching the gospel to a large crowd. One young, headstrong theological student in the crowd began to publicly challenge the things that Moody, the veteran preacher, was saying. The student rudely interrupted him several times and tried to trip him up. Finally, Moody got fed up with this ill-mannered student. The evangelist, who was well-known for his eloquence, used his gift with words to punish the young man, sharply putting him in his place in front of everyone.
Thinking that the young man got what he deserved, the crowd applauded. However, later in his talk, Moody stopped himself and said, “Friends, I have to confess before all of you that at the beginning of my meeting I gave a very foolish answer to my brother down here. I ask God to forgive me, and I ask him to forgive me.”
In that moment, Moody could have chosen to go home satisfied that he had soundly defeated the insolent opponent. Instead, he chose to take the grace opportunity. Even though his was the lesser sin, he was the first to repent and ask for forgiveness. Moody recognized that too often it is easier to tear someone down because it gives us a momentary victory. But the real victory is to lay aside our pride and not sit in judgment on someone. Otherwise, their arrogance becomes our arrogance, and we haven’t really won anything more than the applause of men.
It’s not always the case, but sarcasm is often deployed to cut an opponent down. One area I want to grow in is responding to those who mock me with gentleness and warmth. In one sense, I want to score more grace points than put-down points. How many times am I choosing to show grace when a quick put-down feels more natural? If I’m calling myself a follower of Jesus, I better look like He did when He was mocked and attacked by others (see Luke 23:34).
A quick word of clarification: There is a difference between making moral judgments and making a judgment of condemnation on someone else. Christ never discourages us from making moral judgments. While we cannot totally separate the sinner from their sin, there is a way to say, “I am utterly opposed to what you are doing, but I am totally for you as a person made in God’s image.” To say “abortion is evil” is a moral judgment, and it’s right to make that judgment because I’m agreeing with God’s condemnation of murdering innocent humans as stated in the Bible.[1] But what God forbids is slandering or condemning our neighbor, because only God has the right to pronounce final judgment on our lives. This means I can refute the arguments of an advocate for abortion choice, but I can also show that very person dignity as someone created and loved by God.
Our world is characterized by outrage, anger, and retaliation. “Getting even” and “Giving people their due” is even encouraged. But God wants us to rise above the selfish response. He calls us to treat others better than they deserve. Jesus has treated us infinitely better than we deserve, and He calls us to seize the grace opportunity.
Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3, ESV)
Recently, I was talking with an atheist friend about our different views of reality. Rather than pointing to more objective evidence, I asked him if there was ever a time when he had been in awe of the sublime grandeur of nature. After a brief pause, he said he had indeed felt overwhelmed by the vastness—and even beauty—of the universe. I pointed out how, whether we claim belief in God or not, we humans seem wired to take joy in something greater than ourselves.
At its core, humility is the ability to take joy in something or someone outside yourself. Some people think of humility as a posture of self-degradation (“I’m not really good at anything”), as if running oneself down all the time is a sure sign of a humble spirit. But that’s incorrect. Humility is not self-focused at all; it’s a willingness to be so invested in others that the joy of others becomes your joy.
Count Others More Significant
No wonder that a New Testament letter on joy in Christ gives one of the clearest teachings on true humility:
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4, ESV)
Paul says that when the Philippians do this, his joy is complete.
Many have pointed out how strange it is that while Americans are among the wealthiest in the world, we are also a nation where anxiety and depression are steadily on the rise. We also live in a nation where individualism and self-esteem are prized far more than most cultures of the world. Could it be that our me-centered mindset is directly linked to this general decrease in happiness?
Of course, this isn’t a uniquely American problem. Even in first century Rome, the Apostle Paul could speak of the coming problems of the last days:
“For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” (2 Timothy 3:2-5, ESV)
Two things stand out to me about this passage. First, this parade of qualities is a perfect description of our ungodly 21st century world. Second, I find it interesting that every single one of these traits seems to be directly opposed to a humble spirit.
Worldly wisdom says that happiness is found in putting yourself first. Your needs. Your desires. Your appearance. Biblical wisdom says that thinking too highly of yourself actually steals your joy.
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." (Romans 12:3, NIV)
Who Am I?
Self-centered thinking leads you to believe everyone owes you. That you’re always in the right and that everyone else is in the wrong. But true humility leaves you in awe of how truly blessed you are. The humble person can look at all they have in life and say, “Who am I, that I get to have all these blessings in life?”
Some of the most miserable people in this world are those who have either forgotten or maybe never known how precious it is to walk in true humility. To have no sense of entitlement. No sense of God owing you. And what can change all that unhealthy thinking is humbly recognizing just how extraordinarily gracious God has been with you. Yes, you! God has loved you while knowing everything about you. He loved you even when you were weak, even when you were His enemy (Romans 5:6-10). Think of what kind of love this must be! And He loves you more than anyone else ever could or would.
Jesus told His followers, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), because He wanted us to humbly recognize just how much we need Him in every part of our lives. It’s about admitting that if we are in the driver’s seat of our lives, the car always ends up in the ditch. Life is far better when the true King and Captain of our soul is behind the wheel.
Without Grumbling
“Do all things without grumbling or disputing.” (Philippians 2:14, ESV)
This is one of those verses that convicts me the more I contemplate it. It’s so easy for me to complain about things in life. I can complain about circumstances, relationships, the weather, the government, high prices, and all the God-denying aspects of the culture. What about you? How easy is it to complain to co-workers about things at home? And then to come home and gripe to your spouse about co-workers? I don’t know about you, but complaining is something that comes way too easily for me.
But it happens more than just at home, doesn’t it? If someone was to look at how people talk about national leaders or what is said on social media, you’d think that grumbling was America’s favorite past time. It reminds me of the Israelites in the wilderness. God does so many amazing feats for them, like rescuing them from enslavement in Egypt, splitting the Red Sea for them, and causing water to gush forth from a rock in the desert.
God even invented the first store-to-front-door delivery system, with delicious cakes and fresh quail arriving outside their tents faster than an Amazon Prime van. God took care of them, and He commissioned Moses to lead them. And what happened, over and over, in that wilderness? They grumbled about Moses and God (I counted no less than 14 times the Bible records Israel grumbling in the wilderness!).
There’s a scene in the film Saving Private Ryan, where Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks, is asked if he has any gripes about their mission. He responds, “Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on.” Gripes always go up says Captain Miller. If that’s true on the cosmic scale, then think of how much griping God must hear daily.
But imagine what it would look like if Christians were known, not for our complaining, but for our joyful acceptance of difficult circumstances. Paul calls us to do all things without bitterness, resentment, and grumbling. Why?
“…that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…” (Philippians 2:15, ESV)
Radiant Joy
Paul says, that because of the joy of the Lord, we can live as true children of our God. When Paul says we can be “blameless and innocent,” he’s not talking about Christian perfectionism here. He’s speaking about humbly recognizing that, as grace-drenched children of God, we really have no reason to grumble. We can say, “Who am I, that I should be called a child of the living God?” When we live with a confidence in God’s hand guiding us through every trial, instead of being known as complainers, we’ll be known for our radiant joy, even in difficult circumstances.
Just yesterday, Dennis, one of the elders at my church prayed something like this, “Father, we really don’t know just how good we have it. Help us to see that we have nothing to complain about.” Amen!
All of this can only happen when we regularly apply the power of the gospel to our lives. As we humbly submit our thinking to what God has done for us in Christ, the Holy Spirit fills us and leads us into songs of joy and thanksgiving (see Colossians 3:12-17). Grace is always best received by the empty hands of those who most recognize their need for it.
When we refuse to bitterly complain even in the midst of hardships or mistreatment, we’re telling the rest of the world that we have a hope they need to get in on!
Here’s a question to consider for personal application. Do you look at difficult situations or dark times as a chance to grumble to others or be humble toward others?
Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!
From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He went around healing, teaching, and calling people to follow Him. When people followed Jesus, they began a life of transformational discipleship. In other words, people did not have to meet certain criteria before becoming His followers. They only had to leave their life of sin. Jesus didn’t call people to clean themselves up. He simply said, “In whatever place you find yourself, come to Me. Come to Me and begin a new life following Me as Lord, Teacher, and Savior.”
Interestingly, in the call to follow Him, Jesus included a call to reach others. Jesus told those rugged fishermen on the Galilean shore, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). He tells them that part of following Him is calling others to follow Him, too. Multiplication is at the core of what it means to be a follower (disciple) of Jesus.
Jesus was teaching these fishermen about discipleship using language they were familiar with: “Look, you guys know how to catch greasy fish in a net. I’m appointing you to catch greasy sinners in the net of grace.”
In other words, you don’t see any indication in the Gospels that it’s possible to faithfully follow Jesus while pursuing a monastic life of perpetual solitude or taking a “just Jesus and me” approach to spirituality. If you truly want to follow Jesus, then you should be concerned about helping others follow Jesus, too. Put another way: True disciples make more disciples (see Matthew 28:18-20).
This was true for those fishermen, and it’s true for everyone since then.
The “Grace First” Approach
Jesus called people with what I call the “Grace First” approach. In other words, Jesus called people to follow Him and forsake their life of sin, but He didn’t say, “Let me take a look at your track record and see how you’ve spent your life so far. Let me see if you check all the boxes of true righteousness.”
For goodness’ sake, just look at the kind of people that Jesus picked, and you’ll know they weren’t exactly on the honor roll for holiness. You’ve got Peter, a man with no verbal filter. Then you’ve got John and James, brash brothers who seem bent on incinerating those who look or think differently from them (Luke 9:52-55). Somehow, these three were considered His closest friends! All twelve came with lots of baggage, terrible habits, and troubling issues. They came with checkered backgrounds. Yet, Jesus didn’t say, “Go back and get your life straight, and then come follow Me.”
He showed grace first. He came to them with the clear mindset that He wanted them, even if they were woefully unworthy of Him. And you know something? Followers of Jesus can forget this, but this is how we all came to Jesus. Here is every Christian’s testimony in a nutshell:
“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” (Titus 3:3-5a, NIV)
We didn’t become Christians “because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.” It wasn’t by our holy records. It wasn’t by our outstanding moral achievements. It was by His blood shed on the cross. It was by His call to trust in His sacrifice for sins. It was always grace first.
And so, because He welcomed us with grace first, He expects us to do the same to others.
Matthew the Tax Collector
Matthew was a disreputable tax collector, and his own people hated him for it.
Today in America, our stomach tightens when someone mentions “taxes” or “the IRS.” But this is nothing compared to the way first century Jews viewed tax collectors. They were seen as vile, corrupt, and loathsome. The scum of the earth. Jewish tax collectors were commissioned by the occupying Roman Empire to tax their own countrymen, and they were notorious for overtaxing their own people in order to skim off the top an extra portion for themselves. In other words, in the eyes of their fellow Jews, tax collectors were not only turncoats who had betrayed their nation, but also greedy cheats who had become wealthy by extorting their own people.
More respectable and religious Jews were probably saying, “You know what’s wrong with our country? You know why God isn’t blessing us like He used to? It’s because we have guys like that tax collector over there running around!” They were utterly despised.
That was Matthew. Just imagine how seared your conscience must be for it to be your daily practice to cheat your own people in order to pad your wallet! Nearly everyone hated Matthew. Nearly.
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. (Matthew 9:9, NIV)
The account is simple and straightforward, but to watch this scene unfold would have left every upstanding citizen scratching their head. The other disciples might have been thinking, Oh no, Jesus. Not Matthew. Anyone but him.
Changed by Grace
It’s not just Jesus’ choice of Matthew that’s shocking. Equally surprising is Matthew’s sudden willingness to go with this Jewish rabbi. Could it be that Matthew, hardened though he was, sensed a love from Jesus that he had never experienced before?
At the beginning of Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables, Jean Valjean is a recently released criminal. 19 years in a French prison have left Valjean bitter and hard-hearted. After being turned away at every inn and tavern, he stumbles upon the house of a bishop, Monseigneur Myriel. When Valjean tells Myriel who he is, he expects to be turned away once again. But instead, the bishop says, “You need not tell me who you were.” He tells Valjean, “This is not my house – it is the house of Jesus Christ.” After feeding Valjean, the bishop invites the ex-convict to stay the night. In the middle of the night, Valjean’s old habits get the better of him. He stuffs the bishop’s silverware in his knapsack and slips away while the bishop sleeps.
Before long, some policemen catch him with the silverware and force him to take the walk of shame back to the bishop’s house. Valjean knows that he is done for – he had blown his only chance and would likely be imprisoned for the rest of his life.
But then something astonishing happens. Before the officer can explain the crime, the bishop marches right up to Valjean. “Oh! Here you are! I’m so glad to see you. I can’t believe it. You forgot the candlesticks. They are made of pure silver as well… Please take them with the forks and spoons I gave you.” Valjean is stunned. So are the policemen. After dismissing the officers, the bishop says, “Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. I have bought your soul from you. I take it back from evil thoughts and deeds and the spirit of Hell, and I give it to God.” From that moment on, Valjean is a changed man… changed by grace.
In an even more profound picture of grace, Jesus sought out Matthew, even while he sat in the tax booth, and called him to Himself. Jesus Himself says in Luke 19:10 that “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
“He Left Everything and Followed Him”
Like Valjean, Matthew was utterly lost. He was a man without a lick of spiritual potential. And yet, Luke tells us that when Jesus called Matthew, he “left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:28, NIV). That’s significant. Matthew was forsaking his old way of doing life and embracing the call to follow Jesus in the new way.
Interestingly, we learn that Matthew invited Jesus over for a dinner party at his house, and many of his old pals were there. This created quite the scandal. After all, these people were the gangsters, thugs, and prostitutes of this time. For a Jewish rabbi to associate with that ilk was unheard of, because by eating with someone, you are in some sense identifying with them. The religious leaders grumbled about Jesus eating with “sinners and tax collectors.”
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32, NIV)
Notice that Jesus had no problem identifying Matthew and his friends as the sick and sinful, those in need of repentance. But He showed astonishing love to them by eating with them and expressing a genuine concern for them. His call to repentance was adorned with grace.
If Jesus called others to repent with a grace first approach, then as His disciples who are called to make more disciples, we should do the same.
Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!
“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see.”
Thus begins the well-known hymn, “Amazing Grace.” Those words were written by a former slave trader turned gospel minister from the 18th century named John Newton. While the hymn “Amazing Grace” is known and loved by millions, the author of that hymn is not as well known in our secular age.
Wretched Sinner and Slave Trader
John Newton was drafted into the Royal British Navy at 18. But early on, his rebellious spirit got the best of him. Newton attempted desertion, which earned him a public flogging on the main deck in front of his entire crew, an ordeal that was equally excruciating and shameful. Filled with bitter rage, Newton began mocking his captain and leading a life where he regularly blasphemed God and committed all kinds of indecent acts.
After leaving the Navy, Newton entered a new career aboard a slave trading ship. His actions became more and more revolting. In his own words, Newton said, “I was exceedingly vile… I not only sinned with a high hand myself but made it my study to tempt and seduce others upon every occasion.”[1] One biographer said of Newton: “Although he had been brought up in the Christian faith by his devout mother, who died when he was six, Newton had become such an aggressive atheist and blasphemer that even his shipmates were shocked by his oaths.”[2]
When his ship was caught in a violent storm, Newton surprised even himself by crying out to God for mercy. Eventually, the storm calmed and Newton began to sense that perhaps “there is a God who answers prayer.”[3]
Eventually, he felt compelled to study the Scriptures. As Newton read, the God of the Bible seemed to come alive to him. He felt drawn to Jesus, the very same Jesus he had once mocked and ridiculed.[4] But realizing that his debt of sin had piled up high over the years, he assumed that God would want nothing to do with him. Yet, to his amazement, he found that the God of the Bible is a God of astounding grace who offers sinners like himself forgiveness. Newton came to see that in Jesus Christ alone, there was a path to grace, freedom from sin and total acceptance with God. He renounced his sinful ways, and trusted in Christ for salvation.
After beginning a pastoral ministry in Olney, England, Newton continued to be amazed by the favor God had shown to one so undeserving as he. Not only did Newton leave behind his life as a slave trader, he eventually preached against this cruel practice. His sermons and writings carried great weight, because he was speaking as one who once lived the wickedness he now condemned.
In his diary, Newton wrote a prayer to God, “Thou hast given an apostate a name and a place among thy children—called an infidel to the ministry of the gospel. I am a poor wretch that once wandered naked and barefoot, without a home, without a friend: and now for me who once used to be on the ground, and was treated as a dog by all around me, thou hast prepared a house suitable to the connection thou hast put me into.”[5]
Today, Newton’s legacy is not merely that he was a terrible sinner, but that he came to understand—to really understand—what Christianity is all about. It’s all about the amazing grace of God found in Jesus Christ.
What Christianity Is All About
It took some time for Newton to truly grasp the wonder of God’s grace. In a similar way, so many people today simply don’t understand just what God is offering them. They can hardly believe that God is as gracious as the Bible describes Him to be. Complete forgiveness of sins? Assurance of eternal life? A love relationship with God Himself? How could this be?
We assume that we must somehow earn acceptance with God. That’s the default perspective for every single one of us. Grace sounds too good to be true. We think that there must be something that we must do in order to be forgiven, and in order to be welcomed into God’s family. We don’t understand how God could offer the unfathomable riches of grace, forgiveness, and acceptance apart from any work from us (Romans 4:5-6).
And to be honest, this is why such a large number of people simply don’t understand Christianity. They think they do, but they don’t really. They think that Christianity is all about a God that is for good people. And so, in order to become a Christian, we must clean up our act, walk the straight and narrow, and live an obedient life—maybe even with God’s help. And then after we have cleaned ourselves up, God will welcome us as one of His own.
But that’s not what Christianity is all about. Christianity is all about Jesus and what He has done. First and foremost, it’s not about us and what we can do for God. Christianity does not say that, in order to be saved, you have to become more religious, do good works, do penance, and be obedient to laws and ordinances to somehow make yourself worthy of God. No!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV)
Incredibly, the Bible says that God credits righteousness “to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly” (Romans 4:5, NIV). In fact, you know what the Bible says about good works that are done to earn God’s acceptance? It calls them things like “filthy rags” and “sewage” (Isa. 64:6; Phil. 3:8). Why? Why would God view even our best works as filth? Here’s what the Bible says:
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6, ESV)
Isaiah is saying that when good works are done to earn God’s acceptance, even our most righteous deeds are actually foul to God because they are still tainted by our sin. Why? Because every one of us, ever since the fall of man in Genesis 3, has come into this world with a sinful heart. Some are offended by this teaching. Many would rather believe that people are basically good.
But when we are most honest with ourselves, we can see that this is absolutely true. There is a darkness in us that keeps us focused primarily on ourselves. If we would stop and examine our own thoughts and actions, we would all have to admit that we are incredibly selfish creatures.
Even in our best moments, we are nearly always looking out for ourselves. We lie to make ourselves look better. We often ignore the needs of others. We don’t always show love to others like we should. We envy others when they succeed. And the root of the problem is this: We have all chosen to live as if our lives belong to ourselves and not to God. We’ve lived as if God doesn’t exist or doesn’t have a say over how we live our lives.
But we don’t belong to ourselves. We belong to God. We are His by divine Creator rights. When an artist creates art, that art is his. It belongs to him because he created it. As our Creator, we owe our very existence to God alone. We were created for His glory, and yet we have committed the great sin of turning our backs on Him.
Are You Thirsty?
Now enter grace. This is what Isaiah says—or really this is what God says—Isaiah’s just the one delivering God’s message:
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?... Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.” (Isaiah 55:1-3, NIV)
This is just incredible. Here is God, the very God who we have all rebelled against, saying to every one of us, “Come!” Rather than turning us away or annihilating us for all our rebellion, He’s calling us to Himself in love. And, remember, because we’ve committed the infinite offense of sinning against the almighty God of the universe, He would be perfectly just to simply judge all His creatures for what they have done. It is not an overstatement to say that each one of us, myself included, is deserving of hell (Romans 1:32, 6:23).
As an ambassador for Christ, I am compelled by Christ’s love to warn you: There really is a coming day of judgment. And more importantly, according to Scripture, God Himself “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Jesus Himself repeated this same invitation to whomever would heed His voice:
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-38, NIV)
We owed a debt of sin we could not pay, and yet full forgiveness is offered to each one of us through simple faith in Christ. The reason God can do that and still be just is that He took the sin that we are guilty of, and He laid it on His own Son, Jesus Christ, when He hung on the cross.
“He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13-14, NIV).
In his astounding love, Jesus paid the price for our sin. Although we could never pay such an awful price, Jesus could, because He is both God and man. Only as a man could Jesus bear man’s sin, and only as the infinite God could He pay the infinite cost.
And before Jesus died, He cried out on the cross, “It is finished!” (Jn. 19:30). It’s finished! It’s done. The price for sin has been paid. The work of atonement is complete. Now, whoever will yield their lives to Jesus, trusting in Him alone, will receive everlasting life and be forgiven of their great debt of sin.
What a shame it would be to have such an amazing invitation offered to us and then ignore it.
He Will Abundantly Pardon
Remember, John Newton had lived a contemptible life. He had squandered the opportunities he had been given and chosen to live a life of complete rebellion. He mocked others, sexually abused many of the slaves on his ship, and lived an utterly wicked life.
But God chose to forgive Newton of his countless sins. Even Newton struggled at first to believe that God could love him and want anything to do with him. “What mercy could there be for me?”[6] Newton asked himself as he first considered the gospel in light of all his terrible sins. And yet, God showed grace to him and gave him a new heart with new desires.
Newton realized that God was the God of second chances. God extended the invitation to Newton to come to Him, to come to the cross of Christ where the great burden of his sin could be removed and he could fully receive the love of God. And Newton never ceased being amazed at God’s grace in rescuing him, an utterly undeserving “wretch” in his own words. He spent the remainder of his life working to end the slave trade and spread the gospel of grace.
On his deathbed, Newton told his close friend, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.”[7]
Many of us can think like Newton did when he first heard the gospel. We can think that we’ve sinned one too many times, that we’ve failed too many times. So—we think—surely God wouldn’t want anything to do with me… would He? Wouldn’t He just give up on me?
But, friend, if you think that God would ever give up on you, you’re not thinking of the God of the Bible. You’re thinking of a false god. God is more gracious than you could possibly imagine. In the words of Philip Yancey, “Grace, like water, always flows downward, to the lowest place.”[8]
The New Testament describes Jesus as One who came with “grace upon grace” (John 1:16). See, that’s the most amazing thing: for those who rest in Christ, there is no end or limit to God’s grace. In Jesus, there is grace that is greater than all your sin.
“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7, NIV)
God “will abundantly pardon” you when you turn from sin and trust in Christ. Jesus is inviting you right now—come to Him. Embrace His offer of life and forgiveness. Come to Christ and discover what it truly means to be forgiven.
Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!
[1]John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace, Jonathan Aitken. P. 18.
Lamp and Light 