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My God is…not pleased with anyone’s death Ezekiel 18:31-32

Ezekiel 18: 31-32 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone

These verses come on the heals of God explaining that each person is responsible for their own sins. Their transgressions are their own. They aren’t blamed for their father’s sins, and also the father is not blamed for the child’s sins. He also says that those that turn from their sins are no longer condemned. Why does this matter? Because, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Because we are sinners, we are not supposed to live in heaven. We are supposed to be condemned for our sins and experience death, a total separation from the love of God. Even when we confess and try to change, we sin. It’s a part of our earthly condition.

Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me

As Christians we struggle with our sin so much. We are pulled one way by our flesh and another way by our Spirit. Remember those pictures of a man with a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other? I think this is the struggle they were trying to represent with that image. We feel torn between our earthly selves and our desire to be closer to God without any of the junk of sin between us. We need to get rid of the sin that keeps us from having a fulfilling life with the Lord (here on earth and on for eternity). God calls on us in this verse to cast away our transgressions. He doesn’t want us to keep them close by. He doesn’t want us to sort of give them up. He’s calling us to throw them as far away as possible from ourselves. To distance ourselves from the sins that entangle us. The sins that get in the way of our relationship with others and especially with Him. He doesn’t want anything to get in the way of the blessings He has in store for us. He loves us.

It can be really hard to distance ourselves from our sins. Especially if we kind of (ok really) like them. Maybe you enjoy having sex with multiple partners. Maybe you don’t care that you binge drink every weekend. Perhaps you’re not that worried about flirting with someone other than your spouse. Maybe you don’t care that you cheat a little on your taxes or wrote some fictional successes on your last resume. Maybe you don’t care, but God does. Not because he likes to keep you under control, but because when you start to do these things, they eat away at your soul. They distract you from God. You start getting problems that complicate your life and divert your focus on God. You get a disease, get crippled in a drunk driving accident, get arrested for tax evasion or any multitude of distractions. But it’s not just these things, but anything that gets in the way of our relationship with God. Sometimes that’s even other relationships. Anything that makes you think about yourself or something else more than you’re thinking about your relationship with God is an unwanted distraction. Be alert to the temptations.

Get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit

It’s not too late. We can get rid of those distractions, or rather God can get rid of them for you. Go to Him in prayer. Tell Him you’ve had enough and that you need His help. Maybe you can use these words from Psalm 51 as a starting point:

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Turn, then, and live

God gave us Jesus Christ to die on the cross to make restitution for our sins. We can’t do this on our own, but God doesn’t want anyone to experience death. He wants to be in a relationship with us forever. He gave us a way out of our sinful demise. He saved us with the ultimate sacrifice; His Son. In response to this awesome love and forgiveness, we now must work to turn from our sins and turn back to the Lord. Keeping our focus on Him, that we might live.

My God is…showing clemency Micah 7:18-19

29 May

Micah 7:18-19 – Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over the transgression
of the remnant of your possession?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in showing clemency.
He will again have compassion upon us;
he will tread our iniquities under foot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.

Definition of CLEMENCY

1a : disposition to be merciful and especially to moderate the severity of punishment due

b : an act or instance of leniency

2: pleasant mildness of weather

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession?

How amazing is our God? What boss, what parent, what friend would put up with all we do that is abominable in His eyes? We are consistently falling short of reflecting God’s glory. Especially as those who already know Him, we should know better. We should do better. We wouldn’t be so quick to forgive the outright disobedience and disrespect that we show to our God. But God is better than us. He passes over the transgression to get to the soul. He pardon’s the iniquity so that we can remain in relationship with Him even though we don’t deserve it.

He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency.

Does that mean that God doesn’t mind that we do bad things? I don’t think that’s what it means, I just think it means He knows our sins have been dealt with on the cross. He knows our hearts and our intentions. He knows whether or not we are seeking to be more like Him or if we don’t care about having a relationship with Him. He knows our heart, and like a father forgives the daughter he loves so much, God forgives us. He looks into our eyes and says, “come here and give me a hug.” Not only does he not hold onto His anger forever, He likes to be lenient, to be gracious and merciful.

Maybe an even closer analogy is the love of a grandparent. Grandparents love their grandchildren so much. The often see the stupidity or recklessness of their grandchildren, but when the child’s parent tries to discipline them, the grandparent may say something like, “They didn’t mean to. Please don’t be mad at them.” Like a grandparent shows clemency so God shows us clemency. I know that I’ve told this story before, but it’s my best example of my mother’s clemency. She used to pray that I would not get the full consequences of my sin. She knew as I grew up there would be times that I would be stupid, make bad decisions and probably deserved to get in trouble. My mom didn’t want me to get away with things. She knew I had some lessons to learn, but I think she really didn’t want me to end up in jail or pregnant. By the clemency of God (and some prayers on my moms part) I was not given the full consequences of my sins.

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

God, through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, has removed our sins and taken them as far away from us as possible. We don’t have to keep thinking about them. We don’t have to try to pay for them by self-loathing, over compensating or self-neglect. We can, because of what He’s done for us, freely explore the life of significance the Lord has designed for us. We no longer are held captive by the sin of this world. Close your eyes and imagine the Lord taking all your sins from you. Make sure you open the closet of your heart and give Him the ones that are still eating away at your soul. Then imagine you can see Him throwing them down to the depths of the sea. The will never be brought back up by the Lord, make sure you don’t go diving for them.

You have been shown clemency!

4 Comments

Posted by Jill Richard on May 29, 2013 in My God is showing clemency

Tags: clemency, compensating, god, Jesus, mercy, pardon, self neglect, self-loathing, sins

My God is…setting us free Acts 13:38-39

08 May

Acts 13:38-39 – Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Jesus Frees Us –

Jesus Frees Us – Concordia Seward Nebraska

I attended Concordia University in Seward Nebraska, and on that campus is a sculpture named “Jesus Frees us” (In the winter it was also sometimes called “Jesus Freezes”). The sculpture shows a man (or every man) breaking free from a cross like shape. I love this sculpture, if not for its design alone, but for the message it gives to my heart.

Breaking Free

If you’re anything like me, you may have found yourself at different times in your life dealing with different sins. For different stages in my life I faced different struggles. Insecurity, identity crisis, complacency, lust, greed, gluttony and oh how this sad list could go on. Just as I think I start to have a handle on a sin, a new one was there to take its place.

I’m not that bad, I don’t have a problem with sin.

I think most of us have known someone who doesn’t believe they’re sinful. They feel like they don’t do anything ‘that bad” and they don’t need saving. For me that’s almost always a huge roadblock for further discussion, because if we don’t agree that we all do things that we shouldn’t do, that aren’t in our best interest, God’s best interest or our neighbors best interest, we’re sinners. Even those who don’t believe in God when asked if they’ve ever done anything wrong will (I think) say, “Yes” or maybe “Not very often”. When we compare ourselves to the laws of the land, it is hard for someone to say they’ve never missed the mark. Even in our self-serving society, we know that we’re expected to be kind to others, or at least not rude. But we have all at one time or another fallen short. We sin. Unfortunately for us sin leads to death.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

In our sinful world, without Christ there is only one outcome. Death. Death is the end for those who do not put their faith in Jesus Christ. That’s all they have to look forward to and they have no hope of anything better, in fact as unbelievers it can get much worse for them after death. But God gives us a free gift. He has saved us, by His own death on the cross from the sins that should condemn us. Instead of death, God has given us the gift of eternal life with Him.

By this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins

All those sins; I have been freed from all those sins. I no longer have to be contained and constrained by my short comings. I don’t have to live in the burden of guilt and the fatigue of being found out for who I really am. With the freedom God gives us, not only through eternal life, but by His conquering power here on earth, I no longer have to be a slave to my sins. As I keep my focus on Christ, I can be transformed into one who is continually improving and growing in my faith. As my faith grows, God willing I will make fewer sins and regrets.

By this Jesus we are free!

My God is Righteousness 1 John 2:1-2

06 Sep

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:1-2

Jesus is My Righteousness

I screw up. Quite regularly in fact. I don’t always use kind words when talking to the ones I love (Sorry Don). I have done a lot of things in my life I wish I couldn’t remember. But alas I can. But God doesn’t remember them. He casts my sins as far as the east is from the west.

Living in Guilt

One of my biggest sins is living in guilt. I beat myself up for sins from my past that no one but me remembers. I often remind myself what a loser I am for all of the things I’ve done. This is not the Lord’s way. He doesn’t want me to live in guilt, but to live for Him. Live freed from my sins that my actions might be a blessing to those around me.

Living in Grace

Fortunately for me, the devil doesn’t win this one. Though I spend some time in self loathing, I am reminded by the Holy Spirit, my husband and especially by scriptures like the one from 1 John that my sins have been atoned for by Jesus Christ. I no longer have to live like a slave to sin, but as one freed to live the life Christ has called me to lead.

Unforgivable Sins

Perhaps you feel like you have an unforgivable sin. It’s not true. The Bible tells us he came to redeem everyone. Call on Him for forgiveness and start living the life He wants for you.

It is finished. Your sins and mine (yep all of them) have been washed away. How great is our God!

6 Comments

Posted by Jill Richard on September 6, 2011 in 1 John, God is my Righteousness

Tags: beat myself up, Jesus, Jesus is my righteousness, live for him, Living in Grace, Living in Guilt, sins