Posts Tagged ‘Christ’

This writer learned a lot about “blanket statements” when my first writings were edited. Things like “The church has forgotten God.” The truth is that not all churches have forgotten Him, just “some churches” have. The difference is important if you are the church who still sincerely worships the One True God.

Visiting in a Christian school recently, I saw a sign on the front wall of a classroom that read, “God loves you and is proud of you.”  What a great thing for kids to hear, right? Well, what if what the teacher sees is not the whole story?

Is God proud of the child who works hard at school, sits quietly, learns Bible verses, pays attention and gets his work done? What if this child is looking at porn every day when he gets home from school? What if the child is rebellious at home, disrespecting her parents or mistreating siblings?

Though it is critical teaching for our youth to understand the love and grace that God extends to them (and all of His children), it’s also imperative that they understand that our Christianity cannot be compartmentalized. This creates a “balancing act” kind of thinking; “If I earn the blessing of obedience for my conduct at school it will negate (balance out) the curse for the disobedience of rebellion against my parents.”

The sin nature loves this kind of thinking but the sincere Christian needs to be willing to think, do self-examination, and to be willing to admit, in humility, that we will not live sinlessly while on the earth. By the grace of God we can increase in knowledge of His Word and get increasingly better at obeying His commands.

Children who grow up thinking that God is proud of them in spite of their sins will see no consequences to sin. Biblically, sin does have consequences. Consider the following verses:

• Sin removes the confidence we find in God, 1 John 3:19-21
• Sin gives Satan an upper hand, 2 Corinthians 2:9-11
• Sin can bring physical illness or pain, Psalm 31:10; 38:1-11
• Sin grieves the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 4:30
• Sin opens the door to more sin, Isaiah 30:1
• Sin produces fear in guilt, Proverbs 28:1
• Sin breaks fellowship with God and hinders our prayers, Isaiah 59:1-2

It is the truth that sets us free (John 8:32). We are obviously in a time when Christianity is being vilified and so the next generation needs to have good knowledge and solid understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the teaching of His Word, that is, the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).

Every Christian “knows” that God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent but are these what we really believe. That Christian who tries to please God with a “balancing act” of behaviors (child or adult), thinking that if “no one” knows what he is doing he will be safe from judgment, is more afraid of the judgment of man than he is of the judgment of God. HE does see it all.

It would be a hard (and hypocritical) life to live separated from God with our prayers hindered.

It would seem more beneficial to tell a class of students (or anyone we want to encourage in the faith) of God’s nearness (Deuteronomy 4:7); His effective atonement for our sin (Matthew 26:28), of the confidence we have to bring our confession and prayers to Him (Ephesians 3:11-12), and His faithfulness to forgive our confessed sin (1 John 1:9-10).

The one blanket statement we can make about God (as Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is that He will do what he He has promised. The Word of God is our source to know what those promises are. If we do live by them, it is likely that He would be “pleased” with us.