Wednesday, March 4, 2015

The Sin that Condemns

This statement may upset a few folks who prefer a more rigid theological discussion, but I can't think of a better way to say it.

When you boil it down, there is only one sin that, at the final judgement, inevitably results in eternal condemnation. That's not a theological statement, but rather a practical statement of how it's going to work out.

I'm not saying that it's okay to commit sin as long as you don't commit this one sin. Sin is anything that falls short of God's perfection and essence, whether it's an attitude or heart pattern, something you did, or something you didn't do that God thinks you should have.

All sin is ugly and horribly wrong. Any sin and every sin makes you incompatible with God because it means that your essence is incompatible with His essence. Any sin and every sin will be judged. But all sin can be forgiven, except for this one.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Too Far Gone?

Are you beyond forgiveness? Are you too far gone for God to fix or to even want to fix?

Many feel like God's forgiveness is for other folks, but not them. What they have done is too bad, too wrong, to be forgiven by God. Others feel like they need no forgiveness from God. They have little awareness of the "wrongness" in their lives. Those folks need to wake up, but that's another topic for another day.

The Bible has a word for anything that falls short of God's character and nature. That word is sin. The list of things we've done that fall short is a list of our sins. But beneath that list is a corrupt, unholy essence. So here's the question for today: are your sinful acts and the corrupt essence that is their foundation too much for God?