A lot of people FEAR God because of His "wrath"... because they somehow think he is some old man up in the sky who is watching every move we make and is going to get revenge for all the "naughty" or bad things we've done.
The following message was a lesson I was actually taught in college while studying Theology at the University of San Diego. I would say it is the clearest and perhaps the only thing I consciously remember from my degree studies (meaning... I learned many things, but I can probably only verbalize one thing immediately without having to dig deep into my memory banks.) When working with certain people lately, this message keeps coming to mind and I was told to share it with you today...
"The Punishment of Sin is Inherent to the Sin Itself"
Meaning... Whatever or however you choose to "Sin" it isn't GOD that is punishing you, it is in the action itself that has the consequence is embedded within it. YOU choose the punishment!
I don't really want or need to explain this... Think about it for yourself.
A little bit about Sin... the word means "To Miss the Mark" like an archer pointing towards a target... Sin is when you miss the target. In the Old Testament, the most common message of all the Prophets whose writings we have, is to "SHUV" (in Hebrew) which means to:
"Turn Around And Face God, You're Looking In The WRONG DIRECTION!!!"
When we Sin, We are not facing God who should be our ultimate target... Our Ultimate Goal.
One of my favorite Prophets is Hosea. There is a song that is sung at church which paraphrases the message of Hosea. The book of Hosea is about the Love story between God and His people (us). The song goes like this...
"Come Back to Me, With All Your Heart...
Don't Let FEAR, Keep Us Apart...
Long Have I Waited For Your Coming HOME...
So That We Can LIVE DEEPLY Our NEW LIFE!!!"
(The punctuation is my own and I don't know off-hand who the song was written by, but THANK YOU for such a beautiful rendition of such a beautiful message!)
That is EXACTLY God's invitation... He wants us to come home to Him... to feel His embrace... to Rejoice in LIFE and LIVE the Life that He designed for us.
SIN is our own choosing... SIN is our way of dying... SIN is turning away from GOD!
Today, Right Now... LISTEN for His Invitation... "Come Home, So We Can LIVE DEEPLY In Our NEW LIFE!!!"
SHUV... "Turn Around And Face God, You're Looking In The WRONG DIRECTION!!!"
