I wish I had a triumphant “come to Jesus” moment or a “rescued from sin and brought to life” testimony, because those testimonies can be so powerful, but I don’t. I grew up in a Christian home and accepted Christ at the age of 5.
I understood what I was doing but didn’t fully understand the magnitude of what I was placing my Faith in. This only comes in time, and spiritual growth.
Don't get me wrong, I am certainly not ashamed of my upbringing, I just mention it because it's okay to not have a past, or to not have a triumphant story. It doesn't make you any lesser of a Christian.
If anything, due to having a "head start" in my faith, I should be more wise and stronger in my faith. But I'm here to tell you that there will always be opportunities to surrender and to be humbled. There will always be a vast array of chances for you to put yourself second and to let Christ be the center.
So that begs the question - What does my sin demand?
What does that question even mean? Let's break it down.
Most people ponder that question and would assume that our sins demanded an innocent man named Jesus, spotless and without blame, to come to earth as a man, live a short life and be sacrificed for us on a cross.
But to try to reduce the death of Jesus to a single meaning is an impoverished approach to the mystery of the cross.
Jesus does not save us from God; Jesus reveals God! Jesus does not provide God with the capacity to forgive; Jesus reveals God as forgiving love.
What Jesus did on the cross was a symbol. A symbol of God's never ending love for us. A symbol of the unlimited mercy that God has for us. A symbol of hope. The fact that God would send his onlyson to earth for you and for me, to die - selfless.
When we admit that Christ died for our sins, we are not merely saying, "God required a vicious murder of His Son to forgive us of our sins", no, rather, Jesus was offered as a sacrifice to pave the way for us filthy sinners to have hope; to have faith and to understand God's heart that much more.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:10
As we're now steering away from Easter and move into summer and the business that it brings, remember this, "God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Peace y'all.
Thanks for the read,
Strahl