Guilt & Forgiveness
God is loving and faithful to inflict his children with feelings of guilt and conviction so that we will quickly be brought to confession, repentance and restoration!
God is loving and faithful to inflict his children with feelings of guilt and conviction so that we will quickly be brought to confession, repentance and restoration!
As ambassadors of Christ we must clearly understand & fervently pray for the biblical effects of genuine repentance & faith in the lives of those we seek to win for Christ.
While eternal life cannot be earned (and is granted to the repentant who trust Christ), God’s retribution of both the redeemed and the lost will be based on what they do.
We must not misconstrue God’s current passivity and kindness toward sinners as approval of sin or a portend of the future; his patience should prompt us to repent.
Leaving everything to follow Christ is how the Bible depicts the concepts of repentance & faith – the two components of the one essential response to the gospel.
The Gospel benefits require a complete and total honesty about our guilt and culpability before God’s holy tribunal.
While passages of Scripture sometimes appear to support “works salvation” it is essential to know that good works that accompany salvation come after real repentance & faith.
We must be vigilant and examine ourselves regarding our obedience because God’s current blessings may be his grace that is intended to lead us to repentance!
We must understand that God temporarily tolerates (co-exists) with sin and allows people to plow headlong into increasing sin until the day of judgment; this does not reflect a lack of power on God’s part, but only patience and grace until his coming.
One becomes a Christian when God works in one his genuine repentance (turning from sin) and his authentic faith (trusting in Christ).
We must learn to decipher whether a painful experience is God’s discipline, if so, let’s quickly respond and be thankful for God’s loving correction.
We must reject the feelings & effects of guilt once we are sure it has accomplished it divine intention!
When we sin we must quickly realize & humbly admit our affront to God’s goodness!
Sin is too costly to deal with gently. We must always deal with sin severely in our own lives.
Allow the kindness, sternness, and receptivity of God to lead you to forsake your convenient sins.