Sinner or Saint

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior you likely will have a memory or a story about the moment you accepted him into your heart. Many people can recall the very day, location and time it happened. I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior at a very young age so I don't remember all of the details, but this is what I can tell you. It happened at the First Baptist Church in Stanberry Missouri. The floors of the church slanted to the front and the slope seemed to be pulling me down the aisle to the preacher. I don't remember exactly what the minister said to me but I remember a feeling of warmth and acceptance.

Matthew 19:14 ESV but Jesus said, Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.

In order to get salvation we must first admit we are sinners and not saints. You may say, I know I am no saint, but at least I am better than that other person. Recognizing your need for salvation begins the moment we stop pretending we can fix our own brokenness. Grace meets us right where we are, not after we clean ourselves up. Salvation is not something you earn by being good. It is a free gift given even when we are at our worst. If you really knew all the things I have done in my life you wouldn't let me even darken the doors of the church. But the same is not true. Not only does Jesus know all the sins I have committed, He even knows the ones I have not yet committed, but will in future. He even knows my thoughts, yet he accepts me just as I am.

 Romans 3: 23-24 ESV for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Many will tell you that the church if full of hypocrites. But if you workout in a gym you will find it is full of unhealthy people trying to get in shape. Hospitals are full of sick people trying to get well and we work alongside broken human beings every day. The church was never meant for perfect people, for the saints, it was meant for the sick sinners looking for forgiveness. The church is meant for people who are honest enough to admit they have fell short of the glory of God and need the free gift of His forgiveness. In this world today we are told nothing free is ever any good. But the best gift of all is completely free! God tells us that by His grace and through our faith, He offers us the free gift of salvation. I have a tendency to make it more complicated, but really it is so just simple. In my humanness, I tend to complicate things by putting rules, restrictions, and stipulations on myself that make it harder than God intended. I feel like I need to perform or do something in order to be good enough for salvation. But that misses the entire point of salvation being a gift. If you really know me, you know I love my to do lists. It would be so easy to have a handy list of "to do's" in order to receive salvation: read three chapters in the Bible every day, attend church weekly, say your prayers daily, forgive, be patient, follow the Ten Commandments. Check, check, check. But God loves us too much to have a legalistic relationship with us. He wants us to know His heart and His great love for us so that we desire to read His word, talk to Him, seek Him, produce spiritual fruit.

Galatians 5: 22-23 ESV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 

A set of rules will only lead to legalism. A desire to know God's grace is the relationship He desires!