28“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 (NASB95)
Growing up, I have early memories of my parents teaching me about sin. Not “how to” sin…because I already had an advanced degree in the subject. My parents tried to teach me about sin’s consequences. Their analogy made sense at the time, as a child, but I have come to realize its shortcoming as God reveals in the Scripture.
My folks told me that when I sinned, it made God sad. When I did right, it made God happy. Their explanation reduced my relationship with Jesus to a string of Emojis with me in control.
Again, I am not throwing shade at my parents. The explanation connected when I was a child, but as we grow in our understanding of God, so must our grasp of His redemption. The Lord’s redemptive care toward us does not vacillate based on our actions. Jesus doesn’t smile when we pause to let a person cross the street in front of our car, and then frown or turn his back when we lose our minds in the Walmart parking lot. He doesn’t extend redemption to us when we behave and then pull it back or begrudgingly leave it on the edge of the table when we mess up.
The goodness, sufficiency, and graciousness of God’s redemption does not shift and Christ’s love toward us does not ebb and flow according to some transactional exchange. If so, we ARE ALL DOOMED! Why?
Because we all sin (Romans 3:23). Not, “we once sinned but have given it up,” but our nature is one bent toward sinning. If that word seems harsh…. our nature is bent toward “self-interest and appeasement” rather than “God-interest and worship.” And this does not surprise the Lord one bit. In fact, He knows and knew about our sinful nature before we were ever born and Jesus came to redeem us…not in spite of our unfaithfulness, but precisely because of it.
21For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He watches all his paths.
Proverbs 5:21 (NASB95)
21“For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, And He sees all his steps.
Job 34:21 (NASB95)
Friend, to state it differently, you cannot make Jesus love you more or love you less. You cannot cause Him to rejoice or second guess when He considers your salvation. This truth does not promote sinful license of bad behavior; rather, it empowers us to live freely and to freely choose to worship a God who came to seek and to save that which is lost.
These words from a book of Puritan prayers that I use in my personal worship time, The Valley of Vision…really grip my heart and I hope will be an encouragement to you today:
Thy presence is to me a treasure of unending peace;
No provocation can part me from thy sympathy,
For thou hast drawn me with cords of love,
And dost forgive me daily, hourly.[i]
Walk in freedom brothers and sisters. Live your life as one of exuberant worship before the King…for His Redemption is not a quid pro quo transaction, but is sola gratia (by grace alone), flowing like a merciful river from the heart of love that can only be His.
[i] “Regeneration,” The Valley of Vision.
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