The Good or Mean God?

The most difficult part of being a Christian now or days is staying balanced in the war between legalism and lawlessness. In one camp God is made to be made to be a bully who is always looking to punish us if we make a mistake. In the other camp, we have a God who is a celestial pushover that winks at our sin. Either way, I've seen both camps go into serious error and eventually apostasy. The religious camp, believe God is in control of everything. In their minds, He could have stopped their pain and suffering. They get mad, throw in the towel, and walk away. On the other side of the spectrum is the lawless camp that thinks that grace will be sufficient to get them by while they are willfully sinning because after all one saved always saved. These people keep making excuses for what they do and get sloppy with their salvation. In the middle is where we all want to be. We need a healthy fear of the Lord and be rooted in His love. Meditate on what God is saying in His Word. Goodness is for those who continue in His goodness but severity is for those who fall away. Ultimately we choose which way things go in our life. 

Make a careful examination now of what you believe about God and adjust any wrong attitude or belief. If you have walked away from Him, remember God's arms are outstretched to receive you back. Let us pray, Father, forgive me for seeing you as a cruel father, getting angry and walking away when things didn't go my way or my prayers weren't answered. I choose to forgive all those who have hurt me including you. Father, forgive me for thinking I can live my life any way I want to without consequences. I have been under a delusion to think I could get away with anything and still appear before a holy God. Please help me be balanced and see you correctly by respecting you as God. We ask you this in Jesus name!

A Balanced Gospel

Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, 

But a just weight is His delight. Proverbs 11:1

The balance of the gospel is this: We must present the problem and the solution.

The problem: We are in need of repentance because of our sinful life. We cannot come to a Holy God without being blood washed.

The solution: We must be baptized and repent of our sins. We must allow truth and love to transform our hearts. Without truth, we continue in error. Without love, we will feel alienated from our gracious Father and run away instead of coming to Him.

To always point out the problem without the solution becomes legalism at best. We come under the law, condemnation, guilt, and shame. A God that is not represented in a loving manner will cause believers to come under religious captivity. They, in turn, continue to mispresent God to the world as a judgmental God who condemns the sinner. Religion offers no solution or transformation other than works. We come under the witchcraft described in Galatians 3 believing that we can now perfect ourselves in the flesh.

To always point out the solution without the problem can become lawlessness. To preach a gospel that doesn't present the truth of our sinful condition also brings believers under captivity. They start to believe that God is okay with the way they live and they become careless about their salvation. They start to make excuses and justifications for their sin. They trample under foot the blood of Jesus which is God's mercy and come under a delusion.

It is time, we teach the whole counsel of God. We serve a holy, loving God, who will judge us according to our deeds, and how we treated the sacrifice of His Son. Like Jesus said, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” John 14:21