2/10/2011
God Is Not a Pez Dispenser
Pez dispensers. An upright column with a bulbous, figurehead top. They dispense Pez candies and are quite fun in themselves. However, much too often, God becomes a Pez dispenser to Christians. God is a forgiving, merciful, long-suffering God, but He also balances that with justice, wrath, anger, righteousness, holiness. And we are sinful creatures, our very nature tainted by sin, and God deals with us in that way. However, that does not grant us license to sin. Far too often we sin, realize it, then go to God and expect forgiveness. God forgives, but He also requires repentance; that we turn from our sins and engage in them no more. Will we be perfect? No, we will fail. What I am talking about is the repeated failure of a Christian in a certain area, and that Christian expecting God to forgive his sins repeatedly. At some point, God expects us to prove that we are serious about doing His will and living by His commandments. He does not exist simply to dispense forgiveness to anyone who asks at any particular time regardless of how often that person has disregarded God's commandments. God says that He knows the heart of man (Jer. 17:9-10).
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A good reminder!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the emphasis on repentance. We are often told that God is love but we do not often hear that he is also perfectly just and holy which shows us our need to trust in Christ's atoning work. The call of the gospel is not just to believe but to repent and believe (Acts 2:38, Mark 1:15). Contrition is required (Psalm 51 is a good example). Watering down the gospel to make it easier for sinful man to swallow creates an innafective gospel which is no gospel at all. If there is no need for repentance(as some would have us to believe) then there is no need to trust in Christ's atoning work. God does indeed know our hearts (1 Chronicles 28:9). Keep up the good blogging!
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