Of Course Not!!!

Good morning~




One of the things I love about you all is that you ask great questions! Yesterday I received a doozy.



"If God's mercies are new every morning, why not just take advantage of His unending goodness and do what you want?"



Back in 1978 at the ripe ol' age of 13 God allowed me a glimpse into the life of someone who lived recklessly precisely because he was taking advantage of God's forgiveness.



"B" was a husband and father with three teen aged sons when he started an inappropriate relationship with another woman. I barely knew about sex much less infidelity, but I recognized sorrow when I saw it. His family was devastated, and while the exact details of how it all came out are fuzzy, I distinctly remember him saying, "God forgives me everyday. I am not going to stop seeing this woman."



I knew in my heart that what he was saying was wrong, but I also knew that God forgives. And all that confusion was put on the back burner until I had to face certain tragedies in my own family. So as I sit here and write this today I want to, more than anything else, bring clarification. Can you imagine this man's poor wife praying and God saying to her, "He keeps on asking for forgiveness, so it's ok?"



Romans 6:1 "So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?"



God keeps forgiving, and Amen! to that. But we died to sin the instant we said yes to Christ. Notice the word "died." It's past tense. If we have truly died to a wrong way of living and thinking, then we should not be following it.



In other words, Mr. B, your viewpoint was wrong then, and it's wrong now.



Only God can judge Mr. B's true intentions and his soul, but if he made a legitimate decision to begin a new life with Christ, then the evidence of it should be that his old way of living was dead.



How tragic that there are those who will misuse God's love as a license to do whatever they want--not caring who they hurt in the process--as opposed to purposely trying to live right precisely because God loves us. (I wonder if Mr. B would have changed his behavior if he could have seen into the future and seen the devastation that continues in his childrens' lives to this very day?)



In other words, God offers us a new life, overflowing with love, peace, joy, hope, goodness, kindness, mercy, and forgiveness, and our response should be one of gratitude not disobedience.



Proverbs 26:11 "As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness."



That's a rough verse, but it's in the Bible for a reason. There will always be those who want to hang on to sin, and it is plain disgusting.



We, on the other hand, are not foolish. We are wise. Wise enough to know that a blessed and beautiful life comes from right living. Notice I said right living--not perfect living.



Let's tie it all up tomorrow:)



PRAYER:

Dear Lord, Thank You for Your Word, which guides us day-to-day. Sometimes life is confusing, but one thing we do know is that we can not live without You. We never want to take advantage of Your generous outpouring of blessings, so help us and those we love stay on the right track. And we especially pray today for our kids. If anyone of them is struggling to do the right thing, empower them to make the right decision. In Jesus' name, Amen~