Beautiful Things

When I was around six years old, I asked my mother about sin. I wanted to make sure I was going to make it to heaven. Not to meantion, I was feeling a little guilty that day for making my sister cry. I had asked God over and over again, "Please forgive my sin" afraid that he couldn't hear me or that I was being insincere. When my mother told me that we had to ask God to forgive our specific sin I quickly got to work, sitting on the back porch stairs, naming off every misdemeanour I could remember, always worried that I had forgotten something.

We all worry about sin. For those of you who don't believe in God, why do you feel guilty when you do something wrong? A lot of the time when I invite a friend to church the immediate response is that God will strike them with lightening for stepping into His House because they know they aren't right with God. You were created with a desire to know Christ. Whether you want to or not, you feel guilty for your sins. That's called the Holy Spirit, people. Like our God-given conscious. It's a thing.

You can't get right with God until you believe He can forgive you of your sins. Until you mean all the "I'm sorry's" and the "I won't do it again's," He's waiting to forgive you. He's waiting for you to love Him. Because trust me, He already loves you.

John 10:10 says, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

Jesus died to give you life. Eternal life. "For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God" (Romans 3:23) but God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on a cross, one of the most gruesome and humble deaths; He took your sins, before you were created, and took them upon Himself, so that you may be forgiven.

If you ask.

Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

The other day I was sitting in service listening to a missionary speak. He lives in Haiti with his family. He talked about how Haitians are pained at being known as one of the poorest countries in the world. Mass graves, now overgrown with wild grass, hold the bodies of the victims of the earthquake. Entire villages are living out of tents around the rubble. Yet, out of all the destruction and hurt, brokenness creates healing and beauty.

Brokenness creates healing and beauty. I love that.

Jesus wants you to come to Him just as you are. Brokenness and all. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Accept.
Believe.
Confess.

Revelations 3:20 says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in."

You have to make the choice. Jesus is waiting. And He loves you.