Post by Chaplain Elizabeth on Mar 1, 2015 12:26:39 GMT -5
"But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Matthew 9:13
"Look out! There's a new judge in town!" How many times have you heard someone say that, or heard someone say, "Oh I hope you don't have this person, because he is really really tough!" And today it seems like some judges are more worried about the sentence than the crime.
But Jesus did not come to punish us, instead he came to die for us and offer us mercy. He did not come to eat with the righteous, but instead he came to offer sinners redemption.
No matter what you have done in your past, Jesus has come to forgive you, and bring mercy. It doesn't matter what sins you HAVE committed, but what you are going to do with your new life (2 Cor. 5:17).
As Paul says in his letter to Timothy, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst." (1 Tim. 1:15)
Paul was one of the greatest persecutors of Christians before his transformation, one of the greatest sinners... yet God took made him righteous (1 John 1:9) and used him to serve as a beacon of his glory. God made Paul one of the greatest evangelists of all time.
Even Moses was transformed by God's Grace. A man who worshiped false Gods, a man who turned his back on his own people, a man who was a murderer.
It doesn't matter what you have done, but what you will do. God does not want to punish you, but instead he wants to transform you and make you righteous and holy. God does not want to focus on your past, but rather your future.
Are you willing to do the same? What about those who have hurt you in the past... are you willing to forgive them, just as God has forgiven you?