Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Luke 5:23-24
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Psalm 51:1
I recently read about the Free Grace movement which started around the late 1980s. Their basic belief is that you need only to say you believe in Jesus to receive eternal life in the Kingdom of God. No repentance necessary. No change in your ways. You don’t even need to say you “follow” Jesus.
While you can find places in the New Testament where people received salvation from Jesus for believing, one has to ask in the modern world the question of what does “believing” mean?
Your definition of “believing” is important because if you believe Jesus was just a guy who lived a long time ago or a prophet who did some miracles then you won’t believe He forgives our sins and with compassion blots out our transgressions. You might think Jesus had some good life advice that may or may not apply to you. It certainly doesn’t lead you to get on your knees in submission and praise.
If you believe He is God but don’t seek through the Holy Spirit a repentant, changed life then you might find yourself facing a Jesus who says to you: “You say Lord, Lord but I didn’t know you.”
Easy “believism” doesn’t lead to a life of divine-given fruit through our act of acknowledging our sin nature. People Jesus encountered throughout His time here and believed were always told to go and do something. Sin no more, tell someone, worship differently, give up something.
The Lord Jesus wants not just our words, He wants all of us. He expects believers to see Him as the God who reigns over every single aspect of our lives. He wants the repentant not the unrepentant in His Kingdom. And it’s only Him that can forgive and transform. It’s that Jesus that causes us to be thankful, grateful for removing the scales from our eyes so we can see Him clearly.
And for that we should give Him all praise because in the end that’s truly the only thing we can offer back to the God of the Universe.
Click here to listen to today’s song: All My Praise
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