Come As You Are

God made the world and everything in it. He made heaven and earth. He does not live in temples built by human hands, nor is he served by human hands. He is a God who needs nothing (but desires a relationship with us). He gives breath to our lungs, life to our body and everything else. From one man God made the nations, that they may inhabit the whole earth. He marked out our appointed time in history and the boundaries of our lands so we would seek him, reach for him, and find him, though he is never far away from us.

We live and move and have our very being in him (because of his grace). We are his offspring. (Offspring of the one and only Holy God). As offspring we should not think that he is like silver and gold or stone - an image made by human design and skill. God once overlooked our ignorance but now he commands ALL people to repent. God has set a day he that he will judge the world by the man he has appointed, (Jesus Christ). He declared this promise when he raised Jesus from dead.

Friends, there is nothing that can separate you from the love of God. There are consequences to our sin but you need to know deep in your heart that there is no sin that is too bad, and no choice that can’t be redeemed. There are not levels of sin, although in our humanness we would like to qualify sin into categories or hierarchy. It is hard to fathom that some of the atrocities we see and experience in this broken world are no different in the eyes of God than the sin in our own lives.

Yet there is a God who is waiting in great anticipation to welcome you

with open arms just as you are.

This notion that we have to clean up our life before we approach the throne is a lie from the devil. It is a trick he uses to try to convince us that we are not worthy of God’s grace until we clean up our act. God says, “come as you are and let me cleanse you by the blood of the Lamb. My son, the Lamb, who I sacrificed on the cross for your mess so you may have life eternal.”

Come as you are friend.

There is no broken or mistake that God can not redeem.

He brings beauty from ashes when we repent. Even the ashes you and I create when we rebel and fall short.

Much love,

Chrissy

Reference NIV Bible: Acts 17:24-31

Photo Credit: Mikail Duran, Unsplash