Open Arms

I am beginning to believe something that I once would have found totally preposterous... Could it be that while we're all responsible for accepting our own salvation, that everyone is already forgiven?? I grew up believing that to "repent" meant to ask for forgiveness. But it doesn't. It means to turn back. In Christian-ese it is used to mean turning back to God, following His ways, living our lives in the footsteps of Jesus. Forgiveness has already been given. To everyone. In pratical terms, if I have to ask for forgiveness for every infraction I make in my daily living I am in deep doo-doo. I'm bound to miss something somewhere. God knows this.

I keep finding Scriptural examples:

Romans 5:8

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

His forgiveness was given to us AS we were sinners, before we were "saved".

When Jesus was dying on the cross and the people were ridiculing him, killing him and in essence spitting on God, he said "Forgive them, they know not what they do". None of them asked for Jesus to do that. He simply did it.

In the story of the adulteress who was almost stoned to death (John 8) she does not ask for forgiveness. The only exchange that she shares with Jesus is this:

"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

"No one, sir," she said.

"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared.

"Go now and leave your life of sin."

Jesus did not condemn her. He instructed her to leave her life of sin, but her sin was not punished in His presence.

The act of being "saved" is the act of accepting that forgiveness and then living in it. Sorta like having a present given to you. You have to open the present to actually partake of the gift, but the gift is there whether or not you open it.

One of my favorite Christian writers, Rob Bell, writes in his book "Velvet Elvis" that Hell is full of forgiven people. And that is the tragedy of it. They never had to live in eternity separated from God. But something obviously kept them from knowing the truth of Who God is.

As the author of "Praying Effectively for The Lost" says, people don't accept this gift or believe in the work done on the cross because they are deceived by the enemy. They are wrapped up in strongholds. God knows this. He knows the hearts of everyone.

All of us have darkness in our hearts. The only thing that separates me from Charles Manson is the blood of Jesus that I have allowed to cover me. I cannot earn through my own effort enough goodness to be able to stand in the perfect presence of God. He is 100% light and in Him there can be no darkness - Not Charles Manson's huge blot of filth nor my less glaring but still dark sin of pride.

That was the whole point of the mosaic law. It's instructions are good and illustrate righteous living. But God instituted it in order to show the futility of it. We will ALL fall short. Every single one of us. That includes Mother Theresa and Billy Graham and the woman down the street who wouldn't hurt a fly and who gives her money to charity.

It's not that righteous acts aren't worth doing, they are. People who lived rightly on Earth may well enjoy "better benefits" in Heaven. God makes those determinations. But good works will never make me equal in goodness to God.

In the same passage about the adulteress Jesus says:

You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one.

This tells me that our human idea of justice greatly differs from that of the Kingdom of God.

Clarity here - I don't think that we should do away with the justice system. God instituted government and we must comply with the laws of our land. But maybe we're not supposed to confuse human justice and divine justice. Here on earth we are given permission judge human actions and bring about earthly justice. But the more I study scripture the more I see that when it comes to judging men's hearts and what people deserve eternally we all have to step aside and shut our yaps. Because God will use the same measure against us as we use for others (Luke 6:38).

Coming to this understanding has been very difficult for me. It is painful for me to accept the kind of grace that God gives. I often find it hard to forgive myself of things God has long forgotten about. I also want to see "bad" people rot in hell. I don't want to see God forgive people who do bad things. But He does. And he punished Jonah for having the attitude that I do. He wants NO ONE to live in eternity without Him. The Bible is full of examples of this. And all it takes is for someone to turn to Him and call His name...Call upon the name of the Lord and be Saved. That's IT. And they will be saved. No matter their past.

Now back to asking for forgiveness...I believe that this happens by default. A deep regret happens in the heart when someone realizes how mind-blowing God's grace is. Even as a long-time Christian I can't help but apologize and ask for forgiveness when I'm stupid. But maybe that part is not the point. The point isn't what I do to earn Heaven but what Christ has already done FOR ME.

The Kingdom of God is beautifully backward and upside down!