Dianella Church of The Nazarene

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

It’s really Good News!! But you have to understand and come to terms with the bad news as well. There is no good news if there is no bad news.

We all fall short without Christ. We all mess up if we don’t make Him our Lord and Saviour. Paul gives a bleak picture of a life without God. You start with believing a lie (that we don’t owe God our true worship as He is our Creator) and consequently we become our own gods. We can now determine what is really good and what not. God says: ‘very well, have it your way, but what you reap is what you sow…’

Things are getting very out of hands in Australia. Actually, it’s getting out of hand everywhere. My granny was right. The world looks like a dark place to live in.

Still, it’s not our job as Christians to impute the sins of people against them. No turn or burn messages! Some churches show up at funerals of famous people that led notorious lifestyle only to make a statement. “God hates gays” or “You lie, you fry”

God does not hate people! God loves people. He created them in His own image. He cannot hate people. People can hate God though. God will look at all of our lives and ‘render to each one according to his deeds’. Our lives lived is really our hearts revealed. We’re not saved by our works, but a true, transformed heart God will use to do good works. It sounds like a paradox, but it really isn’t. We were made to do good, but we lost the image of God that we were created in. Trying to be good on our own terms, however we may define it, still doesn’t get us anywhere…unless, we allow God to transform us.

I thank God that I don’t need to change myself. I can’t!

I thank God I don’t need to be the judge of others. That is not my job either!

My job is to love people and to model the best way I can – through His grace and by faith – the life He intended me to live. People need to see that. There are still many people that would like to believe in God if they could only see it in us. They know they’re guilty. Their conscience says so. And yes, some may even supress that. Still, it’s not to become like that Aussie rugby player and become the judge of others. Only God is.

It is true that there is a Final Judgment coming. We perhaps rather don’t think about it. Others may think it is completely relevant. After all, there is no God so do as you please. Yet, the Bible does testify about this. Judgment is the righteous verdict of the Good Judge. He is incredibly patient because He wants people first to come to the recognition of truth. We need Him. We desperately need Jesus.