Nov 29, 2018
Watch out for ungodly
people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny
Jesus Christ. Jude 1:4
Use God’s grace to be
freed from sin instead of excusing sin.
You’re driving along in a hurry to get to your destination,
and a police officer pulls you over.
After reviewing your speed with you and checking your license, the
officer gives you a warning, telling you to slow down. After thanking the officer, you take off and
try to make up the time by driving faster!
What will you say when that same officer catches up with you again? “You
let me off the last time, so I’m expecting you to let me off every time.” Expect a ticket!
Most wise people realize that when they were given a second
chance, it doesn’t invite you to keep doing the wrong thing. Yet somehow, many people treat God like it
does. You’ve heard people say: “I’m not
a bad person”, or “at least I don’t ______”, or “God loves me just the way I
am”. We expect others to change when
they get a second chance, but don’t feel obligated when we’re given that
reprieve. God loves us enough to give us
MANY second chances, but they aren’t permission to keep sinning. His grace & mercy are for the purpose of changing
our lives, not continuing to damage our lives with sin.
Paul is even more direct when it comes to this type of
activity. He calls it perverted and ungodly. Paul sees it as
anti-grace, and a denial of Jesus. Get
This: grace was designed to change our lives to godliness, not be a license for
ungodliness. The goal is STILL
Godliness! God never changed His
standard, He just provided a way to get it for all of us who have sinned.
The world doesn’t worry about trying to convert us to evil,
it just wants to get us to accept sin.
Satan just wants us to watch that lustful show, or lie when it helps us,
or give up Sabbath time for something else we enjoy, or justify our anger. Satan doesn’t care about making us more like
himself, he just wants to make us less like Jesus. Don’t fall for the corruption. When you and I settle for sin, we are
effectively denying Jesus (just like Peter did three times). That is strong language.
Realize that grace was given to us so that we would HAVE
POWER to stop sinning. God’s mercy
forgoes the ticket, but His grace is designed to empower us to overcome the
ticket. Allow God’s grace to have
victory in your life. Obey the ‘speed
limits’ of God, and allow His grace to change your life.
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