|
|
Form Object
About Manfishers
What is 'grace' anyway? (page 3)
Get your fishing license!
If you’re interested in learning more about how
Manfishers can help your church or ministry develop a
true discipling relationship with one of our partners in
the field, or perhaps you’re interested in volunteering
for an upcoming trip, please do not hesitate to
contact us. We would be happy to talk with you more
about your relationship with Christ and His calling on
your life to follow Him and be a fisher of men!
In order to better understand grace, we need to understand the nature of both God and
human beings. Mankind (including womankind) was given by God the ability to choose
own destiny, so to speak. Unfortunately for us, we all make wrong choices from time to
time. In fact, we can't help it -- we are born with the ability and desire to do wrong.
Think about it -- who taught you to lie to your parents? Or to cheat at checkers when
your opponent turned their head? No one! These "bad things" we do are called sin --
no, sin doesn't just mean murder, theft, rape, and the like. It's ANYTHING that we do
that goes against God's teaching and His will for us. What's more, it's not just the thing
bad things we do, but the good things we don't do! That's right -- there are TWO kinds
of sins: those of commission (things we do) and those of omission (things we don't
that we should). That makes it a little easier to understand how easy it is to mess up,
doesn't it? And what if you only sinned a little...say, twice a day? Well, over the course
of a year that would add up to 730 sins...and by the ago of 50, you'd have banked up
over 35,000 sins "in your account."
Can you see now the problem we have? And we ALL have it -- the Bible says that "ALL have sinned and fall short" of God's expectations for us. "So, what exactly are God's expectations," you ask? Simple: perfection. No sin whatsoever. Uh-oh...no we're in trouble, right? You might be thinking now that surely a loving God could overlook "a few minor mistakes," right? Well, think about it this way...if I made you an omelet with lots of cheese, bacon, sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and only one rotten egg, would it be acceptable to you? Of course not! Likewise, the Bible says that if we keep all of God's commandments but offend in only one, we might as well be guilty of all! God is the perfect judge -- though God loves us and wants to forgive us, our sins must be paid for.
Whew...sounds hopeless, huh? Well, it would be if not for Jesus. How do you perceive Jesus? Who was (is) He to you? A "good man?" A prophet? A teacher? Sure, He was all of these things, but He was much more, too. The Bible says that, "In the beginning <of eternity> was the Word <a reference to Jesus>, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh…"
Can you see now the problem we have? And we ALL have it -- the Bible says that "ALL have sinned and fall short" of God's expectations for us. "So, what exactly are God's expectations," you ask? Simple: perfection. No sin whatsoever. Uh-oh...no we're in trouble, right? You might be thinking now that surely a loving God could overlook "a few minor mistakes," right? Well, think about it this way...if I made you an omelet with lots of cheese, bacon, sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and only one rotten egg, would it be acceptable to you? Of course not! Likewise, the Bible says that if we keep all of God's commandments but offend in only one, we might as well be guilty of all! God is the perfect judge -- though God loves us and wants to forgive us, our sins must be paid for.
Whew...sounds hopeless, huh? Well, it would be if not for Jesus. How do you perceive Jesus? Who was (is) He to you? A "good man?" A prophet? A teacher? Sure, He was all of these things, but He was much more, too. The Bible says that, "In the beginning <of eternity> was the Word <a reference to Jesus>, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh…"
Content, unless otherwise indicated, is the copyright of Manfishers Ministries. For questions or problems with the site, please click here.