Here's one of my favorite verses in the entire bible...
This is something I always like to highlight to my friends and family that question God. The picture that has been painted by atheists and detractors of religion is that...God is this vengeful, mean spirited entity, that couldn't possibly exist because look at the world today.
Here's the thing, I don't believe in that 'god' either.
I believe in....The God of 1 John 4:8.
You see, God isn't just loving. He doesn't just love His creations. God is love. The entire character of our Lord and Savior is placed for the universe to see in this simple verse.
He is love.
But then, how can we explain the God of the Old testament...Because surely this 'hippy God' of the New Testament isn't the same?
He's the same yesterday, today and forever. But there's a catch....
We see this plainly in the Old Testament because the Jewish nation was...Broad! Their path led to destruction time after time because they never remembered their Creator. Jesis shows us this in Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14 which is shown above...
The broad gate is the Christian attitude of:
"I'm forever saved, so I can continue in sin, live however I want and stay the same"
Is this scriptural?
The narrow gate is...
I'm changed. I come out of the world and out of sin. I'm a new creature in Christ.
This isn't something a lot of Christendom likes to think about because they have been misled in this false doctrine of once saved, always saved. Think about it...
I accept Christ. I know He died and was resurrected. I know He is my Redeemer. But because His blood I can continue to sin. I can lie, steal and cheat. I can covet...I can break every single one of His commandments because.....Saved by grace.
That makes zero sense.
What does make sense is...New heart. New life. New approach to how we treat others. Coming OUT of the world. This is the uncomfortable truth of scripture.
Yes we are saved by grace alone, but what does the book of James read....Faith without works is dead. We are to become new creatures and bear the good fruit of Christ.
If you love me, keep my commandments is what Jesus said (John 14:15) so the evidence is clear to me. I'm to become a new creature with a changed heart because of what Jesus did for all of us on the cross. That means dead to the old me, and life in Christ.
Maybe it isn't that uncomfortable after all :)