II Timothy 4:3 (NASB)
"Live your best life now!"
"God loves you because you're special!"
"You're worth it!"
Sounds good on the surface doesn't it? This is the theme of so many sermons from so many pulpits and piped over the airwaves...
And it's a lie.
God loves you, oh yes, that is very true. God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but will inherit everlasting life. Because God did not send His son into the world to judge the world but rather to save it (rough paraphrase of John 3:16, 17). This is not because the world (that's us), has any value, but rather because God loves us despite ourselves.
Isaiah rightly said: all our good works are like filthy rags. When it comes to approaching God, we have nothing. We bring nothing to Him that is of any value. Our sin is too much and he cannot abide it.
That's why we need Christ. He doesn't need us, but He gave His life for us anyway because He loves us. Our value comes not from within, but from Christ.
So, God loves you. He wants a personal relationship with you. You don't deserve it, I don't deserve it, and that is why it is so special. The Apostle Paul wrote that "all have sinned and come up short of God's glory." (again, a rough paraphrase from memory). This means that we can't make it on our own. That's why Jesus gave Himself, to be that bridge between God and humankind.
You cannot make it on your own, neither can I. There is an old hymn that says, "nothing in my hand I bring, only to your cross I cling." Jesus, by His death on the cross makes the way for us.
We are loved by God, not because we deserve it but because of His mercy. All that is needed is to repent of our sins and ask Him to take our lives as His.
Amen.
There are many who want to sell you something else. They want you to think they have some special corner on God and that you can get closer to God if you just believe what they have to say. They might tell you that God wants you to be rich (you won't find that in the Bible), or that he wants you to be happy (Joy, is promised, not happiness, and they are two disparate things), or that if you believe hard enough, God will give you the material possessions that you want.
Again, it sounds good, but it's a lie. Jesus went into the temple after coming into Jerusalem and He found hawkers and money changers on the temple grounds and he chased them out with a whip. These false teachers of our modern day are just like those sellers of sacrificial animals and money changers.
Be wise and discerning. If someone tells you something is so, search the scriptures.
As the scriptures say: "be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."
