Many people believe that God is a God of war or wrath,  God himself says “He is love and light.” The idea is often taught that God’s wrath is going to crash down on all sinners. Nothing is further from the the truth and this teaching is a complete contradiction of the New Covenant we live in. God’s love for us is being poured out on all mankind through Jesus to bring us back to His royal family. 

God does not hate, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17) “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.” (Romans 3:22) 

Jesus came into the world to set us free and shine pure light into every crevice of our hearts. His light doesn’t end with our messing up. The more His light shines on us the more we are set free from shame, guilt, and condemnation. “This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.” (1 John 1:5) We proclaim the good news, we do not preach that we need to strike down our enemy. God wants to reconcile everyone to Himself through Jesus. We are ambassadors of reconciliation! We share the truth that in Christ all who believe are forgiven, saved, loved and part of God’s royal family. Because we believe in Jesus we are all in right standing. Hallelujah!

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)

Jesus took on the wrath of man so that we could be justified and glorified. Through Jesus it is just as if we never sinned. Instead of trying to add our works to what Christ has already done, let us rejoice in the Lord and what he did for us. It was the ultimate act of Love! The good news is this, you are in right standing with God forever. This miracle happened the moment you believed. So do we wage war against those that don’t know Jesus? Absolutely not! We share the good news! We shout it from the roof tops and in the line at the grocery store, not with anger and malice but with a warm smile that say no matter what is going on it is ok in Jesus. We armor up with Love. We wrap ourself in the truth of who we are in Christ; royal, loved, forgiven, saved, righteous, and free. We invite people to be who they are, and know that God just plain out loves them even when they think they have screwed up! 

Do we condemn people when they mess up? Absolutely not! We share how much God loves them, and wants them to be free in Jesus. “For who the Son has set free is free indeed.” (John 8:36)  What are we free from? We are free from worry, stress, guilt, shame, condemnation, and punishment. We are free to live and enjoy life as heirs to the Kingdom.  We are not slaves trying to flee from a beating. We are free to mess up, free to be happy, free to know that everything is going to be ok. 

This is the “too good to be true news” and it is the “truth that sets us free!” (John 8:32) Freedom happens when we are so saturated with the truth that nothing we can do will ever separate us from the love of God.  We don’t worry about sin, we are just thankful for the Son! 

The message of reconciliation is about unity through love, rather than division through religion. Love is the catalyst that breaks the strongest chains of bondage in our hearts. Jesus said,“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”(Matthew 11:30) As we come to him with the things that make us weary, he will always give us rest. The enemy tell us to hold onto the things that burden us because God has bigger things to deal with. Religion tell us that we need to take responsibility, we need to go through a program to get rid of our burdens however, “Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”(Matthew 11:28) There is nothing so small or so great that God cannot take care of it. Through Christ’s resurrection we are being blessed with every spiritual blessing. The more we see God for His true character, the more we begin to trust Him with all things. His ministry wells up out of us and, without any works of our own, people see His love and light shining in us and through us.

The wage for sin is death. Through God’s infinite Love, he took on flesh to overcome the wrath of man and destroy consciousness of sin and death. The beautiful truth is, we get to walk freely into His newness in us and love people with the love He has shown us.  “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”(Revelation 22:17) We get to participate as the bride of Christ in reconciling the world back to himself.  Despite everything that seems wrong, Jesus is right. We have assurance in all things today. We get to drink from the water of life freely. 

Be blessed in all things because you are! Amen Amen Amen

Blessings,

Kurt and Katy