Romans 2:4
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
While doing reading my Bible the other day, this verse just jumped right off the page at me. So many times people look at God’s kindness as an excuse to keep on living the same way they did before they became Christians. This verse shows us that this has always been the case.
In the verse before this one, Paul is talking to the Roman church about how they love to point out the faults in others all the while doing those same things themselves. This is pretty much a tale as old as time. People love to point out everyone else’s faults all the while ignoring their own. Therefore ignoring God’s commandments.
We all know we have our faults. No one is perfect. Though the scripture specifically states that we should strive to be perfect like God.
Matthew 5:8
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect
I know that we have all been told that no one is perfect. I mean I literally just said it right before this verse. It’s been ingrained in us for as long as we can remember. But if the scripture tells us to be perfect like our heavenly Father is perfect, then that should at the very least encourage us to do everything we can within our power to try and be perfect.
Now we may not ever actually hit “perfection” until that glorious day when we get to Heaven. But that does not mean that if we fail to be perfect that we can just write off striving for perfection. Just because we fall at times, does not mean that it is okay to condone those failures. When we fail, we need to remember God’s kindness and mercy and do all we can to get back on the right path.
1 John 2:1
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
If we fall into sin, we need to turn to Christ and ask for His forgiveness. It is because of His great sacrifice that our sins are forgiven. When He was nailed to the cross, He took on the burden of all sin. To be the sacrifice that would cover every sin.
Christ died so that you could have eternal life. This alone should be reason enough for you to turn from your wicked ways and follow Him. “Wicked Ways” is not just murdering, stealing and committing adultery. It is anything that goes against God’s word. It is lying, stealing, being selfish, being prideful, not having compassion. The list goes on and on.
Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Either you are serving God, or you are not. It is as simple as that. If you cannot confidently say that you are obeying God’s word, then are you really serving Him? If you are ignoring things that the scripture says then aren’t you being like the Roman church that Paul wrote to? Ignoring your own faults all the while telling others of theirs?
The only way to truly know if you are obeying all that God has asked of you is to read His word. How else will you know for sure what God requires of you? Through reading His Word, you see not only what is asked of you but of just how great God’s love and kindness is. Just how much He is willing to do, how far He is willing to go, to reach you in your sin.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Even before you existed, God loved you enough to have a plan in place to save you from an eternity in Hell. From the beginning of creation, God had a plan to redeem us from out of our sin. He gave us man free will and saw that there was a path in which we would fall into disobedience and made a way for us to reconnect with Him.
If this doesn’t make you want to repent and do all that you can to obey God in hopes that you will one day make it to Heaven with Him, I don’t know what will.
I hope this article has shaken you. Shaken you to think about if you are truly serving God. I hope it has made you think about if you are truly obeying all that God has asked of you. He has done so much for you, how then can you ignore all that and continue to go against His will?
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