Monday, November 15, 2010

God Wants Us To Repent

"Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Soverign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?'"

-- Ezekiel 33:11

We are not like God. We hunger for vengeance. If someone harms us or someone we love, we want them to pay many times over. Retaliation is almost instinct. It's part of our human condition. A bad part.

We excuse our desire to get back at the offenders by quoting the Bible. "An eye for an eye," we tell anyone who questions us. We forget what Jesus said about that because it isn't what we want to hear. We don't want to turn the other cheek. We don't want to do good to those who harms us. We want to get angry and lash out.

It's almost funny. We want God to extend His grace to us when we sin but we don't want to extend that same grace to others. "It's not the same," we whine. Sure it is. Sin is sin.

Max Lucado wrote a wonderful book several years ago titled, "In the Grip of Grace." Most of you probably remember Jeffrey Dahmer. He wasn't just a serial killer. He was also a cannibal. Most of us can't stand to even think about the things he did. While he was in prison, Dahmer said he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He was even baptized. Dahmer was later murdered in prison. Justified, we think.

Well, let me give you something else to think about. If Dahmer did indeed accept Jesus as his Savior, then he's in heaven right now. It doesn't matter how horrific his past deeds were. Christ died to wipe all our slates clean. We don't want to accept that. Somehow we think, He only died for our sins or for "minor" sins. That's not what the Bible says. Jesus died for all our sins, even the sins of people like Jeffrey Dahmer.

God wants all His wayward children to come back to Him. He wants all of us to admit our sins, change our ways and accept Jesus' gift of salvation. His arms are open to welcome us, no matter what we've done. I've grateful. Aren't you?

Next time you start judging someone and vowing to retaliate for a wrong, think about it first. Read your Bible. Pray. God takes care of vengeance. And, thankfully, He also offers forgiveness and a way back to Him.