Food for Thought:
What's the difference between Justice, Mercy, and Grace?
God's Grace is much different than His Justice and Mercy:
- JUSTICE is getting the bad that we deserve. (We die immediately.)
- MERCY is NOT getting the bad that we deserve. (We don't die immediately.)
- GRACE is getting good that we do not deserve. (We never die, plus we get all the good that God wants to give us.)
Many Christians tend to forget:
- Heaven is a gift. (It's impossible to earn a gift. If you earn it then it is no longer a gift.)
- Jesus is offering us heaven and more. (He wants to give us a happy, joy-filled life that will never end.)
- We cannot get to heaven by keeping laws, but only by accepting this gift. (A gift is always free.)
- Because we love Jesus, we will WANT to do whatever He asks us to do. (Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments.")
- If we are doing what He is asking us to do just because we love Him then we are not being legalistic. (Our actions become legalistic if we think we have to be "good enough" and try to earn our way into heaven by being good.)
Magnets can teach us a great deal about the Christian life.
- Jesus is constantly drawing us just like a magnet constantly draws steel filings. (John 12:32)
- The only thing that can keep a steel filing from going to a magnet is if it holds on to something around it and resists the pull of the magnet. The only thing that will keep a person from being drawn to Jesus is if they hold on to the things around them and resist being drawn to Jesus. (Real Christians don't resist Jesus.)
- Just like steel filings naturally become more magnetic the closer they get to the magnet, Christians naturally become more like Jesus the closer they get to Him. (They don't have to work at it.)
- The closer a steel filing gets to a magnet the more attractive it becomes to the steel filings around it. The closer Christians get to Jesus the more attractive they are to others. (Christian's "clump" together into churches.)
The Gospel According to Genesis
- See the detour sin has caused as you may never have seen it before.
