Come Boldly

Have you heard the excuses for not going to church or giving your life to God? Maybe you’ve said them yourself. The walls/roof of the church would fall in. I got to have my fun first. I don’t want to be a hypocrite. God might strike me with lightening.

Ever wonder where those excuses come from? Could it be from the people who are supposed to represent Christ in the world?

Salvation by fear

How many people got saved out of fear? If you didn’t get saved right now you could die and go to hell. This is a true statement. But going to hell is only one side of the equation. Salvation from eternal damnation is only the tip of the iceberg. You were saved from something, but what were you saved to?

Or how many “stayed saved” out of fear? If Jesus came back and you happened to be sinning you will be left. This is a dangerous thing to say because salvation becomes about your works and not the work of Christ and the grace of God.

The problem with salvation by fear is that there’s no hope of developing a loving relationship with someone you’re afraid of. And a loving relationship is what God really wants.

Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

How do you come boldly to someone you’re afraid of? To someone who condemns you? Speaks badly of you? Looks down on you?

Are people not coming to God because they only hear about fear and judgement from Believers and never about the throne of Grace?

The Bible says that Satan is the accuser (Rev 10:10) and Jesus is the mediator (Heb 8:6). Are people not coming to God because they only get accused, but never hear about the mediation of Christ on our behalf?

Sometimes I wonder who’s job, we as Christians, really do. Is our life demonstrating a come-boldly-to-the-throne God or a stay-away-you’re-unworthy God? We seem to be really good at saying what’s wrong, but how many of us talk about what’s right? How many times does the lost get to hear that “the world is going to hell in a hand basket” but doesn’t hear that God so loved that same world, that He gave His only Son (John 3:16)? We all have seen the preacher on the corner that yells, “The end is near! Judgement is coming! REPENT!” but how many of us have seen one on the sidewalk saying “God loves you! He died to redeem you! He has a good plan for your life”?

The Bible says it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance (Rom 2:4), and to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). Do we really know about the goodness of God? Does the world have an understanding of His goodness? Why He is considered good? What makes the Christian God a good God?

Yes, we need to know about sin and our hopelessness based on the law, but let’s not stop there. There is hope in Jesus! There’s GRACE.  The Gospel means Good News. So let’s not forget to stress the outstretched arms of the Father.

Let’s make it our mission for our lives to reflect the goodness of God so that the lost can come to the throne of Grace boldly. Not out of fear, but of hope and love.