Penance.
It’s a punishment for what we’ve done. Taking it on the chin. Paying our dues.
Name it what you will, we’re stepping up and accepting the responsibility for our actions.
Especially our bad ones.
God says that’s unnecessary. We don’t need to beat ourselves up. We have a forgiving Father in heaven who came up with a better plan.
Jesus.
John 3:18 tells us:
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
The dividing line between freedom and penance is our faith in Jesus.
Ask yourself this: Who is not condemned? Who no longer has to take it on the chin? Who can toss the dues for our wicked deeds out the window and have a fresh start?
Whosoever believes in Jesus.
It’s a simple thing, an easy move. Easy-smeasy, we might say.
We have Three Steps to Our Release in Jesus.
1. Believe.
We must believe that Jesus is truly the Son of God who lived and was raised from the dead.
2. Accept.
We must give Jesus control over the course of our life. We choose to model our actions after his.
3. Receive.
We must let the power of Jesus flow through us so that we become the hand of God to everyone around us.
God’s not standing in the sky ready to beat us over the head. We can choose a higher path. We can decide to walk hand-in-hand with Jesus from this point on.
We choose the course of our life, and our best choice is Jesus.
Copyright © 2019 MyChurchNotes.net
Code: FGO.G.22.19c.vp.esv