I 'll Get Right With God Later

By Cal Cook

I thought I'd share with you the little Sermonette I wrote for the Advertiser Tribune this week:

“I’ll come to church when I get right with God” and “I better start doing some good to make up for all the bad I’ve done if I want to get to Heaven” are just two examples I have personally heard from people who misunderstand what the Bible teaches. I’m sure you’ve heard some as well. Somehow the message of Christianity has been changed for some from Good News to a list of rules and requirements! Yet that is not what the Bible teaches. The Apostle Paul who wrote much of the New Testament explains the relationship between himself and sin this way:

Romans 7:15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.

This is one of my favorite passages because it lets me know I’m not alone! Paul goes on to explain this relationship between us, Christ and our sin. Romans Chapter 8 gives us great encouragement and understanding of our relationship with God, despite our sin, through the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

We have not traded one form of servitude for another. Some don’t want to come to Christ because they don’t want to give up things. They are pretty happy with their lives the way they are (or so they think) and don’t want to change. So they keep God and a distance and the Holy Spirit; don’t even talk to them about that! They’ll wait until later, when they’re older and aren’t so busy, after they have enjoyed their lives, then they’ll think about God and what He wants.

But God has no desire for us to live as slaves, or as puppets on a string…if He wanted that He would have never created us with free will! Remember God formed us from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into us. He could have just as easily created us to always obey Him…but God wanted more than slaves, He wanted to be more than a puppet master! God’s desire is that we would choose a relationship with Him, not because He makes us but because He loves us! So He has made us more than servants, He has adopted us as children. We are brothers and sisters with His Son, co-heirs with Christ and all of His Glory!

So we can live this life not in fear of having a good time, or as a puppet on a string. For Jesus said:

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.