How?

 "Amazing Love, how can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me?" Charles Wesley....."No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good." C.S. Lewis...."Only those who know their lostness are eligible to be found." Chris Tiegreen

I have never liked the question, "Have you accepted Christ?" It makes it sound almost like we're doing Him a grand favor to allow Him (the honor) of coming into our life. Someone said the better question is how, in light of how black our sin, could He ever accept us? How could He accept me and how could He accept you?

Wesley's above hymn, And Can It Be, has long been the song I most identify with. I lose sight of its truth sometimes, and I need to be drawn back to it. I need to know again just how amazing His love is, and how amazing it is that He could not only love me, save me, and above all, die for me. Me! Someone who lived his life against His Life and Truth. Me, who in so many ways, mocked Him, used His name as a curse, and blasphemed that name in countless different ways. Me, who lived many years not caring at all about Him, His life, His love, and His sacrifice on my behalf. Me, who if the bare, horrible truth of it all were known, would have been standing in the crowd on that terrible day in Jerusalem shouting, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" I would have been there....and so would have you.

I've a pastor friend who, in his messages, often says to his people, "We're not the good guys in the story." It's completely true. The human race has a sin problem. We're born with that and we can't free ourselves from it. It sets us against God, and each other. It makes us His enemy. The beauty, the wonder, is that He is not our enemy in return. He created us for Himself and the sin of our human parents brought a separation that we could never breach. Our sin demanded justice. It demanded our death. We have been born under a death sentence that we had no ability to commute. The Father, in His love, sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to accomplish what we couldn't. His death on a cross satisfied the need for justice. He broke the curse of sin and death for all who believe upon and follow Him. That's the Gospel Good News. Christ came, lived, died, rose, and conquered death for all will believe upon Him. I'm so thankful that I received that Good News and the Savior who brought it. I'll also never cease to be amazed, as was Wesley, that He would come for me, die for me, rise for me, and save me, when I lived so willingly against all that He is. How? How could He do it? How could He do it for me, and how could He do it for you? For a sinner such as me.....how?

Someone said that the truth and depth of our repentance is shown by the depth of our remorse for all the ways we have failed Him and sinned against Him. I, like the apostle Paul, am so thankful that I'm forgiven, but I cannot lose sight of how black the record against me was. That's why I need to hear and sing this hymn again. I cannot forget how undeserving I was and yet, in His love, He came...for me. For you. How?

How could He accept me, and you? I don't know, but He will. We need to own our lostness and our need. We need to own our condition. He, not us, is "the Good Guy." The Good Guy offers us life....and pardon. Have you received it? Can you sing the hymn? If you never have.....please, PLEASE, do it now.

Blessings,
Pastor O