Another response to an online forum post.

Yep there is an interesting paradox at work here and Paul does a good job of getting at it.

I think this is the big difference between what I promote and the prosperity preachers everyone is so angry with.

I do acknowledge that we need to be aware of the blackness of our deeds before coming to Christ and how far we fall short of perfect with our best efforts. It is possible to become so wrapped up in the Grace of God that we take it for granted. There is an overwhelming joy at being released from our sins and those who are released from more and worse are all the more joyous. Also the suffering of Christ on our behalf is a beautiful testament to the Love God has for us. He didn't "just get over it" he paid for it out of his own blood and suffering. All this is true and important.

I tend to focus on the opposite problem because that's the one I see more often in modern Christianity. We get so wrapped up in our own failings that we forget to embrace the freedom Christ died to provide. The degree to which we hate ourselves is the degree to which we can't embrace the love of Christ.

Our God is so big that we live in a constant state of paradox. We are prisoners set free who choose to become slaves to God, which is the only way to remain free. We serve in order to lead, we must die in order to truly live. We must hate our lives to come to Christ who died to give us life abundant. We grow more Christ-like everyday even as we rot inside our physical bodies. We don't ever have to sin again and yet we know we will--still there is grace.

You can't feed this religion into a computer and make any sense of it, but when God speaks it all makes perfect sense. We can't confuse unworthiness with being worthless. What man or woman is truly worthy of the love your spouse gives you, much less God? Do we really deserve to receive gifts at Christmas or our birthdays? These things are given because to the person who gave them you are worth it. So while we are completely unworthy of salvation, especially at the cost of God's only son, because God provided salvation at the cost of his son that says we are worth it.

So we have to be careful not to engage in unbelief. Not the kind of unbelief that says there is no God, but the kind that says my sins are so black Christ didn't really die for all of them. We have to accept that we are loved beyond comprehension in order to fully embrace salvation. Its not enough to say God restored me to Him because he is good, we must believe that God wanted to do it because He loves us. When God feels his love radiating back at him its not complete without you, specifically you.

It's amazing how hard it is to say that though and not get called a prosperity preacher. Well so be it.

A. R. Bunch