Are you a sinner? Do you need Jesus? I am a sinner and I most certainly do need Jesus. Often we’d like to skip the reality of being sinners. We’d like to escape from all the ugly stuff in life and live in a la-la land. But it doesn’t work. No matter how much we try to forget our sinfulness, it does not go away on its own.

There really is no way around it: we are all sinners and we all need Jesus. Because only the blood of Jesus can save us. So, yes, we truly do need Jesus. Our lives depend on God’s grace.

This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:22-24, NIV)

The text proclaims grace but if we do not know what we are freed from we really don’t value grace. We need to look at the mirror and see what we are. We are sinners in serious need of grace. We can’t save ourselves. We can’t be made right with God on our own. But if we confess our sins and repent, we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Even then we still are sinners but now we are also forgiven. We are forgiven sinners. We always need to keep these two words together. If we focus on being sinners, we might get desperate. If we focus on being forgiven, we might lean on misusing grace.

It’s also good to remember that when we are forgiven from something, we are also forgiven for something. Through grace we are made right with God. But that’s not the end of it. We are not free to do whatever we like. Through grace we are instead empowered for living in grace. And that does not mean sitting on our hands.

Repenting is not just feeling sorry for our sins but taking action – by God’s grace – for the right direction. We are freed for becoming God’s change-agents in this world. We are sent to love and serve in radical ways.

Do you dare to ask God what this means in your life? Go right ahead. Being in God’s will is the safest place in the world. You will never be short-changed. The more we love, the more love we receive. The more grace we extend, the more grace we receive.

 

Gracious God,
Forgive our sins, our prideful ways.
Come and live in our hearts.
Thank you for the joy of salvation!
Empower us to live in your grace.
Equip us to love and serve you.
Dwell in us every day of our lives.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Do you need Jesus?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you are freed from your sins and for radical life in Jesus!

Image design by Mari-Anna Stålnacke. This post is refurbished from 2011. Linking up today with Unite the Bloggersphere and #tellhisstory.