| Yesterday Afternoon's Bible Study |
"In the average year, firefighters respond to nearly a half-million structure fires. These range from homes to commercial buildings to barns. The job of a firefighter is to rescue people from fires and extinguish the fire from doing further damage. Often, fires are caused by human error--a dropped cigarette, a child playing with matches, a candle left burning overnight, and so forth.
When a firefighter rescues a family caught in a fire, there is much rejoicing when everyone has escaped. Even if the fire was started by somebody's mistake, that is not the focus at the time of rescue. The overwhelming peace that everyone is okay outweighs the reason why it started.
When God sent Jesus into the world, humanity was in a place where we were doomed. We needed a Savior. God didn't send Jesus down to make us aware of all of the fires we had started and to reprimand us--He came to rescue us. There is much rejoicing when someone is saved from the results of their sin. The focus then becomes knowing God and growing closer to Him. The focus is not on the wrongs of the past." |
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This can be difficult to understand because our human nature wants retribution. We do something wrong and we are punished to the extent of the law. But God operates differently. He is aware of everything we have done but still offers us His unconditional love.
The next time we have the urge to condemn others for the bad choices they have made, we should remember the pain that we have been spared and the grace we received … even when we were sinners.
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