Many use fear to persuade people to come to Christ. While there is a time and place for warning people about the consequences of rejecting the Lord, love IS the message of the gospel. God’s grace is amazing! 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17 NKJV      

When Jesus laid down His life for us, it was perfect love in action.

I became a Christian as a teenager, but still lived my life in fear. Even though I had accepted Jesus as my savior I constantly worried about whether or not I was ‘really saved’. I still feared that I would spend eternity in Hell. This fear based faith haunted me for years and I lived on a spiritual roller coaster.  

You see, you and I can never measure up to God’s standard of holiness. We can never BE good enough to earn our way into Heaven. The GOOD NEWS is God knows that. Jesus didn’t die because He wanted to condemn the lost to Hell. He died because He wanted to save them from it. Grace isn’t an excuse to keep living in sin, but Jesus died to provide continuous cleansing because He knows we can’t live a sinless life.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 NKJV  

I’ve never met a parent who said, “If that kid falls down again, I’m done! I’m never helping them up again.” Yet somehow we think God will throw in the towel if we fall. The truth is, God will pursue you until you take your last breath. He loves you with an everlasting, PERFECT love. When you sin, run to Him … not from Him. He has no desire to punish you. He wants to cleanse and restore you.