You find out if you understand the gospel when you fail. Approach the throne of grace with confidence? Or go away to “clean yourself” before going back to God? If we don’t approach the throne of grace boldly after sinning, we don’t understand or we forgot the Gospel. Matt Chandler
Newsflash: you can't get clean enough before approaching God. You can't. So don't even try. Just go. And go BOLDLY. Hebrews 4:16 tells us we can. Actually Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us why we can go as dirty as we might be before God - because God gets it. He's experienced all that we have but stopped at the point of sinning. (He had to or else he couldn't be our Savior.) So he gets the temptations, the doubts and fears that lead us down roads we didn't think we would ever travel, the moment of insanity in which we do something that leads us down a spiraling staircase. He gets it and he doesn't condemn us for it...when we come to him. But we can't get clean enough before approaching him. You can't, I can't, clean up enough to stand before a Holy God. If we try then we don't understand what the gospel is all about, we don't understand God's grace and love for his children (that's us btw...), and we don't understand forgiveness. We don't understand that God is the only one who will be able to clean us up, he's our best shot at it. So why not just let him do what he wants to? Why not let him apply the best cleansing agent you'll ever come across? See, when we think we have to clean ourselves up some before coming to him we are operating out of pride, which actually means we need even more cleansing than we thought! We need to be cleansed of our pride as well. And don't misunderstand or re-define the words "boldly" or "confidence" (as some translations go back and forth between the two words). Neither one of those, at their true definitions, means cocky. In our culture we've kind of re-defined those two words to mean cocky or prideful. What they simply mean is that you have a certainty about what you are doing. So boldly or confidently approach God who sits on a throne of grace ready to cleanse you. Be certain about who He is and who you are to him. When you are certain you will be bold or confident in his abilities rather than your own. And that my friends leads to a whole lotta freedom!
Newsflash: you can't get clean enough before approaching God. You can't. So don't even try. Just go. And go BOLDLY. Hebrews 4:16 tells us we can. Actually Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us why we can go as dirty as we might be before God - because God gets it. He's experienced all that we have but stopped at the point of sinning. (He had to or else he couldn't be our Savior.) So he gets the temptations, the doubts and fears that lead us down roads we didn't think we would ever travel, the moment of insanity in which we do something that leads us down a spiraling staircase. He gets it and he doesn't condemn us for it...when we come to him. But we can't get clean enough before approaching him. You can't, I can't, clean up enough to stand before a Holy God. If we try then we don't understand what the gospel is all about, we don't understand God's grace and love for his children (that's us btw...), and we don't understand forgiveness. We don't understand that God is the only one who will be able to clean us up, he's our best shot at it. So why not just let him do what he wants to? Why not let him apply the best cleansing agent you'll ever come across? See, when we think we have to clean ourselves up some before coming to him we are operating out of pride, which actually means we need even more cleansing than we thought! We need to be cleansed of our pride as well. And don't misunderstand or re-define the words "boldly" or "confidence" (as some translations go back and forth between the two words). Neither one of those, at their true definitions, means cocky. In our culture we've kind of re-defined those two words to mean cocky or prideful. What they simply mean is that you have a certainty about what you are doing. So boldly or confidently approach God who sits on a throne of grace ready to cleanse you. Be certain about who He is and who you are to him. When you are certain you will be bold or confident in his abilities rather than your own. And that my friends leads to a whole lotta freedom!
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