“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
God loved us ‘while we were still sinners.’ God loves us even though our lives are going in the opposite direction to what God wants us to go. When our relationship with God is formed, we often realize and experience such love of God. The beginning of salvation starts with meeting the God of love and forming a relationship with Him.
Even when I preach the gospel, I don't focus on changing the person's values or lifestyle. If we approach it that way, people will run away before they even get to meet God. Until we meet God, we have no power nor reason to change our lives in the way God says. Meeting God comes first. God also first loved sinners before pointing out sin to them.
God loved us ‘while we were still sinners.’ However, this does not mean that God approves of the direction of our sinful life. Otherwise God would not have used the word ‘sinner’. Love is not an unconditional acceptance. On the contrary, it is because of their love, that the parents can not accept certain behaviors of their children. If it's someone else's child, you probably don’t even need to care, but because they are your own, you try to correct them from their wrong direction in life. Because heading in the wrong direction will ultimately end up hurting themselves and their neighbors. God, who loves us even to death, is speaking to us about sin.
If we do not understand God's heart, we will have the wrong belief that the acceptance and love that we have received from God are evidence of God's acceptance that even the wrong direction of our life is not a sin. Such false beliefs can take root not only when we first believe in God, but also in the hearts of those who have believed in God for a long time. The fact that God still loves me doesn't mean that my life and values are all headed in the right direction. When we misunderstand this, us Christians sometimes create problems for the Christianity and the Church because of our wrong values.
We need to keep all our values and direction of life open for the Holy Spirit to touch and confirm again. When a relationship with God is formed and God the Holy Spirit enters our hearts, God the Holy Spirit begins the process of sanctification in our lives. Just as a parent nurtures a child, the Holy Spirit watches over the child's spiritual well being, and gradually raises and nurtures the child. We need to humbly kneel before the Words of God and open our hearts toward the God who loves us, to pray and check our values one by one. If we open our hearts, God the Holy Spirit will surely help us in this process.
Following the shepherd…
Pastor Jiwon Choi