Encore Post: So, does God hate me and you? He has plenty of reasons to do so. When God made the world, it was perfect, without sin, evil, sickness or death. He made us, male and female in his image (Genesis 1:26). He blessed us and called all He made “very good” (Genesis 1:31) But our first parents, Adam and Eve, believed the lie of Satan that they could become more like God by disobeying His command. (Genesis 3:4-6) This first sin (Original Sin), brought sin, sorrow, grief and death into the world. Since then, all men and women descended from them, including us, have been born as sinners. From the moment we were conceived in our mother’s womb, our every thought has been polluted by sin and evil. (Genesis 6:5, Genesis 8:21, Matthew 15:19) So, God has every right to hate us.
Thank God that He is a gracious and merciful God (Psalm 103:8). In fact, St. Paul tells us that God loved us before He made the world. He picked us out to be made holy (Sanctified) and blameless (Justified) and rigged events so that we might be adopted as His sons through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (Predestination).(Ephesians 1:3-6) So, God does not hate His children. He has always loved us. This attitude towards us is what we mean by the word: Grace. God is gracious to us because His Son was born of the Virgin Mary at just the right time in history, lived a perfect life for our sake, suffered, died on the Cross for the forgiveness of sins, rose again from the dead (Resurrection) and Ascended into Heaven so that we might live with Him forever. (Eternal Life)
So, grace is not some kind of substance that is given to us a little bit at a time or some kind of magical power that gives us a do-over. It is that God loves us and is bound and determined to save us — and does.
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Encore Post says: “From the moment we were conceived in our mother’s womb, our every thought has been polluted by sin and evil.”
Adam and Eve were created without sin. All people are created in God’s Image. Adam and Eve did not sin until they ate from the tree God had told them not to eat. The fetus, in the mothers womb, hasn’t a viable brain until given the breath of life outside of the womb.
With sin, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. With birth, the child joins a sinful world that only by God’s grace and mercy will Live eternally in a Heavenly Home. Baptism assures that Home for all humans to know and witness to others. Along the journey of life at every corner and challenge, the Lord’s Supper confirms this Truth from God’s Word for believing sinners.
Joining with worshipers in sacred worship communicates this truth to each other; the neighborhood; and to the world. Like all of God’s truths, once spoken it does not receive an expiration date or time. Termination of truth is when the sinner rejects the truth that can be communicated by word; or by deed; or to self in personal thought.
The Rock of faith, in the truth of the Triune God’s Word, when firmly held lasts eternally. Yes, the Bible tells me so and the voice of the Holy Spirit that lives inside every soul assures the believer’s heart of this truth.
God goes with you in all your ways. Hold fast to God’s Truth.
International WORLD TRUTH DAY is the Third Sunday of August