He’s not judging you.
No wonder churches are empty. Who’d ever want to hang out with someone calling you a mess up all the time? But this is really what so many are brought to believe about God-that He’s up there with a critical eye, just waiting for us to disappointment Him, or rolling His eyes with each repetitive sin…”heeeere she goes again!” The absolute truth is that He loves us, but hates sin– not because He’s sick of us screwing up, but because sin not only holds us back from being who we were created to be, but it keeps us from being close to Him, which keeps us from being truly peaceful and content. Sin stands in the way of the perfect, loving relationship we’re meant to have with God, similar to a healthy happy marriage that’s meant to grow, last, and serve as a continual source of love and support for each other. God loves us too much to leave us in our own sin, which is why Jesus saved the adulterous woman from being stoned in John 8:11, but also tells her to “go, and sin no more.” We tend think of sin as the big commandment type of offenses like adultery, cheating, stealing and killing. But so many other sins like pride, gossip, jealousy and even worry, are really the big ones that bring us down and keep us enslaved to negativity and the weighty suffocation of “self.” Change and discipline often feel unpleasant and even painful in the moment, but God will never stop convicting us of wrongful thinking, behaviors and patterns for our own good. He doesn’t judge out of vindication; He’s trying to free us from sin and separation from Him-our only hope at lasting peace and joy.
