Why Can't God Accept Me Just As I Am, Sin And All?
In a sense, He does take you just as you are, but some people present God with a proposition that is unworkable. They want to be joined to God and to not be joined to God. That can't work.
God takes you just as you are and makes you a new person. Some people are so rebellious that they don't want this free gift.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities [literal: not wanting to submit to God] have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you.
Being joined to God is an act of submission. No person has enough power to overcome his or her own rebelliousness. Since we didn't have power to do it on our own, God made a way. Iniquity is rebelliousness. God made a way to overcome that.
Some people want to get saved their own way. They reject God's great sacrifice in sending His only Son to lay down His deity for a while, humble Himself to take on human form, live a life in perfect submission to the Father never even once thinking His own thought, doing His own will, or speaking His own word, then suffering and dying the most cruel death imaginable on a cross. In the process, the Father laid every sin of every person on Jesus, and Jesus suffered the penalty for that sin. In this, the Father had to turn His back on Jesus for that time, which was the most painful thing imaginable for both the Father and the Son. There is no higher price, but it was the only way. Then, Jesus went into hell itself and preached the gospel to those there and led captivity still captive out of hell. After three days, Jesus overcame death, raising to life again. When Jesus resurrected, He gave five gifts to the church, which will bring about the final completion of what God has in mind. On Pentecost, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to lead and empower the church with power from on high.
Some people are so rebellious, so full of iniquity, that they even refuse God's free gift of salvation. Others are so rebellious that, after accepting the free gift of salvation, they reject the scriptural pattern for finishing the work.
You need to understand that sin is failing to attain to the glory of God.
Rebelliousness against God does separate you from God. Even after you are born again, a rebellious attitude is as the sin of witchcraft. It is an abomination. It will separate from God. Eventually, a person who is rebellious will turn to his or her own flesh, own self, for answers, and those answers will seem to be right but they will be wrong. They will seem to be helpful, but they will have a final result of destruction. They will seem righteous, but they will be shown to be self-righteous.
You can be one of those who is saved.
Click to understand how you can be born again?
Author/Compiler: Bob Stenson (unless otherwise noted)
Last updated: 2008-11-11 19:01:54
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