[The Gospel gift]- The Gospel

Chapter 3 starts out like this:

 How does God feel about you, right now? And how do you determine that?

   Well, first of all, let's think about the question. How does God feel about me? Well, I like to think he thinks of me as a poor struggling creature who needs his help, which partially, he probably does. But a lot of times, in general, during the week I measure God's feelings for me by what I do. For example, I feel like we're on an "okay" basis if I got everything done, did a great bible study, helped around the house and generally didn't think anything bad. Of course, there is no perfect day, but when I have a good day I think that it's again, "okay".
    On the other hand, when I have a bad day, when I'm impatient and procrostinating I feel God isn't as happy with me.
    I'm sure we all have a few of those instances, and so did the author. He goes on to say, "If I hadn't done a good job at being a real Christian, I felt pretty distant from God." When I feel distant from God, it's because I know I'm trying to hide something. Or I'm in such a bad mood I don't want to talk to God. That's when I feel distant. I like this example, because it happens to so many of us "When I came to church, I had no desire to life my soul up to God. I was pretty sure He didn't want to see me either. I could feel his displeasure---His lack of approval. That's because I didn't really understnad the gospel. Or, at least I had forgotten it.
    I think many of us feel that way and at least once have gone to church thinking God wasn't happy with us, or we weren't happy with him. I'm guilty. What I do, is I take my brain into this wonderful world with clouds and get this rock solid face on. I ignore my responsibility of worship and just think away the time. You know what? It just leaves me more upset, more angry, and more empty.
   I'm glad I'm not alone it in. NOW I understand that I've misunderstood the gospel. And what do I do at the bottom? Start moving up with the help of Christ.
   It goes on to talk about the gospel. I realized again that moment I was missing acceptance when I read, "When I receive that grace in repentance and faith, full acceptance becomes mine." For so long I haven't understand that I am accepted. I had to write it down, highlight, and read over to be comfortable with the idea. That's where pride and despair had taken me. In the book, he mentions Christ's sacrifice, and the wonderful event of Calvary. He goes on to say, "That means that God could not love me any more than He does rightnow, because God could not love and accept Christ any more than He does, and God sees me as Christ."
    I encourage you to take that in, especially the last part. Because of what Christ did on Calvary, God see's us as Christ. Many of you know this, but have truly accepted it? I didn't at first, but I'm beginning to. It's such a wonderful thing that we can't even comprehend it.
   I'll close with this: "Right now, if you are in Christ, when God looks at you --regardless of your situation--He sees the righteousness of Christ. If we really believed that -- not only with our heads but also with our hearts-- it would change everything in our lives."

   In Christ there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes You love me less.-JD Greear

 ~Hannah

[The Gospel Prayer]- The Gospel

   This next part of the series is on what JD Greear has named the Gospel Prayer. I want to note that in the text he clearly explained this is not any kind of incantation that will bring you favor with God, and it also not trying to replace the Lord's Prayer. He says, This prayer is simply a tool to help you train your mind in the patterns of the gospel. The point is not the prayer; the point is thinking in line with the gospel.

    With that said, it's a wonderful prayer. It's really helped me, and what I like about it, is that it's steps. For me, steps are very helpful.
    Now he goes in depth by chapter on these four parts, but I'm mentioning them now for familiarity reasons. Also, it's something great to have even if you hear it 100 times. The first part is something I've been quoting at the bottom of my posts. It's just so beautiful!

     The first two parts lead us inward, helping us to renew our minds in God's acceptance of us and the value of that acceptance to us.
     1. "In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes You love me less."

     2. "Your presence and approval are all I need for everlasting joy."
 
     Part 3 of the prayers has us consider what responding to the grace of the gospel looks like. Understanding God's generosity toward us should lead us to radical generosity toward others.

   3. "As You have been to me, so I will be to others."

   Part 4 of the prayer helps us see our world through the lens of the gospel and moves us to audaious faith. If the cross really does reveal God's compassion for sinners and the resurrection reveals His power to save them, then our prayers on their behalf should be audacious and bold:
 
   4. "As I pray, I'll measure Your compassion by the cross and Your power by the resurrection."

   Woah. How wonderful. When I first read this, it washed over me. Then I started to think about it, and now I'm still thinking about it. I'm concentrating on the first step right now, because I know that I really have to believe it move on. Believing may seem the easiest, but everyone has seeds of doubt. Until we crush those we cannot move on.
    JD Greear ended the chapter saying, "I've prayed this prayer every day now for the last few years. You know what? It's finally starting to sink in."
    It may take time, it is a process but in the end we will be filled with the joy of Jesus when we have faith in him. I encourage you to read the prayer and access how it applies to you. It really helped me.
 
    In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes You love me less. -JD Greear

~Hannah
     

    

[why religious change doesn't work-part3] -The Gospel

  JD Greear makes great points here. I really hope you can soak them up. While point 2 really got to me, point 3 makes a good contender along with point one :)

   Why Religious Change doesn't work:
  
   #3. The insecurity of always wondering if we've done enough to be accepted causes resentment of God, not love for Him.

    As martin Luther, the great Reformer, noted about himself, my fear of God's judgement was producing a hatred for Him that was driving my heart father and farther away from Him, even if my actions looked, on the surface, more godly.

  I think every Christian in this world can connect with this one. Again, it's so powerful!
  I think all people in this world wonder, to whatever God they have, if they've 'done enough'. So many search for a purpose in this world. For some it's 'have I done my family name justice' or 'have I done America justice with my actions' and 'have I done enough to be happy with myself.' With Christians a lot of the times its 'have I done enough to make God content or happy'. Theres no shame in admitting that sin. We all have that insecurity. We're all, you could say, exposed that mind set. I love the point he makes. That feeling that makes you resent God. To the human brain we want to say, rather 'we long for God, and we're said we can't get him.' No, we resent God. That's the root of it all. We just resent him for it. We're angry, as silly as it may sound, that we're not in charge of the world, and therefore we don't like whoever is in charge.
  Some may say, 'okay that make sense...now what?' Well, like any other insecurity what do you do? Will sitting in Church overcome your insecurity of God's authority? No. We need to change. How do we change? We beg God to change us, because CHANGE only happens we find ourselves loving and resting in God. That's because True love for God cannot from when we are unsure about His feelings for us. We cannot fully love God if we don't know He loves us. Love came into the world, because he loved us first, AFTER Christ, we loved him back. So we have to KNOW he loves us. It sounds simple, but it's so hard. We cannot fully grasp his love for us, but we can get to a managable level with the help of Christ. I'm telling you, I was bothered with this for a long time. I just didn't understand his love, which was stopping my love for him.
    When our salvation depends upon our righteous behavior, our righteousness will be driven by a desire to elevate ourselves in the eyes of God. This is not love for God; it's self protection.  
    It's hard not to want to elevate yourselves in the eyes of God. I have problems with that too. And it just stings to know that I've been building this massive structure of self-protection. I mean, it's what I've been doing this whole time! Only NOW do I actually understand.
   I'll end with this quote which is so richly beautiful. Really think about it, and really grasp it.
   The gospel reawakens us to the beauty of God and overwhelms us with mercy. Our behavior changes because we change. Until that happens, all religious changes will be superficial. Even if you force yourslef to act right, you heart will be going in the other direction. This is the doctrine of total depravity.
 
   In Christ there is nothing I can do that would make you love me more, and nothing I have done that makes you love me less -JD Greear


~Hannah
   

[why religious change doesn't work-part 2] -The Gospel

  Point two was the point that convicted me the most. For me it was like 'Hallelujah, someone in this world actually knows what I'm feeling.' That's no exaggeration.

Why religious change doesn't work:

 #2. When our acceptance is based on our performance, we exacerbate two root sins in our heart: pride and fear.

   The exposure of our nakedness implanted in us a deep sense of fear. We sensed that we were not acceptable as we were (which is true), so we felt driven to do something to make ourselves more acceptable to God. But whatever we think makes us better than others, we feel proud about, and that leads us to more sin.

   Over reading repentance and The Gospel, I've noticed a lot of sin in my life. Before, honestly, I didn't think I was a very prideful person. I've known people who had major pride issues they've admitted to, and I just never thought, 'Oh I'm prideful.' You know how everyone feels like they have this ONE GREAT sin that needs work on. They're sorry for it, they know they are wrong, they want to change. On the otherside are these little foot sins that just there, and we repent of them occastionaly but they are The One Big Sin. That's how I've thought for a long time. Believe me when I tell you, I never thought my big sin was pride. I still don't like to think that, but I know I'm in self-denial. Pride is a huge sin. And it was there and as the quote said, it just led me to 1 million foot sins. I've tried very hard to get approval and for a sinner I'm pretty good. But I've never been satisfied. All this time I was thinking: What do I do? I mean I'm following the steps. I have to realize my sin, repent and blah blah. But nothing was happening. I just felt worse and worse, because I  realized that it was the approval that I was trying to gain just wasn't coming.
 Of course, on the other hand, when we don't feel like we measure up to others, we despair. I realized then and there that I was in a hole of despair. I had all this sin. That moment it was almost awkward because I was so happy that I figured out that I was in despair. I was focusing so much on my sin, and trying to win back approval, I was missing everything.
   This quote was finished the job: While performance-based acceptance thrusts us into a cycle of pride and despair, acceptance by God's grace produces the exactly opposite fruits. The assurance of God's presence and approval takes away our sense of nakedness and our craving of their approval.
   Eureka! I found it! I finally knew that what I was missing was assurance. It's good to realize sin, but it will KILL you without grace. I didn't know the extent of God assurance of grace. And that was just a wonderful thing.
   So I encourage you, don't let yourself rest in your performance. I promise you, you will despair if you do so. We just need to sit back and bask in grace, because without grace there is no joy to be found. The Lord is a God of Wrath, but his grace is enough to wash that away so that we can have an intimate relationship with him.

   In Christ there is nothing I can do that makes You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes you love me less- JD Greear

  ~Hannah

[why religious change doesn't work- part 1] -The Gospel

    Here is the brunt of chapter one. It comes in three parts, and I figured I'll do them each separately.
    Blue Parts taken from -The Gospel by JD Greear.
   
    Why Religious Change Doesn't Work:

   #1. Religious activites fail to address the "root" idolatries that drive our sin.
         At its root, our sins are driven by the fact that we desire something more than we desire God. Religious change targets the acts of sin without addressing the idolatry that prompted that sin in the first place.

    Let's think about that. First, Idolatry is the root of all of it. NOW: Religious activies. Let's name a few: Church, Youth Group, Seminars, Small Group, Fellowship, Communion, Baptism. These are all religious activies. PLEASE understand, these are no BAD things. These are very good things we are commanded to do. With that said, we can't look at them as ACTS. Your sin nature will want to do that. If you get baptized, that doesn't mean all your idols go away. If you take communion, that doesn't mean your really worshipping, in fact, your mind could be wandering. Going to youth group won't protect you from idols. A week ago I would have said 'Seminars, Church, Youth Group, and fellowship with believers can address the root of your idols.' No. Here what they do: they open up the door for you. If the door is open, does that mean I have to go in it? No. Which leads to this conclusion: Only God can address the root of your idols.
     So, then, what is True Religion? True Religion is when you serve God to get nothing else but more of God.
    This takes a lot of work, and may seem impossible. It still does sometime. We want to want more of God, but sometimes we just don't see how. I mean, if I told you to bite your finger off, you probably couldn't, even if you were facing death. So it is simple: We must strive to want God. It's going to take hard work and pain, but thats what Jesus did for us. Yes, it's easier said than done. REMEMBER: with Christ, all things are possible. He promised us that.

    In Christ there is nothing I can do that make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes you love me less. -JD Greear

~Hannah

[Functional Saviors]- The Gospel

   Functional Saviors might sound confusing at first. We understand Functional God's kind of immediately. Functional Saviors, on the other hand, is like what? A Functional Savior is a lot like a Functional god. They both take away something and replace it with God. Personally, funtional savior is more discreate. Rather, its harder to notice than a blatant idol thats out there.
   JD Greear starts this section with Adam and Eve. He says, "The first sensation Adam and Eve had after the thrill of eating the forbidden fruit was the sense of their own nakedness..........The early church fathers (guys like Gregory of Nazianzus and Athanasius) explained that prior to their sin Adam and Even had been clothed in the love and acceptance of God........So what did Adam and Eve do about that sense of nakedness?..........They made themselves "coverings of fig leaves" and hid from God. Their clothes mad them feel more acceptable..........We have all been on the same quest ever since. We try to cover the shame of our nakedness by establishing our worthiness in some way."
   Don't you agree? We have been trying to cover our mistakes ever since! WE are using THINGS to make us feel worthy so that people might forget what we really are. Remember, God never forgets, and He is never in the dark. He knows everything. Yet still, as sinners, we tend to think he doesn't so we are okay living normally.
   Here's some quick examples of functional saviors. "....:we're smarter; we got into a certain kind of school; we have a good job and make lots of money; we're a good parent; we're more faithful in our religion than others." These are just precious few that he names. But listen, this goes on naturally in our heads. I think deep down if everyone really looks, there is a sense of this inside them. We just feel such pride in our accomplishments we forget our helplessness. I know I'm in the guilty party. I can recount hundreds of times when I saw someone, I was jealous, and I said 'well I can do this, and they can't' I'm sure we all do that sometimes. But thats just a functional savior that takes the place of our own unworthiness.
   I like the point he made here, "For most of us, life is like one big Survivor episode where we are trying to convince God and everyone else why we are not the ones who should be thrown of the island. The things we use to esablish our worthiness, can be called "functional saviors"."
   As sinners, we want to see ourselves as a success. Functional saviors just add to that. Functional saviors can also be looked at as pride. We never want to be at the bottom. As long as there is someone lower, we're okay.
   With God, we don't need to establish our worthiness. That's what Christ did, and to rob Christ of that glory is a horrible tradgey. We can be worthy WITH Christ. So let us not have functional saviors. Let Christ be our ONLY savior as he truly deserves. When we KNOW that we are worthy before God IN CHRIST we will have a rest from this functional gods and functional saviors.

   In Christ there is nothing I can do that could make you love me more, and nothing I have done that makes you love me less- JD Greear


   ~Hannah

[Functional gods] -The Gospel

   Functional gods aren't normally a term we use for idols, but they are one and the same. Functional gods makes us sound like heathens who worship dolls, rather than just people with idols. STOP! That's it. #1} We are heathens and we worship things that might as well be dolls. { This is not a fun truth to come by. It kind of unsettling if you really thing about it. But really, what do you value? I mean do you value your life? Your life is a good example of an idol, at least for me. I tend to think of what makes me happy, what is the easy route (especially in school), what happens when I die, what I will do tomorrow. THATS life. That can be an easy idol. And whats the difference between life and a doll to God? I mean we are putting both before him. It's like rocks or snakes? Are snakes worse because they are alive? NO. They are both shameful in the eyes of the Maker of Heaven and Earth.
   Another example, "You worship whatever it is you deem most essential for life and happiness." That is taking out life, and bringing someother kind of rock. What do you think is most essential to life? Your RELIGION? Your FAMILY?Your JOB? Your MONEY? These are the common ones, but there are many more. We can't have anything but God be the rock of our life. We have to fully worship him ALL the time. It's easier said then done, I understand. But why not start the process now? Why wait?
    "When something becomes so important to you that it drives your behavior and commands your emotions, you are worshipping it." Whew. Big blow. We generally don't like to say we worship our idols. More like, 'we really enjoy them, in a wrong way and we're changing' kind of ending that with in an upbeat. BUT, obviously we DO WORSHIP idols and we are ashamed of admitting it. I love his point here when he says, "The Hebrew word for 'glory' (kabod) literally means 'weight'." If there was a scale or your life, one side was God, and the other was idols, which one would be heavier? I am horrified to admit, for me it would be idols. My scale would be a no brainer. I'm sure most peoples would. That is something that we are allowed to have sorrow for. I encourage you to look at your 'scale' today and measure it honestly. Do idols weigh more than God? Let us repent today of our wickedness, and our bowing down and worshiping idols. The Repentant People will not be ignored by God.
    AND guess what? HIS GRACE is enough. Amen? Grace plunges the other side of that scale and than we are whole again in Christ. But let's not get grace and than tumble down and than get grace and tumble down. Let us rest in his grace and grow in Him.

    "In Christ, there is nothing I can do that could make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes you love me less." -JD Greear

~Hannah

[Mechanical change] -The Gospel

    "By works" is probably a phrase a lot of Christians are familiar with. It can be interpreted in two ways. First, the bad way. Meaning, works do get you to heaven, which they most certainly don't.  Second, faith and works go together. By having a healthy inner relationship with God, you'll have a very different outward appearance, and part of that will be what you do.
    Chapter two is all about how religion doesn't work. You have to be a gospel centered follower of Christ, NOT a religious person of works. When I first saw this chapter, I was like 'here we go again.' This concept is very familiar among all of us. Natuarally we all just pair God with works, it's just what we do. But becoming more firm in faith, means separating those two completely. Truly this is a hard task, and I hope we can all find it challenging. Let's not just slide by this one, because honestly, it's more in you than you know.
     "Religion pours it on. It gives you a lot of stuff "to do" : Bibles studies to go to; new habits to add to your life; things to say and not to say, etc. That's what some have have called "mechanical" change."
      I don't know if this one is an easy one for you or not. But I find myself, MOST of the time, finding things to add to my life to make me more acceptable to God. Kind of like serving Grandma, helping with the kids, praying everyday. These are all good things, but I am no more acceptable to God than I was yesterday.  We just look at it as a responsibility. Its just what I do, it's routine. We tend to think that mechanical changes can earn us favor, or make us 'better' people. But Mechanical changes just turn us into robots. Without the gospel, we are no better unrepentant sinners.
     This is what the author says to mechanical changes, "The problem with mechanical changes is that they quickly become wearisome to you. That's not to say you shouldn't ever do things when you don't want want to do, just that if the extent of your Christianity is achieving the right behavioral standard, you are setting yourslef up for diaster. You are laying religion onto a heart that loves other things. And, whether you ever articulate it or not, you will resent God for holding you captive to do stuff you wouldn't otherwise be doing if He weren't threatening damnation." I underline this, because if I was speaking, I'd probably read this over two or three times. REALLY this is such a powerful statement if should blow us all away. WE are naturally set to do what we're told. We read the bible like a list of chores and we think if we get them all done God will be happy and we will be happy. But it's so true that half of the things we do, are because we are threatened with damnation. You think about that. Would I really be doing what I was doing today if there was no such thing as hell? Hmm. The honest answer is no. We would all have different agendas, thats just how it goes. That's why we ARE sinners.  BUT we can change, with the sacrifice of Christ.  We CAN love God. That's the only way to escape mechanical change is to TRULY LOVE God to the BEST of your ability. When you do that, you will not even think of hell, but of the coming Jesus Christ.
     
     "In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes You love me less" -JD Greear.

    ~Hannah

[nothing but the Love of God] -The Gospel

   No one would want to be loved out of obligation. I think that's how everyone feels. You wouldn't want your husband to love you just because if he didn't you'd kill him. You wouldn't want your kids to love you just because if they didn't you'd punish them.
    "Somehow we think God is different, as if he is pleased when we serve Him because we're required to. He's not."
    Think about that.
    My opinion is that a lot of us unknowingly do this. Why? Because I can't stress this enough, we are natrually works orientined. Example, what about helping at church? What if we are all required to help in the kitchen, and we do it, and its our good deed for the week? It doesn't count! What about if e commit to reading our bibles every day, but sometimes we're just not feeling it. Is he pleased we read our bible? If not out of love for him, Nope! You see everything we do must be wired to the love of God or it is worthless. 
    "Yet, Paul says, spiritual giftedness, doctrinal mastery, audacious faith, and radical obedience DO NOT EQUAL the only thing that actually matters to God--love for Him. Without love even the most radical devotion to God is of no value to him."
     Wow. Let's look at that list. Spiritual gifts. Thats tricky. Our preaching gifts, our love for others, our compassion and mercy, without love for God, it doesn't mean anything. Our reading of the bible, our delving in to the word, our commitment to the bible, without love for God, it doesn't mean anything. Our going and telling the world about Christ, our willing to be a martyr, our confidince in him, without the love of God, it doesn't mean anything. And lastly, our willingless to follow him and whatever he commands, without the love of God, it doesn't mean anything.
     The only thing that matters to God, is that you love him. And that everything you do stems out of your love for him. Looking at this we can see we fail! So remember we cannot think that ANYTHING we do, pleases God, unless we do it out of love for him.
      This is where the gospel comes in, the book says. "The gospel, and the gospel alone has the power to produce the love of God in the heart."
       Its the truth. You need the gospel to give you the love of God.
      "Thus, if you are not where you should be spiritually, the answer is not simply to get busier for Jesus." I really like this statement because again, me and my behavior, pops up in my mind here. I think to myself. "Hey, wait. When I feel like I'm not doing well spiritually I do something. I get busier for Jesus." Why do I do that? Because I am a sinner. And naturally I think that if I did one tiny extra thing, I will be a smigon forgiven.
      
   I'll close with this long paragraph. Make sure you read it carefully. It is encouraging, and warning. Its good to know.
    "Always 'begin again' with the gospel. Abid in it; swim in it; make your home in it. See more and more of your life through it. Be absolutely convinced at every moment of every day of the goodness of God in your life. Thats the only way youll every really grow...........Obedience that does not flow from love ends up being drudergy-both to us and to God. The gospel turns that drudgery into delight. It changes us from being slaves who have to obey God to sons and daughters who want to obey God. Again, God is not just after obedience; He's after a whole new kind of obedience---an obedience that is filled with desire.

      "In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make you love me more, and nothing I have done that could make you love me less." -JD Greear
      ~Hannah

[spiritual growth] -The Gospel

   That last post was amazing for me to share. If your read it, kudos to you. I really spoke to me, and now I'm all excited to continue sharing about my discoveries in the book The Gospel by JD Greear.
  The next topic was spiritual growth. This guy just doesn't give you a rest, which is a wonderful thing. Beauty/conviction to Beauty/Conviction. Whew. Amazing.
   Well as I said, I had a good length of time where I was spritual"discipline equals works, and so I was figuring out that I was failing. I was doing everything 'right' it seemed but I wasn't growing spiritually. My life wasn't looking any better than it did yesterday, even if I did learn how to love God. Which I warn you is a practice. It doesn't just appear.
    I was wondering. Have you ever felt that? Have you ever hit a point in your life where you just said to yourself "I don't feel like I'm growing spritually?" A lot of people do hit this point in their life. I did. Again, my humanistic brain told me that if I learn more about God, perhaps listen to the message, or um, read the bible, then I'd grow spiritually. Nope! I'm sure you've found the same.
    So how do you grow spiritually.

    The book said this, and I believe it.  "Abiding in Jesus."
     Deep, right? If I just left it there, we'd probably say, "Yep, heard that one before." and keep looking for another different answer, as Christians often do. Well. The book went into an explanation of abiding in Jesus, and I think we should to. This really touched me, because I was seeing myself in everything I outlines, not half of it good, and realizing I was SO WORK ORIENTED. My gulay it was bad.
    [the word for abide is meno in the greek] "The Greek word Meno means literally 'to make your home in'. When we 'make our home' in His Love -feeling it, saturating ourselves with it, reflecting on it, standing in awe of it- spiritual fruit naturally begins to spring up like rose bushes."
    So when we focus on God's love for us and appreciate his lovlieness, spiritual fruits will come. You see? Spiritual fruits -love, joy, peace, patience, etc.- CAN'T BE GOTTEN. THE CAN'T BE EXCERSISED by TRYING. No, if you want spiritual fruits, you have to appreciate God's love. Not eat less chocolate, not spending time with the family, not waiting patiently for your turn. Thats NOT spritual fruits. It's NOT TRUE FRUITS. Only by loving God will your life produce REAL Fruit.
"To see spritiual fruits in your life, don't focus primarily on the fruit." This is the first part to a two part statement. This really Got me. THE WHOLE TIME I WAS FOCUSED ON THE FRUIT. In my head I was keeping tally marks. Was I patient, was I self-controlled, was I loving. This lead me to ultimate despair. Why? BECAUSE I'm human! I FAIL! Big surprise there. I kept focusing on how I WASN'T getting the big numbers, and it just bothered me.
  "Focus on Jesus acceptance of you, given as a gift to you." There is the second part. Now this. THIS was alien to me. I hadn't heard that one to much. The sermons and messages I'd heard was about repentance and becoming broken WHICH IS WONDERFUL. But I needed this. I needed to know Jesus accepted me. This statement out of context might have upset me, especially awhile back. Why? Because I believe that a person needs to realize repentance and sorrow before gaining acceptance. I'll tell you a fear about this statement that I have. I fear that if I take this statement to seriously, I'll end up with the catergory of people who thought they were going to heaven and didn't. Because if you never repent, never feel sorry, and focus only on acceptance, you so easily will forget the God of Wrath in the old Testament. Thats what I'm afraid of. So thats just something to think about.
   YET, all that said, I realize a lot of people, including me need to know the acceptance of God. Maybe your out there repenting of your sins, you don't know how to love God, you don't know why your life isn't producing spiritual growth, and you've just hit a wall of despair. That was me. But there IS HOPE. I found so many answers in this book. I've found so many answers in the bible.
  God is listening to your pleas. Ask him to bring you a book, whether is beautiful hand written one, or a tool that helps, such as this book. He his faithful to his children. He accepts them.

   "In Christ there is nothing I could do to make you love more, and nothing I have done that could make you love me less." -JD Greear
    ~Hannah