Truth Or Consequences
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9
There was a game show in the early days of television called Truth Or Consequences. Contestants had to answer questions correctly or face embarrassing consequences.
The Bible is a book of truth and consequences; it tells the truth about God and how to live. It also makes the consequences of ignoring God's teaching very clear. In the Bible, we read the stories of people who failed to obey God's guidelines and the tragic results of their failure to do so.
We also read that God provided a way for all of us to escape the inevitable consequences of sin. Jesus Christ, through His perfect life and sacrificial death, paid the price for our sin. He will not remove the consequences of wrongdoing here on earth, but He does forgive us and removes the eternal consequences of our sin.
The big question for your life is, "Will you believe the truth, or face the consequences?" The decision is yours.
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7 Comments
Confession is the vehicle that we use to receive forgiveness from God for our sins but many christians do not understand how this works. Some feel guilt all over again if they confess them, so to surpress these feelings they will not confess them to God. Some feel if they forget to name a particular sin then it will not be forgiven, this is why we christians need to help educate younger christians as to the benifits we have in Christ Jesus. Confession is supposed to free us to enjoy fellowship with Christ. He said if we were faithful to consess our sins he would be faithful to forgive them. I have found out that being a minister doesn't relieve me from sinning so to make sure ALL of my sins are forgiven I pray a blanket prayer for forgiveness because surely I would forget something if I tried to name them one by one. I just thank God that loves me enough to forgive me. God bless all. - Jerry
I can thank God that through accepting His son Jesus Christ that my life has changed so much and because of that I have avoided so many of the consequences in this life that I would have experienced. I pray that as many as possible will come to know Him to avoid so many of the train wrecks in their lives that you hear about every day that was a result of sin and was so avoidable. The wonderful thing is what Jerry talked about, that we can be forgiven for these sins if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and He will help us to turn around our lives if we LET Him that He will be faithful to do what He says in the Bible and will also remove the eternal consequences of our sin. God bless - Christ Follower
Some consequences will last an eternity. - Austin
Well, you're very right Austin. The devotion is talking about the eternal consequences of being separated from Him for eternity if we don't accept Christ, but there are consquences that God doesn't take away and does change our lives and the lives of others forever. One example is having a child out of wedlock. Even though it doesn't have to ruin anyone's life, it can certainly negatively affect the parent, child and even grandparents etc. It just isn't something that was ever a part of God's will, but like all sin can be forgiven and He can even use it eventually in some positive way if we turn it over to Him. - Christ Follower
Austin and Christ Follower, I agree. Those who reject God in this life will get their wish, which is eternal separation from God and his people. Let me throw this out for discussion to build on those comments. I am not one who believes that hell is a place where people burn. I hear others say that, but I don't think that scripture in light of scripture supports that, nor is it consistent with what we know about God from Scripture.
When Christians talk to non-believers about burning in hell, I think it drives them away from God. It makes them think that God is just itching to punish people who do not believe in Him with eternal, searing pain. I believe hell is eternal, and I believe it is God's final ratification of someone's choice in this life. They will live eternally apart from God with others who made that same choice. That will be an awful enough experience in itself. Any reference to fire in scripture is symbolic of God's judgement.
When the bible speaks of weeping and gnashing of teeth, the weeping is from those who were basically good, but for one reason or another, decided they did not want to have God as part of their life.This will be folks who have heard, and should have responded, but continually made excuses because God was too inconvenient for them or would cramp their lifestyle. They will finally realize what they have given up. People associate gnashing of teeth with pain, but that is actually how they described people in that culture who are bitterly angry. I see someone like Christopher Hitchins or Richard Dawkins gnashing their teeth in hell, just like they do today when they have to lower themselves to even discuss the possibility that there could be a God that they would have to answer to. - Rick Y
Ha! Rick Y - I love your Hitchens and Dawkins comment. That "Expelled" movie had Dawkins in it - he would rather believe in space aliens than admit there is a possibility that a God exists.
Anyway - I also don't believe that hell is going to be a place where people are burned forever. I think it will be more of a dark, completely empty place. Conversely, I don't think Heaven will be a perfect vacation. I think we will have work to do, things to learn, obsticles that God uses to help us grow, etc. The difference will be that we completely lean on and trust God for help. One thing I am sure of - it will be a whole lot better (Heaven) or a whole lot worse (Hell) than we can ever imagine right now. - Austin
I just wanted to say thank you for adding devotional prayer on a daily basis. I sure know that it will give me strength to face the bad times and rejoice in the good times.
We should all strive to live our lives trying to be the best human beings we can be by forgiving our neighbors and help those who have given up on life. Easier said than done.
God Bless - Vicki Knowles