Condemned or Accepted
Here in Stockholm I live in a multicultural community. This means that when I walk down to the mall near my house I do not hear a lot of Swedish being spoken. Even though I live in the Swedish capital city there are a lot of people groups that are represented here. In my community, I have heard it said that 40% of the people are from immigrant background.
Living in a multicultural community can add a lot of diversity to ones life. I could write all day long, I am sure, about the differences that I can find between the cultures that are represented in my neighborhood. But recently I have been thinking about one thing that all cultures seem to experience in the same proportion. The longer I live here on earth the more I realize that all of us deal with feelings of condemnation. In other words, all of us feel condemned at times. This seems to cut right across the different religions that are represented in my neighborhood too. Whether we call ourselves Christian, Muslim, Buddhist etc… we all struggle with the feeling that things are not what they should be and that we are not what we should be and because of that we are condemned by others, perhaps even our own family and, sad but true, also the God that we worship.
Just recently I had the most interesting conversation with a man I met in a Pub near my house. ...
We had been introduced through a common friend and when we started talking and he heard we were starting a new church in the community he shared with me his religious background and then opened up and told me how he felt that his parents were not happy with the life style he was living. His parents shared his religious faith but they did not like the life that he was living. As I listen to him talk he then went one step farther and shared with me how he also felt that the God he worshiped was also not pleased with him. In other words he felt condemned by both his family and his God.
The more I thought about the conversation the more I realize that this man is not alone. Maybe you also feel this feeling of condemnation as you are reading this blog. It is a nasty feeling and trust me you are not alone if you feel this way. I am sure there are many books and articles written about this feeling and many people walk around bound in the chains that this feeling can produce.
Now let me get back to the conversation I was telling you about. When this new acquaintance shared with me his feelings, I though about the book that I read that encourages me when I have these feelings myself. I asked him if I could read to him from this book and he said yes. So, if you don’t mind, I will do the same for you. I opened the Bible that day and read to him some verses that talk about the love of God. That’s right; I am talking about love and not condemnation. Listen to these verses in the Gospel of John chapter 3, verses 16 and 17,
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”
When I read these verses I begin to realize that those feelings of condemnation that I feel at times are not coming from God. It is clear in these verses that God is not condemning us; He is actually doing all He can to show us how much He loves and accepts us. Even though we don’t always feel accepted the Bible shows us that God loves us so much that He actually came down to earth as a man, took upon Himself the condemnation that we feel and took it to death when He died on the cross that day in our place. But it didn’t end that day! The Bible says that He then arose from the dead, and because of what He did for us that day, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
No Condemnation! I am accepted by God. I can’t speak for the family members that my friend was struggling with, but I do know that when we feel condemned it is easy to condemn others too. The “Good News” is that we don’t have to feel condemned any longer. God, the Creator of heaven and earth accepts us and does not condemn us. He is there right now telling us this. He is not condemning us; He is trying to get our attention to tell us that He accepts us and desires to have a relationship with us.
Here in Stockholm I live in a multicultural community. This means that when I walk down to the mall near my house I do not hear a lot of Swedish being spoken. Even though I live in the Swedish capital city there are a lot of people groups that are represented here. In my community, I have heard it said that 40% of the people are from immigrant background.
Living in a multicultural community can add a lot of diversity to ones life. I could write all day long, I am sure, about the differences that I can find between the cultures that are represented in my neighborhood. But recently I have been thinking about one thing that all cultures seem to experience in the same proportion. The longer I live here on earth the more I realize that all of us deal with feelings of condemnation. In other words, all of us feel condemned at times. This seems to cut right across the different religions that are represented in my neighborhood too. Whether we call ourselves Christian, Muslim, Buddhist etc… we all struggle with the feeling that things are not what they should be and that we are not what we should be and because of that we are condemned by others, perhaps even our own family and, sad but true, also the God that we worship.
Just recently I had the most interesting conversation with a man I met in a Pub near my house. ...
We had been introduced through a common friend and when we started talking and he heard we were starting a new church in the community he shared with me his religious background and then opened up and told me how he felt that his parents were not happy with the life style he was living. His parents shared his religious faith but they did not like the life that he was living. As I listen to him talk he then went one step farther and shared with me how he also felt that the God he worshiped was also not pleased with him. In other words he felt condemned by both his family and his God.
The more I thought about the conversation the more I realize that this man is not alone. Maybe you also feel this feeling of condemnation as you are reading this blog. It is a nasty feeling and trust me you are not alone if you feel this way. I am sure there are many books and articles written about this feeling and many people walk around bound in the chains that this feeling can produce.
Now let me get back to the conversation I was telling you about. When this new acquaintance shared with me his feelings, I though about the book that I read that encourages me when I have these feelings myself. I asked him if I could read to him from this book and he said yes. So, if you don’t mind, I will do the same for you. I opened the Bible that day and read to him some verses that talk about the love of God. That’s right; I am talking about love and not condemnation. Listen to these verses in the Gospel of John chapter 3, verses 16 and 17,
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”
When I read these verses I begin to realize that those feelings of condemnation that I feel at times are not coming from God. It is clear in these verses that God is not condemning us; He is actually doing all He can to show us how much He loves and accepts us. Even though we don’t always feel accepted the Bible shows us that God loves us so much that He actually came down to earth as a man, took upon Himself the condemnation that we feel and took it to death when He died on the cross that day in our place. But it didn’t end that day! The Bible says that He then arose from the dead, and because of what He did for us that day, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
No Condemnation! I am accepted by God. I can’t speak for the family members that my friend was struggling with, but I do know that when we feel condemned it is easy to condemn others too. The “Good News” is that we don’t have to feel condemned any longer. God, the Creator of heaven and earth accepts us and does not condemn us. He is there right now telling us this. He is not condemning us; He is trying to get our attention to tell us that He accepts us and desires to have a relationship with us.
posted by Forrest Hendrix @ 9:35 AM
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