You’re about to read a ‘simple’ question I asked God and then sent to my pastor, Adeolu Akinyemi, to glean his thoughts. His response follows after. I realise later that this question of mine is what plays in the head of many people, but have not quite given words to. I’m happy to be used of God to get those thoughts out. If they resonate with you, then you’ll learn from it and definitely from my pastor’s response.
After my quiet time on 3rd October, 2019
Lord, can I be honest with you?
I don’t get this part of the Bible (or is it people’s interpretation of it?) that tries to convince me that I was a very bad person before I met Christ. I can’t relate🙃.
I mean, I grew up in church and did pretty much any silly thing that most kids did. I lied; I took what wasn’t mine; I coveted my neighbour’s things; I hated people who offended me; I was proud; I fought at football⚽️; I jumped the fence to pick my ball and cursed the neighbour (in my heart) when he tried to stop me; I daydreamt about girls; I tried to use church/pulpit as a place to claim status & self-worth. I did many more things that I can’t remember.
These things are bad – I admit. But am I supposed to feel really bad about them? Every child did these in my time. Some did worse. I can understand if Jesus died to save those ones. But my sins don’t stare me in the face as David said in Psalm 51. I wish they would. I wish to feel the depth of my foolishness🙈.
I remember once in my teenage years, I wanted to actually feel like I had been a bad guy, so that Jesus’ death for my sins would really mean something. I thought I should strike out and go ahead and let myself do anything I imagine sinful! But I couldn’t. That thought alone was sinful – my imaginings were selfish and I repented.
I know that we were all conceived in sin. Adam and Eve birthed us into a matrix of evil hearts thus needing the New Adam (Jesus) to make us reborn.
What do I do when, in my witnessing journey, I meet someone like me who’s convinced that he wasn’t a sinner so what’s the essence of Christ’s death for him? Am I supposed to convince the person of guilt? Is that what the Gospel is about? Guilt-tripping?
My Pastor’s Response:
You were not conceived in sin… or maybe you were, you may need to ask your mum… I think David asked His mum 😋, and it was probably quite personal.
Did you read Paul’s testimony? He was a faithful devout of his faith. Sin is not doing bad things, our major sin is unbelief. John 16 identifies what the Holy Spirit will do in making it clear what sin is, where righteousness comes from and what judgement is really about.
Our sin is thinking that anything we did or do can get us right with God, our evil works are as much filthy rags as our good conduct.
Repentance is not necessarily going from bad to good, it is about going from flesh to spirit. It’s about changing our minds.
The message is about showing the offer of Jesus, his life and his message. The Holy Spirit does the inner parts of connecting that story with their story in ways that only he could have been preparing them for.
Being saved is A, being discipled is B-Z. When we engage people, it’s about locating where they are in the journey and helping them further.
Hope this connects 🙏.
