Nobody’s perfect, right? Right. But don’t think this is a throwaway line, an excuse for the wrong stuff we do. The fact is, we’re all guilty. We’ve offended God and deserve judgment. We can’t pay our own penalty. Thankfully, God has provided the remedy. Jesus himself paid our penalty, so he can forgive us, if we simply believe him enough to ask.

Well, recently I began wondering why we humans so often resist God’s free offer of forgiveness. The trouble is, guilt doesn’t feel good. Because guilt feels bad, we jump to the conclusion it is bad. So we rationalize… go into denial. “There are worse people,” we say.

We also assume God doesn’t have our best interests at heart. If he tells us we goofed, we may react as if he’s fighting against us.

I remember when God kept telling me I needed forgiveness. At that time, was he fighting against me? No, he was in the process of rescuing me. I was a captive to the enemy of my soul. To Satan.

God was fighting my captor.

You’d think I would I jump at the chance to be rescued from destruction. So, why did I resist for so long? Well, Satan would do anything, tell any lie, to keep me from accepting God’s offer of salvation. That’s just how he rolls, pretending to be on our side, while plotting our downfall.

The trouble is, the lies sound appealing because Satan tells us what we want to hear. With me, it was “You’re already okay. You got baptized, remember?” (Click the link to read about my epic fake-out.)

Besides, it’s human nature to resist any radical change. We’re used to being the way we are. What would happen if we let go of our current way of life? The idea is too scary.

We start identifying with our captor.

It’s kind of like Stockholm Syndrome, where hostages come to fear the SWAT team rather than the bad guy. We may even move to protect our captor, forgetting we’re in the hands of someone who would just as soon kill us as not.

So if you think Jesus is meddling in your life trying to ruin it or whatever, and you want to resist, I hope you’ll consider what he himself says on the subject…

“This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

(John 15:12-13)

I’m happy to report that I did finally sort out lies from truth. As I wrote earlier, the Lord rescued me, and the standoff ended.

Thanks for reading,

Jan