I wrote last week about a common Christianese saying that has been taken out of context from how it was intended in scripture. You’ve heard the saying, God will not give us more than we can handle, or similar renditions, right? I found it to be a God-timing that I was directed back to that same passage of scripture (I Corinthians 10:1-13) through a Bible study I’m part of. If you missed last week’s post and want to read it, I would love for you to chime in with some feedback – Chew Wisely.
In I Corinthians 10:1-13 (take a moment to read it), Paul is using the Israelites as examples of what not to do. He’s telling us that we’re going to be tempted just like they were tempted, but don’t fall into the trap of temptation. And he encourages us that even though we’re going to face temptations, God will always provide another option, another course. We’ll never be tempted beyond what we can handle because there will always be God helping to show us another way. I know this to be true in my own life – and I also know that sometimes we simply choose poorly because we can be more flesh-driven than Spirit-led.
In the last few years, I’ve fallen in love with studying the Old Testament through the lens of God’s grace. Seeing the way God took care of His people by freeing them from slavery in Egypt and providing for them in the wilderness till it was time to enter the Promised Land is such a beautiful picture of His faithfulness to some highly foolish people. I used to read these stories and think that these people – God’s chosen people – were the stupidest, most hard-headed people to ever walk the earth. But after taking a minute, I easily recall just a few times that my actions were a tad bit stupid, and when I proved to be just as hard-headed (and beyond).
Miraculous things would happen right before their eyes and just a few verses later they seem to have forgotten that the God who demonstrated His power for their benefit was still right there with them. Even in the New Testament, Jesus’ own disciples were witnesses and participants in many miracles, but Jesus had to ask them why they had so little faith (Matthew 8:26). Jesus was betrayed by Judas and denied by Peter… Jesus’ own cousin, John the Baptist, even asked if Jesus was the One or should they look for another (Luke 7:20).
I see all of this, the similarities of God’s chosen people in the Old Testament and God’s people today. The way we all choose poorly, the way we all fall into temptation, and the many ways we choose the world over God. In our human way of thinking, it’s pretty easy to jump to the conclusion that God gets pretty irritated with us, offended by our failures, and disappointed when we choose poorly. We see it all through the Old Testament – phrases like His anger burned against them and He will not let the guilty go unpunished, or He will pour out His wrath on the nations… Y’all, this is terrifying!
Is any of that for us?
Let me ask: what is it that angers God? You know, what is it that has His anger burning to consume? And who is the guilty that He’s out to punish? From what I understand of the Bible – and I will be the first to admit that I don’t know a whole heck of a lot – it’s easy to conclude that sin is what angers God. When we hear (or read for the purpose of this post) the word sin, most of us jump to following the Big Ten (Ten Commandments). Am I right in that? What about the 600+ additional rules that were added? Those document the bare minimum for what God’s standard of Holy is… and no one was ever able to live up to any one of them!
Not His chosen people, not His disciples, not Billy Graham, not Mother Teresa, not you, and definitely not me. His standard goes far beyond human ability.
I suppose that means we’re back to God’s anger burning against us, God pouring out His wrath on the nations, and the guilty getting punished. But if that were true, God would not be just, and Jesus willingly died a horrific death on the cross for nothing.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. I John 2:1-2 NASB
Some translations use the word atoning instead of propitiation, but let’s look at the Greek word those come from: hilasmos (Strong’s G2434). This literally means that we were returned to right standing with God… all of the punishment for all of the sins for all of the human race for all time were placed on Jesus at the cross and He took the punishment for them. For every last one of them. Not a single sin was left out.
Instead of His anger burning against us, punishment being passed out, and God’s wrath being poured out on the nations, we have peace with God (Romans 5:1-2). Peace with God even when we miss the mark of perfection that we cannot even clearly understand. We don’t have to worry that God is irritated, offended, or disappointed in all the ways we still choose poorly – all the ways we’re flesh-driven and hard-headed. And if we’ve accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior – God’s one and only Son – then He sees Jesus’s righteousness when He looks at us.
Read this aloud – God is pleased with me, I am the righteousness of Christ Jesus, I am deeply loved, forever favored, have been made whole and acceptable to God.
We’re no longer the guilty that God is out to punish – Jesus took our punishment. When we mess up, His anger doesn’t burn against us – His anger fully burned against Jesus when He was crucified. There is not a single sin that went unpunished. If sin was still a consideration, we would not have peace with God and we would be on our way to eternal damnation.
There is so much to say when it comes to the sheer magnitude of what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross – this peace with God – that one post will not cover it. One series will not cover it! But I’m going to highlight a few areas that we seem to still get caught up in over the next few weeks. I hope that you’ll take some time to revisit How God sees you – the part that I hope you read aloud. I pray that it becomes firmly planted in your identity as a child of God. And join me next week for some more in this Series of Fortunate Favor.