Just The Way You Are!

 

I was about to write my Fruit of The Month post, but I had this message burdened on my heart to release to you today. 

God loves you and He thinks you're just okay!

I was watching this Instagram reel the other day and this pastor was speaking about how a person who smoked was telling him that he wanted to be saved. 

He said, "I want to be saved, but I smoke. Do I have to give up smoking?" 

The pastor replied, "No" 

The man was confused, and he reiterated, "No, I don't think you understand. I smoke pot" 

The pastor replied, "You said you wanted to be saved, right?" 

The man answered yes and the pastor said great. The man still confused asked again. 

"Should I stop smoking because I want to be saved?" 

The pastor replied, "No. Just get saved" 

Now, I must admit that when the pastor first responded I was confused. 

I was like, "Of course, he needs to stop smoking" 

But, then the pastor continued and then I understood exactly where he was coming from.

He told the man, "You won't clean yourself to go take a shower, right? So, why would you try to clean yourself before going to Christ?"

Today, my husband and I were having a conversation that made me remember this Instagram reel. 

He basically said that when it comes to people coming to Christ, it must be a want thing and not a forceful thing. 

It is up to them to make their election sure. 

Yes, we want our family members to be saved and friends or coworkers to come to Christ, but as followers of Christ, we must not force them to do so. 

Jesus didn't force anyone to come to Him. 

In every one of His evangelistic stories, He gives them the option.

He told Peter and John to follow Him and because they wanted to, so they did. 

He told the rich man how to enter the kingdom of God and left him with the decision of what he should do.

If you are reading this blog today and battling between being saved or not, I want to ease your mind by telling you that. 

God loves you and He thinks that you are just okay. 

Let the decision to come to Christ be yours to make. 

It should not be force or an ultimatum or even a fear of going to hell.

Let your journey to Christ be sincere.

Also, when you do decide to know God and follow Christ, don't be so hard on yourself when you do. 

Don't expect to change into some fire-calling-down, Holy-Ghost-tongue-speaking, every-day-hour prayer, and fasting Christian overnight. 

The Pastor didn't tell the smoker to quit because when he began to serve Christ, eventually his life would come to alignment with Christ. 

Eventually, he'll be clean. 

You're not going to stop sinning overnight. You're not going to be suddenly clean in the next two weeks either.

You're still going to struggle. You're still going to sin and the time of that can expand from days, weeks, months to even years depending on how ambitious you are for Christ. 

The bottom line is that you are not going to change quickly and that's Okay. 

God loves you and thinks you are just okay!

Don't beat yourself up if you happen to fall the first time or even the second, third, and so on times after getting saved.

Don't think God has given up on you because you seem to not get it right. He hasn't. 

Don't think His grace has run out on you because you keep failing. It doesn't work that way.

It was a reason that Pastor didn't want to tell the smoker what he can't and can do after being saved because who knows what harsh restrictions the man would have put himself under. 

What if he got saved and tried to hold off smoking for 3 days but fall on the fourth?

Imagine the way he would ridicule and berate himself for it and give up altogether because he thinks that he has broken some rule that grace can't fix. 

God says there are many of His children out there struggling to perfect themselves for Him when He isn't asking or requiring that of us. 

He just wants us to come to Him. 

To want to come to Him. 

He is telling each and every one of us today that He loves us and that we are just okay the way we are. 

Stop stressing about the mess you have around you. Stop counting yourself out because you made a few stumbles. 

Remember you wanted to be saved and that's all God wanted from you. 

What He has written for your life will start to come into effect as time goes on. 

In the meantime, God loves you just the way you are!

~TheRay