God Doesn't Need to Prove Anything

"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." - Romans 3:23

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 6:23

I see so many things on Facebook. Some of it is good, some of it is not, and then there are things like this:

I don't want to take issue with Compassion International; neither is my intent to slam Shaun Groves who is a Christian musician. But I do want to take issue with one-liners that seem to express a Biblical truth. I want to encourage others and remind myself that all things must be tested against Scripture. Christians must be diligent and accurate in expressing the "mission of God", which is the Gospel, by the way. We need to think before we speak. We need to be diligent about presenting the whole Gospel, not just spout one-liners to grab attention. The world does need to know about God; the people of the world also need to know a few things about themselves.

First, God doesn't need to prove anything. Second, although God is good and He can be trusted, He is also holy and righteous. God demonstrates that He is God and we are not, He is holy and we are not, and that He should be obeyed and loved and trusted by us. However, because of our sinful nature we do not obey Him let alone love Him or trust Him. Third, the mission of God was to destroy the devil's work of introducing sin into the world. (1 John 3:8) My friends, the Good News is that God did destroy the devil's work and this was accomplished through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and his victorious resurrection.

If there is anything that needs to be proven it is this: We are sinners. We have rebelled and turned away from our holy, loving, righteous, and good God who is our creator. Because of our rebellion, we deserve God's wrath and eternal damnation. BUT, because God is good, and just, and kind, and gracious, and loving, and merciful, He has provided a way for us to escape our well-deserved punishment:

"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." - Romans 3:23-26

This is what needs to be preached to the world: We are sinners who deserve God's wrath. But because of God's great love for us (John 3:16), we can trust that God has given us a gift that we could never earn and certainly don't deserve - God sent His son, Jesus, who paid the full price for our sins by dying on the cross, and that he rose again on the third day. We can trust that our Savior lives and that we will one day be with him in paradise. The reverse however, is also true. We can trust that God will do what He says to those who reject Jesus, which is send them to their deserved eternal damnation. Friends, don't settle for one-liners. Be diligent. Preach the gospel. With words. Because the world so desperately needs to hear the Good News.