by Gregory A. JohnsonCheck out this paragraph taken from God’s word, the Bible:
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NLT).The last two sentences thrill me the most:
Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11 NLT).The key word is “were.” The list of sins that the paragraph begins with is what some of us were. God does not want our focus to be on what we were as much as He wants us to always remember what He has done for us through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. We all were sinners that fell way short of what God designed us to be, but He did not leave us in that state. No, he did something about it. Because He loves us so much, he sent His Son to pay the penalty and take the punishment for our sins.
