scandalous

1 John 1:9 if we confess our sins to Him,

          He is faithful

               and just

       to forgive us our sins

               and to cleanse us from all wickedness.


1 John 2
1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin.

But...

...if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father.

        He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins - and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.


This is the scandal of our faith - that we get forgiven.

        He wipes the slate clean,

                over & over again.

We get off,

        we're cleaned out.

But it cost God to do this...

   Jesus' death...

   & Him substituting Himself for us.

It's scandalous we get forgiven...

   We deserve to be punished for our sins, our wickedness.

But He forgives us.

What is the only fitting response to such love, such grace, such mercy?

The surrender of ourselves, totally, to Him...

   our hopes.
   our dreams,
   our very essence,

& in doing so, we find out who we really are,

     and what He dreamed for us.


scandalous


  3 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, "I know God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.