Guilt would hold us all back but we have been made a most welcome people into the presence of our holy God. To rehearse the transaction, God has always been, then the creation, the fall, the Children of Abraham, Jesus Christ, the Spirit and Church, our time, then Jesus returns and the new creation. We don’t know when He will return so, with Holy Spirit, we grow the church (members of God’s Kingdom) by belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. If you check in on these writings you already know all of the above. What I want to encourage you in today is that we are most welcome. We love Him because He first loved us. Pilate said of Jesus, “And he said to them the third time, ‘Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; I will therefore punish Him and release Him'” – Luke 23:22. Pilot was willing to make a show of punishment to a guiltless man so that He could be released. On guilt, James writes in 2:10, “For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy”. This in-between time, the church and Jesus’ return, has some work in it. I John 2:10-15a, in summary, “The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. I write to fathers because you know Him, young men have overcome the evil one and the word of God abides in you, and children know the Father. Do not love the world, nor the things in it”. Is that not inviting? Abide in Him and know the world is temporary. Enjoy what you can that honors God. We are most welcome!
