Rushwavefrom the book Why I Love God
7: God Forgave Unbelief and Pride
God forgave all my sins. He who is forgiven much loves much.
Before I came to know the Lord, to many I was perceived as a nice, good person. My life was not characterized with crime, drugs, premarital sex, drunkenness, stealing, dishonesty, or the like. Indeed, I did not view myself as a really bad person.
The reality, however, is none of us are accountable to God on the basis of what other people think of us, or even what we think of ourselves. Each is accountable to the God on the basis of His standards, and He judges without partiality and in truth.
Over the course of my Christian life, I have become more and more aware of my own fallen nature. To put it plainly, when I first believed in Jesus Christ I was aware I was a sinner. But now, after having been a Christian for many years, I understand I was a much greater sinner than I initially realized. This is because over the years, God has brought to light through His word the various thought patterns and behaviors that are not reflective of Himself.
Often the world portrays various attitudes, lifestyles, or actions as noble, praiseworthy, insightful and worthy of imitation. And prior to when I believed, I held many of these same views as the world. But God granted forgiveness of all my sins, many of which I was not even aware of.
God forgave me of not giving Him the glory He was due as Creator. For most of my life I had stubbornly denied His existence even though since the beginning of the world creation itself testif ied to His power and divine nature. I went along with the great deception: evolution. I believed the lie that the universe and all that is in it, the planets in all their synchronous orbits, and the innumerable life forms with all their physiological and biochemical complexities did not need any Creator at all. Everything was the result of chance over millions and millions of years. God forgave me of my own denial of Him as Creator.
God forgave me of my pride in evaluating my character through my own misguided, distorted standards of right and wrong. I did not perceive myself as an evil person. Evil people were the mass murders, rapists, and others. But me? I was a decent person. So even if there was a God, why would He send me to hell? Certainly I was not worthy of condemnation. Even so, God forgave me of the pride and arrogance of such a distorted, self-centered view.
from the book Why I Love God
Learn more ...