God Wants to Save You, Not Scold You
Knowing God is for you will change your whole perspective on life. You’ll stop thinking of God as someone looking down from Heaven, ready to yell “Gotcha!” any time you mess up.
God is for your success in life. He created you for a purpose, and he wants you to succeed. It is God, your Creator, who will measure your success in life, and no one else.
This is extremely good news!
It means you don’t need to be afraid of God, because God is for you. Yet some people are so afraid of God they get nervous just talking about him. Do you know why? They feel guilty, and then they start thinking, “If I get close to God, he’s going to lecture me. He’s going to remind me of all the things I’ve done wrong, and then I’ll feel even worse!”
Nothing could be further from the truth of God. John 3:17 says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (NIV). In effect, Jesus is saying, “I didn’t come to scold you. I came to save you.”
Jesus came to save us, not to scare us.
In fact, when God sends a message to people in the Bible, it’s not unusual for the first words to be: “Don’t be afraid.” There are 365 messages from God in the Bible that begin with a phrase like, “Fear not!” In other words, every single day of the year you can read a message from God that says, in effect, “You don’t need to be afraid. I am for you; I am with you; I love you.”
How would your life change if you consistently believed God is for you? Ask God to help you in your unbelief.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>
Talk It Over
- What misconceptions about God make people afraid of him?
- How does God use discipline for our good?
- You may understand that God wants you to succeed. How does he help you succeed?
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit rickwarren.org
OUR GIFT
This devotional © 2016 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
You can also listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.
