My double life? Part 2 (end)

The following text is from Barbara Duguid’s book Graca Extravagante by Fiel Editor.

My double life (1st part)

Three months later.
Ian came from our UK to work as an electrical engineer.
Our friendship got off to a bad start because of the cultural difference between British and Americans.
However.
A year later.
I fell in love with a man whom I deeply respected.
I sat next to this pious man.
And his words of compassion.
Humility.
Grace.
And kindness were invigorating to my soul.
I was hoping for disgust.
I was hoping for a rebuke and rejection.
But instead.
I received a pardon that I could barely understand.
I knew what I deserved! I deserved to be trapped.
For the rest of my life.
In an unhappy marriage to a man I no longer respected or loved.
On the contrary.
However.
It seemed that God offered me the best of the best.
Best of all.
A prince among men!Wasn’t the Bible supposed to happen that we harvested what we sowed (Galatians 6:7)?Don’t we have what we deserve? How is this possible?I felt that God was giving me the exact opposite of what I deserved.
And he was seriously confused.

That day, the earth seemed to disappear beneath my feet, when the old strengths of complacency began to collapse, it was on that day that I began to understand the gospel. He had always believed that he could only be saved by faith in Christ, but, in the manner of an immature Christian, he had made a deal with God. The agreement was that if I had faith and obedience, he would give me salvation. Blessings and benevolence. In the words of this classic hymn, I believed that if I believed and obeyed, God would make me happy for Jesus; However, if I didn’t do my part, I’d be at my mercy. I know that my own faith in believing in Him was a gift God had given me or should depend on Him at every moment of obedience in my life. Of course, I had not fulfilled my part of the agreement and, therefore, I was sure that God would rebuke me at some point and make me pay for all these sins.

It is important to add the observation that if God had allowed me to receive the consequences of my sin to this point in my life, he would continue to be completely good and just, God does not always deliver us from the consequences of our sins. Despite having taken away, once and for all, the eternal punishment I deserve for my sin, throwing it upon Jesus, God often lets me suffer the bitter side effects of my mistakes and sins here on earth, to become more humble, to show me addiction, and to bring me to justice.

There are general principles in the scriptures that apply throughout our lives; it is true that we reap what we sow: if we work hard, we will reap prosperity, while, on the other hand, if we are lazy, we will starve to death. There are times in the lives of most believers when God makes a big setback, as if his intention was to impress them and show them the deep generosity of his heart. There are dreadful moments when we understand that we have spoiled everything in such a way that God must surely expose us and punish us for our own good, so something completely different happens: not only does God refuse to give us the punishment we so deserve, but he also floods us with loving kindness and surprises us with joy. .

John Newton experienced this astonishing generosity of God several times in his life. For a year, he went through a desperately miserable period in West Africa, where he was a true slave to his employer. He came to an unfortunate state for years of immaturity and rebellion against God and against whom, during the sea voyage, they had authority over him. At one point, Newton got sick and almost died. At other times he nearly starved to death. After a while, a ship looking for him arrived providentially to where he worked. If the ship had arrived a few days later, it would have been on dry land on a business trip. If I’d gotten there sooner, I’d have worked in a factory somewhere else.

On the way back, was the ship about to sink several times?In fact, if you didn’t carry a load of beeswax and wood, which are lighter than water, you’d probably have sunk. The captain sent Newton to find a knife, and the man who occupied Newton’s place was immediately removed from the ship and killed. All these extraordinary deliveries occurred when he was still a blasphemous madman against God. We don’t always get what we deserve in this fact, sometimes we get exactly the opposite.

Why do Christians still sin so often?

In this book, Barbara Duguid teaches us, from John Newton’s writings, God’s plan for our faults and our guilt. His frank and empathetic approach, with illustrations of his own struggles, raises our attention, of our own efforts, to a God. who is greater than our failures and who uses them for their glory.

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Why do Christians still sin so often?

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