Most people associate Jesus Christ with religion. This is what the world teaches, but it’s wrong. We may have childhood memories of an overly-strict Sunday school teacher, or a minister harping on God’s wrath and condemnation during Sunday morning service. This doesn’t show us the true compassionate, merciful Jesus as He is now; not only is God not angry with us, He loves us so much that He wants to spend eternity with us in heaven.
The harsh, frightening image of a God who punishes us for our mistakes is something that religion pushes on us; it’s enough to cause some people to stop going to church altogether. Most people only know about the Old-Testament requirements to perform works, first, to receive God’s blessing and avoid His curses (Deuteronomy 28:1-6, 15-45). However, things have changed.
What religion doesn’t tell us is that God tempers justice with mercy and compassion; He’s not waiting in the wings to strike us down with a lightning bolt the minute we do something wrong. He wants to bless us, not curse us. He sent His own Son to make it possible for us to share the same family identity as Him. “May blessing (praise, laudation, and eulogy) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm!... For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]” (Ephesians 1:3, 5, AMPC).
When Jesus went to the cross for us, it marked the end of the punishment the Law of Moses represented, and the start of God’s grace. Jesus took away the curses waiting to ambush the people, and replaced them with blessings. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13, 14, NKJV). God forgave our sins before we were even born. We therefore don’t have to feel guilty about our mistakes when we accept Jesus, because God remembers our past sins no more and our skeletons in the closet are gone forever.
In comparison to life before the cross, life after the cross is amazing. We no longer have to work hard to be righteous before God; we’re made righteous by our faith in Jesus and in what He did. Most people completely miss this life-altering truth.
During His earthly ministry, Jesus told the parable of the prodigal son who ran away from his father, later regretted his decision, and returned (Luke 15:11-24). Instead of scolding him, the father rejoiced and celebrated. Likewise, born-again believers are God’s children; when we respond to Jesus’ love after being chased away by religion, our heavenly Father’s response is the same. “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10, NKJV).
When we hear the preacher in the pulpit telling us what we must do to please God, we know it’s religious talk. No efforts are needed to earn God’s favor. Jesus offers us unconditional acceptance—even when we fall short. We can confidently trust in what Jesus has already done on our behalf.