Obsession With The Christian

Recently on the Facebook group for Fans For Christ there was a discussion about preachers condemning the "evils" of Pokemon.  The thread was pretty long, and I'm not going to repeat it here (join the group if you want to see that and more). But one of my good friends posted a comment that really struck me and I thought it was worth repeating.  Here are his words...

Of course, one could turn it around, and say that what we are defining as "too much God" or "obsession with the Bible" is better expressed as "not enough God" and "obsession with the Christian".

For these sorts of things seeks to answer the question "What must I do, that will make God love me?". And a second question, like the first, "What must I do, that Satan shall not conquer me?". And so preachers and teachers, most times out of compassion and care for their flock**, will search the scriptures, seeking to find The Answer which will calm the conscience.

But we tend to seek that answer solely in terms of "what I must do", or "what must I avoid", and under such terms we miss the Cross, and what Christ Himself has won for us. In our religion, we miss God and His Christ, because we tend to seek only ourselves.

"What must I do, that will make God love me?"

Nothing; he already loves you to the point of death and beyond. "Believe in Him whom He has sent." He has called you and redeemed you out of death's shadow, for His sake, for love's sake (but now I speak redundantly). So act without fear, in the perfect love already given to you.

"What must I do, that Satan shall not conquer me?"

Remember that your Lord has already conquered him; he is in great wrath, for he is a defeated enemy. "I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning." "And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, 'Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!'" "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

This is what we should find, when we seek after God and search the scriptures: the Christ who saves us and keeps us. Who loves us in spite of ourselves, and who gives that love freely.