GOD IS FOR US, by Roger Roth

“GOD IS FOR US” by Roger Roth Sr.

God is for us! He is not our adversary but our most loyal supporter. He is not our accuser but our most ardent advocate. He is not an arm’s length acquaintance but a friend who is closer than a brother. Long ago, as men count time, there was an election, so to speak, held in heaven and God voted for you!

So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.” Isaiah, in this passage, was not only speaking about the gross disfigurement brought on by His crucifixion but in greater context about the distortion of religious teachings that has made the real Jesus, sometimes repulsive and almost unrecognizable to the masses of people that need Him. 

Unfortunately, many Christians see God like the Middle Ages depictions in Art and Literature. They view Him as harsh and demanding; hard to please and ever ready to bring forth punishment. Peter tells us that; “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Yet most in the world and many Christians as well seem to think that God has destined all to hell except those few who are lucky enough or specially chosen or somehow graced to be saved from an eternal state of pain and punishment. 

So many are continually trying to get a God who says He loves them, to love them. Their attitude seems to be one of “God may love me, but He can’t like me very much.” The misperception of God has them thinking things like, “I just don’t measure up. I continually fail Him. I don’t seem to be able to stop sinning. Though He may love me, I will never please Him,” and many such thoughts form a corrupted attitude about God.

This leads them to having a ‘performance’ relationship with God. “Did I pray enough? If I don’t pay my tithes God will not be pleased with me. If I fail, He may love me, but not as much as if I only did all that His Word tells me to do.” Our religion becomes performance based rather than position based. The Apostle John tells us, “Beloved now are we the sons of God, (now—not in the future but now are we sons). This is our position but like the prodigal son, we don’t feel we quite measure up.

Years ago, we pondered a statement that was widely misunderstood because religious mindsets thought it was giving people permission to sin. The statement was, “You will never be free from sin until you are free to sin.”

Are you a sinner saved by grace. Is that who you are now? Is that your identity or are you someone who has sinned, as all have and was saved by grace? Do you think God sees you as a sinner or as a son? Do ‘you’ see yourself as a sinner or as a son? As the Apostle Paul was misunderstood because some could not hear the intent of his statements, so some may be today as well.

The Apostle Paul, in part, voiced similar sentiments when he said, “all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” Really Paul, all things? Or his report in Romans chapter three; “as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, Let us do evil, that good may come?”

The intent of the statement, “you will never be free from sin until you are free to sin,” is not that in sinning we become free from sin, or that we should engage in sin so that somehow that would help us to stop sinning. But rather, as long as sin rules over us by the law, we will never have freedom.

Like the Apostle Paul, we can say: sin shall not have dominion over us. That is, sin shall no longer be our master. This can only be accomplished as we live by grace and not by law. The law has torment and punishment, but His promises are only found in grace. Are we continually living under self-judgment? Are we our own worst judge, beating ourselves because we think we are failing, or never measuring up to what we think God expects? It could be that we still see God from the eyes of the law rather than from the eyes of grace. God is not angry with us! God is for us!

The reality for most is that the more we think about ‘not’ sinning, the stronger the impulse to sin becomes. It is our master even when we do not sin, as long as the fear of sinning and the perceived anger and punishment from God for sinning, controls our thoughts and attitudes.

We have a misperception of God. “God loves me but if I do this, He can’t love me as much. God’s love is conditioned upon my actions. If I don’t do what pleases Him, He will punish or be displeased with me” etc.  God’s love is unconditional, but we make it conditional upon what we do, (this is performance religion) rather than upon what He has done. There are no ‘ifs’ in unconditional love. “If you do this or if you do that then” is not unconditional love but is ‘iffy love.’

Our perception of God dictates our response to Him. If we are afraid of God or fear what He may do to us, we need to see the God that Jesus manifested to the world. If we are afraid of someone or fear what they may do to us or our family, it is impossible to draw close to them. How can the world draw near to a God they perceive is displeased with them and ready to punish every breaking of His rules? 

“God is for you, not against you!” “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation; HE 9:28. As with all scripture, there are different levels of understanding and various applications that can be made. This verse is usually connected to a study in eschatology. One way of understanding it however, may not have anything to do with a return of Jesus after a tribulation, but rather, how Jesus comes to us individually. 

First, Jesus appears as the Lamb who takes away our sins. This is where most stop. We initially believe Jesus saved me from my sin. I praise God and try to serve Him and even though I’ll fail, I do my best to serve Him and be found worthy upon death, HOPING I am ready and can be with Him forever.

This is the first relationship that people have with God; the relationship of sinner to Savior. This is not where we are to live however, because we are to live as sons and daughters of our Father. 

Paraphrasing the scripture, Christ was offered as my sacrifice and appeared first to me as my deliverer from sin under the law. This is how I understood Him. But, if I expand my perception of God and look for the greater reality of His nature, I will see that He will appear again, not related to my sin issue, but to bring me the SAVING KNOWLEDGE of ‘Who He is.’  This knowledge includes the fact that God is crazy in love with each of us! He is ‘for’ us!

The simple changing of our perception about God will change our life. Seeing Him as a God of promise and grace rather than a god of law and punishment gives us unbelievable freedom. Next time we are in prayer or meditation, ask God this simple question; “Show me who You are and show me who I am?”Over time it will be life transformational. Of course, that is what He promised, that we “might have life and have it more abundantly.”

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Roger Roth Sr. is a ministry son of Dr. Mark Hanby. Together with his wife Karen, they are the set ministry of a local church in Northeastern Wisconsin, and oversee the Bloodline Network Newsletter. They consider it an honor to work with Dr. Hanby for many years, helping to oversee the ministry of Papa Mark’s extended family—”The Father’s Heart.”

      Any questions or comments please contact them at rogerandkaren@live.com