“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” Romans 2:4 (NKJV)
I grew up hearing “God is going to get you.” I was told if I went to a movie theater to watch a questionable movie, and Jesus returned while I was there, I would miss heaven. Or if I died without repenting of every individual sin, I wouldn’t be allowed into heaven. These people advocated confessing sins every time we prayed, even forgiveness for sins we didn’t realize we committed. Just in case. They seemed to believe God was trying to keep us out of heaven and was looking for any excuse to do it.
Some people want to scare people into heaven, or to scare the literal hell out of them. But this is not God’s way. Instead, He is good to us, so we will want to come to Him. He wants us in heaven and has done all He can to get us there.
I am not advocating sin, or encouraging Christians to live any way they want. But let’s face it, in all our assumed goodness, we cannot be good enough. We are saved by God’s grace, not by our good works.
It is not the anger of God that leads us to Him, or our fear of God that causes us to want to know Him. But when we truly see His love and goodness, nothing can keep us away.
If we think God is going to be continuously looking for our faults and badgering us all the time, we are going to avoid Him and want to hide from Him. Even a puppy cowers when he approaches someone who is harsh.
God is good and patient, but not so we can stay in our sin and live crazy. He extends His goodness and patience so we will come to Him.
The goodness of God will lead us to Him every time.
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