"His death was the very reason He came.Never build your case for forgiveness on the idea that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. That contradicts the revealed truth of God in Jesus Christ. It makes the Cross unnecessary, and the redemption "much ado about nothing." God forgives sin only because of the death of Christ. God could forgive people in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted as Savior because of His death. Anything that lessens or completely obliterates the holiness of God, through a false view of His love, contradicts the truth of God as revealed by Jesus Christ. Never allow yourself to believe that Jesus Christ stands with us, and against God, out of pity and compassion, or that He became a curse for us out of sympathy for us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by divine decree. Our part in realizing the tremendous meaning of His curse is the conviction of sin. Conviction is given to us as a gift of shame and repentance; it is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the sin in people, and Calvary is the measure of His hatred." My Utmost For His Highest

It looks as though this is a furtherance of Chamber's thoughts on forgiveness from the last devotional I read. But I'm just not getting his vibe, here, Lord... I totally agree that Christ wasn't a martyr, that the express purpose for sending him here was to become a curse for us, to enable God to forgive us. And I agree that God the Father, Son, and Spirit all hate sin. But it seems as though Chambers is overlooking the forest for the Tree. Why were we even CREATED in the first place, to become people in NEED of a Savior? Because You love us and because in our love and obedience to You, You are glorified! If not for Your forest of love, the Tree would be unnecessary. It is because You love us that we are created, that You wish to reconcile Yourself to us, that You might bother getting involved in our lives, that You send the Holy Spirit after us to bring us to Yourself, that You sent Your Son, that He lived as an example for us to follow so we might live victoriously, that You revealed Your nature and plan through Your Word... You ARE Love - You cannot act apart from it. Maybe Chambers is just bucking the notion that You are ONLY Love and not also Holy and Just. That is certainly a narrow view. How many times a day do I put You in a box? Mow much of my theology puts up arbitrary limits on Your power or personality? You can be caged by no man! And no THING!

I certainly can be caged, though. How many cages am I in right now? I feel like I'm snared by at least 10 sins at any given time. I'm not living in freedom. How can I unlock these shackles, Lord? I'll just keep crawling back into the cage and holding out my hands and feet for Satan if I don't learn how to stay free. It is for FREEDOM that Christ set us free! Boy do I love Paul, Lord! I can't wait to meet him in Heaven and listen to his stories and see him talk excitedly about his passions. For him to say he wishes the Judaizers would just castrate themselves is so hilarious, and so totally him! I wish I knew Jesus as well as I seem to know Paul - BETTER actually. It's tough because I want to think he was completely calm, normal, civilized, and appropriate all the time. I lose much of his unique personality because he didn't say much off the wall stuff like Paul. He didn't sin. He didn't mislead by exaggeration. He was perfect, so what personality does perfect leave room for? I guess we'll see in Heaven! But before then, I want to KNOW YOU Jesus! I want to fall in love with You all over again every day! I want to serve You with passion!