My family members have tried to convince me of the legitimacy of the “five-second rule.” You are welcome to eat your floor sandwich, but I’ll pass because the “five-second rule” has no basis in reality.
Unfortunately, society has taught us to believe a lot of “rules” that aren’t true. Will swimming after a meal automatically give you cramps? No. Does human urine heal jellyfish stings? Absolutely not.
We have the same kind of folklore for our faith. Not everything the world tells us about God is true. For instance, Jesus gets credited with a lot of statements or ideas that He never said.
- God is angry with you and wants to ruin your life.
Sometimes we think of God as a cosmic accountant tabulating our sins and getting angrier and angrier with each failure. Nothing could be further from the truth.
God is not mad at you. He is mad about you! The Bible makes this abundantly clear: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1, ESV).
He wants to bless us and give us an abundant life worth living.
- God loves you and accepts you as you are.
This statement is the converse of “God is angry at you,” but it’s still wrong. Yes, God does love you. Yes, God does accept you just as you are. You don’t have to be perfect to give your heart to Him. But He loves you so much He refuses to leave you that way.
He asks us to confess and repent of our sins—not just at the moment of salvation, but daily. This maintains our relationship with God, keeping us open to receiving His love.
