This Precious Gift Called Life!

Imagine you had to answer for everything you ever did, every choice you made. Would that change the way you live?

No-one is here by accident!
Did you know that you are uniquely designed for a specific purpose, that your existence is a gift that comes with written instructions on how we should live? Do you know that we will answer for the way we used this amazing gift?

One day, according to the Bible, we will explain what we did with this amazing gift we call life. Amazing gift?
Is life actually a gift from God that we have to answer for? Aren’t we free to do our own thing?
Why are we here anyway?

According to the Bible, one day we will stand before God and tell Him why you lived the way you did on earth? And our ignorance of this won’t exclude us from the judgement that will one day come.

So what does it mean to us, why is what we do so important?

The Bible says we will one day stand before our creator and give an account of the choices we made while living on earth. Did you know God says that eventually, we’re all going to kneel side by side in the place of judgment, facing God? Will not knowing or believing this change the outcome for us?

God says, “Every knee will bow before me; Every tongue will tell the honest truth”
Even criticising someone is not a good idea – you can read if for yourself here – Romans 14:12

But imagine a world where no-one criticised or was hurtful to each other, where everyone treated each other with respect….

Again in the Bible, this time in 1 Corinthians it says …
For we must all stand before Christ to be judged and have our lives laid bare—before him. Each of us will receive whatever he deserves for the good or bad things he has done in his earthly body. 2 Corinthians 5:10

Imagine a world where we all treated each other the way we’d love to be treated…. how special would that place be! Even the words that we speak are important to God…

There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.” Matthew 12:36 NLT

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word. No-one can escape, we will all have to pay for our actions.

So is God an old man with a beard and a huge stick ready to condemn us?
No, He’s a God who cared so much about the mess we get ourselves into that He sent Jesus as our sacrifice, to pay for all the wrong we have done and will do in the future because He knows how easily we fail to do what’s right. Jesus paid the debt we could not pay and offers salvation…which means forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who will be faith believe and receive it.

Jesus dying for us means that we can accept His forgiveness and live the way we were designed to or we can reject Him and face the consequences. Read more here about The Judgment Seat of Christ / Bema Seat of Christ?

If all of a believer’s sins are forgiven, what is there for Christ to judge at the Judgment Seat

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. John 8:34

Here are more Bible verses that talk about sin:

Sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you, you’ve got to master it." Genesis 4:7 MSG

“Don’t be afraid. God has come to test you and instil a deep and reverent awe within you so that you won’t sin.” Exodus 20:20 MSG

The LORD replied to Moses, "I will blot out whoever has sinned against me. Exodus 32:31-33

God doesn’t ignore sin. He holds sons and grandsons responsible for a father’s sins to the third and even fourth generation." Exodus 34:7 MSG

Leviticus 4:26 MSG
He will burn all its fat on the Altar, the same as with the fat of the Peace-Offering. "The priest makes atonement for him on account of his sin and he’s forgiven.

Leviticus 4:28 MSG
When he is made aware of his sin, he shall bring a goat, a female without any defect, and offer it for his sin,

Leviticus 4:35 MSG
He shall remove all the fat, the same as for the lamb of the Peace-Offering. Finally the priest will burn it on the Altar on top of the gifts to God. "In this way, the priest makes atonement for him on account of his sin and he’s forgiven.

Leviticus 19:22 MSG
The priest will perform the ritual of atonement for him before God with the ram of compensation for the sin he has committed. Then he will stand forgiven of the sin he committed.

Numbers 5:6-7
“Tell the People of Israel, When a man or woman commits any sin, the person has broken trust with God, is guilty, 7 and must confess the sin.

Numbers 32:23 MSG
“But if you don’t do what you say, you will be sinning against God; you can be sure that your sin will track you down.

Deuteronomy 15:9 MSG
Don’t count the cost. Don’t listen to that selfish voice saying, “It’s almost the seventh year, the year of All-Debts-Are-Canceled,” and turn aside and leave your needy neighbor in the lurch, refusing to help him. He’ll call God’s attention to you and your blatant sin.

Deuteronomy 24:15 MSG
Pay him at the end of each workday; he’s living from hand to mouth and needs it now. If you hold back his pay, he’ll protest to God and you’ll have sin on your books.

Deuteronomy 24:16 MSG
Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents. Each person shall be put to death for his own sin.

1 Samuel 2:25 MSG
If you sin against another person, there’s help – God’s help. But if you sin against God, who is around to help?"

1 Samuel 12:23 MSG
“And neither will I walk off and leave you. That would be a sin against God! I’m staying right here at my post praying for you and teaching you the good and right way to live.

1 Kings 12:30 MSG
This was blatant sin. Think of it – people traveling all the way to Dan to worship a calf!

2 Chronicles 24:18 MSG
Things went from bad to worse; they deserted The Temple of God and took up with the cult of sex goddesses. An angry cloud hovered over Judah and Jerusalem because of this sin.

Job 15:35 MSG
They have sex with sin and give birth to evil. Their lives are wombs for breeding deceit."

Psalm 1:1 MSG
How well God must like you – you don’t hang out at Sin Saloon, you don’t slink along Dead-End Road, you don’t go to Smart-Mouth College.

Psalm 7:14 NLT
The wicked conceive evil; they are pregnant with trouble and give birth to lies.

Psalm 19:13 MSG
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.

Psalm 32:5 MSG
Then I let it all out; I said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.” Suddenly the pressure was gone – my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.

Psalm 34:14 MSG
Turn your back on sin; do something good. Embrace peace – don’t let it get away!

Psalm 36:1 MSG
The God-rebel tunes in to sedition – all ears, eager to sin. He has no regard for God, he stands insolent before him.

Psalm 69:5 MSG
God, you know every sin I’ve committed; My life’s a wide-open book before you.

Psalm 78:38 MSG
And God? Compassionate! Forgave the sin! Didn’t destroy! Over and over he reined in his anger, restrained his considerable wrath.

Psalm 84:10 MSG
One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches. I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.

Psalm 107:17 MSG
Some of you were sick because you’d lived a bad life, your bodies feeling the effects of your sin;

Psalm 119:11 MSG
I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won’t sin myself bankrupt.

Proverbs 5:11 MSG
You don’t want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones,

Proverbs 5:22 MSG
The shadow of your sin will overtake you; you’ll find yourself stumbling all over yourself in the dark.

Proverbs 10:16 MSG
The wage of a good person is exuberant life; an evil person ends up with nothing but sin.

Proverbs 12:28 MSG
Good men and women travel right into life; sin’s detours take you straight to hell.

Proverbs 13:6 MSG
A God-loyal life keeps you on track; sin dumps the wicked in the ditch.

Proverbs 17:19 NLT
Anyone who loves to quarrel loves sin; anyone who speaks boastfully invites disaster.

Proverbs 21:4 NLT
Haughty eyes, a proud heart, and evil actions are all sin.

Isaiah 5:18 MSG
Doom to you who use lies to sell evil, who haul sin to market by the truckload,

Isaiah 40:2 MSG
“Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem, but also make it very clear That she has served her sentence, that her sin is taken care of – forgiven! She’s been punished enough and more than enough, and now it’s over and done with.”

Isaiah 53:10 MSG
Still, it’s what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it – life, life, and more life. And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.

Isaiah 53:12 MSG
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly – the best of everything, the highest honors – Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

Isaiah 64:6 MSG
We’re all sin-infected, sin-contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags. We dry up like autumn leaves – sin-dried, we’re blown off by the wind.

Jeremiah 2:13 MSG
“My people have committed a compound sin: they’ve walked out on me, the fountain Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns – cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves.

Jeremiah 8:14 MSG
So why are we sitting here, doing nothing? Let’s get organized. Let’s go to the big city and at least die fighting. We’ve gotten God’s ultimatum: We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t – damned because of our sin against him.

Jeremiah 25:12 MSG
“Once the seventy years is up, I’ll punish the king of Babylon and the whole nation of Babylon for their sin. Then they’ll be the wasteland.

Jeremiah 31:30 MSG
“No, each person will pay for his own sin. You eat green apples, you’re the one who gets sick.

Ezekiel 16:49 MSG
“’The sin of your sister Sodom was this: She lived with her daughters in the lap of luxury – proud, gluttonous, and lazy. They ignored the oppressed and the poor.

Ezekiel 18:21 MSG
“But a wicked person who turns his back on that life of sin and keeps all my statutes, living a just and righteous life, he’ll live, really live. He won’t die.

Ezekiel 18:24 MSG
“The same thing goes for a good person who turns his back on an upright life and starts sinning, plunging into the same vile obscenities that the wicked person practices. Will this person live? I don’t keep a list of all the things this person did right, like money in the bank he can draw on. Because of his defection, because he accumulates sin, he’ll die.

Ezekiel 18:26 MSG
If a good person turns away from his good life and takes up sinning, he’ll die for it. He’ll die for his own sin.

Ezekiel 18:30 MSG
“The upshot is this, Israel: I’ll judge each of you according to the way you live. So turn around! Turn your backs on your rebellious living so that sin won’t drag you down.

Ezekiel 33:14-15
On the other hand, if I tell a wicked person, “You’ll die for your wicked life,” and he repents of his sin and starts living a righteous and just life 15 – being generous to the down-and-out, restoring what he had stolen, cultivating life-nourishing ways that don’t hurt others – he’ll live. He won’t die.

Ezekiel 33:18 MSG
When good people turn back from living good lives and plunge into sin, they’ll die for it.

Hosea 7:2 MSG
It never crosses their mind that I keep account of their every crime. They’re mud-spattered head to toe with the residue of sin. I see who they are and what they’ve done.

Hosea 9:9 MSG
The people are going from bad to worse, rivaling that ancient and unspeakable crime at Gibeah. God’s keeping track of their guilt. He’ll make them pay for their sins. They Took to Sin Like a Pig to Filth

Hosea 9:10 MSG
“Long ago when I came upon Israel, it was like finding grapes out in the desert. When I found your ancestors, it was like finding a fig tree bearing fruit for the first time. But when they arrived at Baal-peor, that pagan shrine, they took to sin like a pig to filth, wallowing in the mud with their newfound friends.

Hosea 10:2-4 MSG
Their sweet smiles are sheer lies. They’re guilty as sin. God will smash their worship shrines, pulverize their god-images. 3 They go around saying, “Who needs a king? We couldn’t care less about God, so why bother with a king? What difference would he make?” 4 They talk big, lie through their teeth, make deals. But their high-sounding words turn out to be empty words, litter in the gutters.

Hosea 13:2 MSG
And now they’re back in the sin business again, manufacturing god-images they can use, Religion customized to taste. Professionals see to it: Anything you want in a god you can get. Can you believe it? They sacrifice live babies to these dead gods – kill living babies and kiss golden calves!

Amos 8:7 MSG
God swears against the arrogance of Jacob: “I’m keeping track of their every last sin.”

Amos 8:14 MSG
Along with those who take oaths at the Samaria Sin-and-Sex Center, saying, ‘As the lord god of Dan is my witness!’ and ‘The lady goddess of Beer-sheba bless you!’ Their lives will fall to pieces. They’ll never put it together again."

Micah 6:7 MSG
Would God be impressed with thousands of rams, with buckets and barrels of olive oil? Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child, my precious baby, to cancel my sin?

Zephaniah 1:18 MSG
Don’t plan on buying your way out. Your money is worthless for this. This is the Day of God’s Judgment – my wrath! I care about sin with fiery passion – A fire to burn up the corrupted world, a wildfire finish to the corrupting people."

Zechariah 3:9 MSG
And note this: This stone that I’m placing before Joshua, a single stone with seven eyes’ – Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies – ’I’ll engrave with these words: “I’ll strip this land of its filthy sin, all at once, in a single day.”

Zechariah 5:6 MSG
I said, “What in the world is that?” He said, “This is a bushel basket on a journey. It holds the sin of everyone, everywhere.”

Malachi 2:17 MSG
You make God tired with all your talk. “How do we tire him out?” you ask. By saying, “God loves sinners and sin alike. God loves all.” And also by saying, “Judgment? God’s too nice to judge.”

Mark 2:17 MSG
Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit.”

John 8:11 MSG
“No one, Master.” “Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.” You’re Missing God in All This

John 8:34 MSG
Jesus said, "I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave.

John 16:8 MSG
“When he comes, he’ll expose the error of the godless world’s view of sin, righteousness, and judgment:John 16:9 MSG
He’ll show them that their refusal to believe in me is their basic sin;

Acts 7:60 MSG
Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, “Master, don’t blame them for this sin” – his last words. Then he died. Saul was right there, congratulating the killers.

Romans 2:12 MSG
If you sin without knowing what you’re doing, God takes that into account. But if you sin knowing full well what you’re doing, that’s a different story entirely.

Romans 3:25 MSG
God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public – to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured.

Romans 5:15 MSG
Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do!

Romans 5:16 MSG
There’s no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence.

Romans 5:18 MSG
Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life!

Romans 5:20 MSG
All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down.

Romans 5:21 MSG
All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life – a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

Romans 6:1-2
So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? 2 I should hope not! If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there?

Sin page 27 next

Ezekiel 4:17 MSG
Famine conditions. People will look at one another, see nothing but skin and bones and shake their heads. This is what sin does."

Ezekiel 21:24 MSG
“So this is what God, the Master, says: ‘Because your sin is now out in the open so everyone can see what you’ve been doing, you’ll be taken captive.

Daniel 9:11 MSG
All of us in Israel ignored what you said. We defied your instructions and did what we pleased. And now we’re paying for it: The solemn curse written out plainly in the revelation to God’s servant Moses is now doing its work among us, the wages of our sin against you.

Micah 1:5 MSG
All this because of Jacob’s sin, because Israel’s family did wrong. You ask, “So what is Jacob’s sin?” Just look at Samaria – isn’t it obvious? And all the sex-and-religion shrines in Judah – isn’t Jerusalem responsible?

Zechariah 5:6 MSG
I said, “What in the world is that?” He said, “This is a bushel basket on a journey. It holds the sin of everyone, everywhere.”

Romans 3:20 MSG
Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.

Romans 5:15 MSG
Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do!

Romans 6:3 MSG
Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace – a new life in a new land!

Romans 6:6 MSG
Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life – no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this:

Romans 7:13 MSG
I can already hear your next question: “Does that mean I can’t even trust what is good [that is, the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?” No again! Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me. By hiding within God’s good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have accomplished on its own.

Colossians 2:11 MSG
Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in – insiders – not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin.

There’s a place where mercy reigns and never dies, where streams of grace grow deep and wide
All the love I’ve ever found comes like a flood, comes flowing down
At the cross at the cross I surrender my life, I’m in awe of you
Where your love ran red and my sin washed white I owe all to you, I owe all to you, Jesus

Listen here to Chris Tomlin sings about forgiveness…

So do you want to be a slave or a free man?

There’s a place where sin and shame are powerless where my heart has peace with God and forgiveness
All the love I’ve ever found comes like a flood, comes flowing down
At the cross at the cross I surrender my life, I’m in awe of you

Where your love ran red and my sin washed white I owe all to you, I owe all to you, Jesus.

Our existence is a gift from God – the way we live our life is our gift to Him.