Sin is said to separate Man from his Creator. What is it about sin that causes this separation process? Some contend that God cannot stand sin, therefore he must withdraw from the presence of the sinner. Is it God’s holiness, his basic nature that separates man and his Creator today?

If we go back and analyze the first sin of Genesis chapter 3, we see that Adam and Eve ate, became aware of good and evil, and being ashamed of their now apparent nakedness, they hid from God. It is noteworthy to see that the immediate separation was initiated by man because of shame. The sense of shame was the result of man’s realization that he was naked before God. Man had always been naked, but it was not until he gained the knowledge of his nakedness that Adam decided to hide/separate himself from God. The initial separation occurs because Adam learns something about himself that leads him to believe he needs to hide from God. The feeling of exposure of inadequacy has always caused man to want to conceal himself. The resulting attempts to hide have generally resulted in additional wrongful acts, all designed to allow man to deal with his own sense of guilt and unworthiness.

The conclusion from the account of Adam and Eve is that sin caused man to withdraw from God even before God condemned the original sin. Mankind became too ashamed to ever hope for God’s love and acceptance, and that sense of unworthiness continues to haunt many today, despite the work of Christ.

Sin still seems to separate us from God because we do not have faith in God and his love and his ability to accept us as flawed human beings. Free-will guarantees that all will make some wrong choices in their lives. Mistakes are inevitable. What is not inevitable is that we continue to let our mistakes separate us from the blessing of fellowship with our creator. God has completed the perfect reconciliation plan, the final remedy for sin. It is the complete forgiveness bought by the blood of Christ. Man can now be sure of God’s good-will toward us regardless of our flaws. Shortcomings don’t lead to a loss of God’s love; they never did, and they never will. God is too great to allow mankind’s failures to foil his perfect plan. You can have complete faith in a God like that and enjoy his presence each day of your life.

I have no faith in my faith. You may have the same problem with your faith. When I was convinced that my faith and faithfulness were the measure of my status before God, I could never feel secure. My faith always wavered for the simple reason that I knew beyond a doubt that I was flawed. I could not be certain of my ability to measure up in faith any more than I could in any other quality. Then there was always the additional question of what to believe and how to believe it. The church's explanation of "saving faith" was just too nebulous. The bottom line was clear enough though; it all depended on me and my getting it right, whatever right might mean.

What a change it is to realize finally that my status in the eyes of God does not depend on my faith. Instead it depends on someone else's faith and faithfulness. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast". Could man boast of their own faith and faithfulness? Yes, they can and do. Neither the grace nor the faith is of you and me; it is all of God in Christ.

Hallelujah! My faith and ability don't matter. The faith of Christ and the faithfulness of God, however, do matter. In combination they are the answer to all my doubts and faithlessness. To rely on me is to fail. To rely on God without any restriction imposed by my weaknesses is the ultimate victory.

God's faithfulness is intimately bound up in His basic purpose for creating mankind. That purpose was not to "skim the cream off the top". That purpose was defined by love; and it could not be subverted by man, angel, or other being. That purpose was to mold humanity collectively into the image of the Creator. Yes, that collection is made up of individual lives, but God's purpose and His faithfulness are directed to mankind as a whole, as an indivisible unity. God could not be faithful to His creative purpose without being completely successful in that purpose.

In a book I read recently, the authors suggested that the fearful aspects of the physical world, like hurricanes and ferocious animals, teach us that God is scary. I personally thought that was a terribly mistaken way to see God, but I wonder just how many people actually think God is scary. Can we really love a God who is also frightening? Some would say "yes" claiming that they both loved and feared their father, for instance, because he was both a sustainer and a disciplinarian That may be; but the fear they speak of does not compare with the supposed fearfulness of God, which threatens eternal punishment.

Interestingly, a friend recently commented that the opposite of love is not hate as we might think, but rather the opposite is fear. Fear simply causes people to do hateful things. Certainly I can see a tendency in my own life to react fearfully to those who "wrong" me and then to do something hateful in response.

The Bible says that God is Love. Love is by extension the paramount virtue. This is reiterated by the Apostle Paul in his famous discourse in I Corinthians Chapter 13. Without love nothing else matters. The same Bible, in I John 4:18, tells us that perfect love casts out fear, establishing the connection between love and fear. I conclude that fear and love are incompatible. How, therefore, can we both love God and picture him as scary as suggested above? It is impossible. We can claim to love a fearful God, but it is not a true love, because true love cannot be coerced. It must be freely given in response to Love unconditionally extended.

"But Eddie, what about the part found in Colossians 1:10 where it says that we should walk worthy of The Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, and so on and on and so on? There's no way that these things mentioned here in Colossians 1:10-14 can possibly apply to people of the world."

Day after day after day I am asked questions like the one I've just quoted above. The questions are asked out of practically every book and letter found in the bible. Many ask me these type of questions because they want to learn and understand the Gospel of The Grace and Peace of God. Yet others ask questions simply because they cannot believe and have a difficult time accepting that this Gospel of the Grace and Peace of God is for ALL.

The disciples sort of had the same attitude that many religious people have today..."Lord, let us built a tabernacle for you, Elijah, Moses and one for us." In other words, this relationship between God and man only belongs to them who walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. To them who are fruity, fruity goody and forever increasing in the knowledge of God. For those who God has strengthened and have allowed to become partakers of light and no longer walk in sinful darkness.

For those who have believed, repented and who God has approved of and has taken notice of their confession of true faith. These are the only type of people that God has translated into the kingdom of His dear Son, and the rest are out of luck. But there's a problem with such religious bias attitude and legalistic mentality. How many can honestly and sincerely say that they walk worthy of the Lord all of the time?

How do we define "worthy"? What is it that is pleasing to God? What about the being fruitful in every good work? I asked these and many more questions to the African American brother who approached me with the question I stated at the beginning of this article, and all he could come up with was..."God rebuke you and your questions," and then walked away. This hasn't been the first time I get such a response. In many of my articles dating back to 1998 I have had similar angry reactions from religious people who believe that God only tabernacles with the goody, juicy fruity.

Friends, thank God that in Christ we are seen before God as being worthy. Thank God that Jesus was the only one to have ever been pleasing to God. Thank God that it was Christ who was fruitful in every good work. Everything was done according to His glorious power and not our works of filthy rags. It was Him who delivered us from religious self-righteousness (the law) and planted us all into the kingdom of His dear Son. It is in Him and through Him, because of Him and by Him that we find redemption and forgiveness of sins in His blood.

It has nothing to do with what we've done, are doing or will ever do. This tabernacle of Grace is for all, and not for a self-righteous few. As long as some of us have this religious mindset that some are worthy and some aren't, there will always be bias questions trying to discredit God's tabernacle of unconditional love and grace. I like what my friend "Steve" said..."If God tabernacles with those who do it all right, then I want to tabernacle with those who do it all wrong because I have a better chance of being accepted with God by being wrong than thinking I am right."

Friends, we leave ourselves wide open for disappointment when we ask questions that lead to "I am better than they attitude." Simply because one goes to church and does all those churchy religious expected things, doesn't mean that God tabernacles with you and not with those who don't do all of those churchy things. This Gospel is either a tabernacle of Grace or a tabernacle of works.

It was God who without prejudice decided to make it a tabernacle of grace for all. We need to stop having "Peter Visions" of... "Not so Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common nor unclean." And begin to hear what The Lord said three times to Peter..."Do not call common that which I have cleansed." Acts 10:9-16. Thank God that religious barriers of prejudice are crumbling down and God's tabernacle of Grace continues to be built by the simple preaching and common sense truth of the true Gospel of Grace and Peace.

Grace N Peace To All

Eddie Narvaez