"Only Pain blameth and punisheth, and our courteous Lord comforteth and sorroweth; and ever He is to the soul in glad Cheer, loving, and longing to bring us to His bliss."
Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)
One of the most life-changing things we can find out is that God does not punish us! Though some Old Testament verses seem to say that God punishes, Jesus came and gave the fuller picture of God. Jesus never punished a single person, whether tax collector or Pharisee. And on the cross He prayed for all who harmed Him to be forgiven. He showed that God's way is forgiveness and release, not punishment. He showed us God is grace, not law. He gave us the true picture of God, a God of compassion, mercy, forgiveness and love, a God who does not judge us but saves us. It is not God who causes us pain and suffering. It is not God who punishes or harms us. It is pain itself that hurts us, evil and death that do us harm. It is fear and loneliness and depression and tragedy that hurt us, not God! These things are brought on us through the presence of evil, not the presence of God. God comes to us not to cause pain but to relieve it. He comes not to punish sin but to remove it. What a relief to know that when we fail, God isn't looking on us harshly with judgment, ready to beat us or make us suffer to learn some kind of "lesson." Instead, He is looking on us with compassion, tenderness and kindness, suffering all our pain with us and being so moved in His tender heart that He wants only to comfort and encourage and heal us, or rather to show us Jesus already healed us! He has only one look towards us, the loving look of joy! He is bringing us into joy, the joy of heaven, and He doesn't think, talk or get concerned about our sin. It's not on His mind at all; it is already dealt with and removed by the cross anyway! He is only thinking about how happy we make Him just by being His kids. He always has a smile on His face for us. He is only thinking about the joy He wants to bring into our lives. For God only looks at what is, not what isn't. Sin and punishment are what ISN'T. Sin is gone, and there is no condemnation, shame, judgment or punishment at all coming to us, never from God anyway, but not from any other source either! It was all taken away by the death and resurrection of Christ! God only looks at what IS. He only sees new creations in Christ, perfected and holy, pure and clean, flawless and beautiful, beloved and honored! He is always seeing this reality and is bringing us to get our eyes off the sin we already died to with Christ, so we can look at the resurrection reality we have been brought into by Christ! What a glorious thing to know, that God doesn't punish us, He has simply healed us by love through Christ!
"The Lord lifts up all who fall, and he supports all who are bowed down."
Psalm 145:14 (EHV)
A Prayer: When I fall down, You always pick me up. You never shame or blame me. You just encourage and help me. Thank You!