Not Guilty

I was a camp counselor for a summer at a Bible camp when I was 19-years-old. Due to the trend of shallow-minded and very tacky religious ceremonies, many of the campers and counselors wore ridiculous shirts attempting to be theological. One shirt was a parody of the "Vote For Pedro" shirt from the movie "Napoleon Dynamite." It said "Vote for Jesus." Jesus is not looking for our approval. The Holy Ghost unites us with Him and makes Him our Brother. These children knew they were saved, but the trends of the modern protestant culture give them the impression that wearing these types of shirts is cool, putting the emphasis on them being cool rather than on sound doctrine. Another shirt said "COPS." It stood for Christians Obediently Preaching Salvation. These were children wearing these shirts, as if they are called to preach publicly. Children confess their faith. Don't get me wrong! But they are not called to preach. The Church should be teaching children the word of God; not rallying them up to preach.

These shirts were all pretty terrible, but the most unorthodox--both in style and theology-- was a shirt that stated "I'm Not Perfect; Just Forgiven."

Just forgiven?!

Don't you need to be absolutely perfect to go to Heaven? The popular response might be "No! You just need to be forgiven!" Who forgave you? Why did He forgive you? For Whose sake did He forgive you?

God forgave you. He forgave you because He loves you, and by forgiving you, He is declaring you perfect and just so that you may be with Him in Heaven. For Christ's sake, who bore the penalty for our sins and gave God the justice He demanded, you are forgiven. Just forgiven?! Christ sweat blood and was forsook by His Father so that we could be "just forgiven." We are forgiven, and by that forgiveness, we are perfect saints clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

As Paul writes in Romans 6, "We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death so that just as Christ rose by the glory of the Father, you too shall walk in newness of life."
In Galatians, we read that as many of us who are baptized into Christ have put on Christ. We are forgiven! We are perfect! We are just! Praise the Father for sending His Son to take our place. Praise the Son for obediently and willingly taking on our guilt. Praise the Holy Ghost for cleansing us in our Baptism and preparing us for our Groom, Christ. To Him be glory and honor forever.