Have I gone too far to be forgiven?

In my inbox the other day was an email from a woman who shared a very emotional story regarding her very difficult past and her current struggles regarding her fears and worries about her salvation.  I won't go into any of the details that she shared.  I'll only say that in general she has dealt with a lot of hurt and pain that she's received from others, as well as a deep sense of guilt and shame due to her own failures and sins.  She also shared with me that she'd recently heard some teachings on "falling away," and it's led to much more fear.

I responded to her, and I'd like to share my response here in the hopes that it will be of comfort and encouragement to others as well.

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I do want to share the good news with you in regards to your standing with God.  As you probably know, the word "gospel" means "good news," and that's what God has declared to mankind through Jesus Christ.  When Jesus was born, the angels were declaring "good tidings of great joy" and saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" (Luke 2:14).  The "goodwill toward men" is from God to humans.  It's God's goodwill towards people.  That's why Jesus came.

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."  Rom 5:8-9

"God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their sins against them."  2 Cor 5:19

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:17

So, no matter what you've ever done, no matter what you've ever been through, no matter what sins you've ever committed, no matter how big or bad your failures have been, Christ has not come to condemn you or to put you to shame, but He has come to save you.  God has not come into your life to point out your sins, but to show you how He has saved you from your sins.  He's come into your life to give you LIFE - and not to put guilt, shame or condemnation upon you.  Christ's sacrifice has delivered you from guilt, shame and condemnation.

The great Enemy likes to skew God's good news message, by portraying God and Christ as being angry and vengeful with us for our sins.  But that's not what happened in Christ.  It's actually exactly the opposite!

God has shown great love and kindness towards us.  He has offered all of His goodwill to us freely, without cost to us.  Our good works cannot earn it, and our bad works cannot take it away.  We receive all of it, not through our efforts but by God's grace, through faith.  We simply believe Him, and trust Him in what He has done on our behalf.

There is a mention in Hebrews 6 of those who "fall away."  It's a hypothetical situation, but the main point about it that I'd like to make is, what is it that they would "fall away" from and what is it that they would fall away to?  Many in the church would teach you that to "fall away" is to fall away from God by sinning, or by living in constant sin.  But that's not what the passage in Hebrews 6 is talking about - at all.  This epistle to the Hebrews was written to people who had been under the law all their lives.  (It was written to Jews - Hebrews - who had been under the law).  After having been under the law for so long, in which they would sacrifice bulls, goats and other animals for their sins, day after day and year after year, they found out that Christ's ONE sacrifice actually took away all sin, once and for all!  The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin, but Christ's sacrifice did!  So through faith, that's what they had originally turned TO.  They had turned away from their own efforts and sacrifices, and they had turned TO trusting in Christ's sacrifice.  However... many of them were questioning if Christ's sacrifice was really enough, and they were turning back to sacrificing animals.  They had turned FROM faith in Christ, back TO trusting in the sacrifices of animals.  This is the "falling away" in Hebrews 6.

Falling away from God isn't about sinning.  It's about turning away from Christ's sacrifice, and turning back to animal sacrifices (or keeping God's law in general).  Salvation is found only in ONE name, Jesus Christ, and it can't be found in any other name or in any other way.

So that's the good news!  You are saved, sanctified, justified and made righteous all through the ONE sacrifice of Jesus.  It's through nothing you've ever done, and it's not taken away through anything you've ever done.  God simply asks us to trust what He has done over what we have done.

I hope this helps you to understand and realize that your salvation isn't dependent upon YOU. :)  It's solely dependent upon HIM... and He has not fallen short in any way in saving you or keeping you saved. :)  It's all by His grace, and we can't add to or take away from what He's done.

Our relationships with other people are different, of course.  There's nobody who has ever loved like God loves or who has given us mercy and grace like God has given us.  And we've not done the same for others, either.  We all still fall very short in our actions towards each other, and towards God.  And because of that, we will indeed have varying degrees of strife and situations that we will have to deal with in life.  That's just the reality.  But with GOD, we never, ever, ever have to deal with Him being contentious towards us.  He will never condemn us or make us feel guilty.  When we are in Christ, by grace through faith, feelings of guilt and condemnation do not come from God!

I wish you all of God's grace and peace.  May you truly know and experience the love, mercy, grace and peace of God.