“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7).

A young boy was ridiculed by some kids at school and came home humiliated. His grandfather happened to be visiting. He could tell the boy was upset and asked him why.

The boy told him the story, then said, “It feels like I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One is angry and wants revenge. The other wants to forgive him. Which one will win?”

The grandfather replied, “The one you feed.”

This is true not only of anger and forgiveness. This is true for everything else that we struggle with – greed, pride, jealousy, lust, worry, fear, etc. Whatever we are feeding will dominate our thoughts and consciousness.

That’s why the the Apostle Paul encourages us, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).

So, friends, what are you feeding?

“Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!'” (2 Samuel 12:7).

“You the man!”

When we hear that, in today’s jargon, that’s a compliment. It means, “Wow! You are really something. You are really great!” When someone says that about you, it’s almost a always a good thing.

Not so much in this context. When Nathan tells David, “You are the man!”, Nathan is confronting David about his sin of raping Bathsheba and murdering her husband Uriah. The person responsible for these horrendous deeds is none other than David.

The rest of the verse lays out the sentence. “Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!’ This is what the LORD, the God of Israel,, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites” (2 Samuel 12:7-9).

“You are the man!”

Just as David was guilty of sin, so are we.

“You are the man!”

Yup. That includes you and me. We are all guilty. We are all deserving of God’s wrath and judgment.

“You are the man!”

Yup. No excuses.

BUT, “You are the man!”

You are the person Jesus died on the cross for.

“You are the man!”

You are the person God could not imagine spending an eternity without.

“You are the man!”

So Jesus died on the cross to die the death we deserve. And Jesus rose again from the dead to give us eternal life.

“You are the man!”

God loves you.

“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking…You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self…and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:17, 22, 24).

We love affirmation. We hate correction.

Our world is all about affirmation.

• Do you.
• As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, go for it.
• You are perfect just the way you are.

That’s so nice.

But the problem is we are not nice. We are not good. And we are certainly not perfect the way we are.

Jesus did not die on the cross to affirm us and to celebrate us just the way we are. If we are perfect just the way we are, we certainly don’t need a savior, and forget about the cross. What a bloody waste!!!

And, that’s just the thing. Jesus did die on the cross. You know why? Because we are not perfect. In fact, we are marching toward eternal death and hell every second, every minute, every day. We don’t need affirmation nor celebration. What we need is transformation and salvation.

Jesus died on the cross not to affirm or celebrate us just the way we are, but to rescue us and transform us from the way we are.

That’s the gospel. That’s the good news. Jesus died the death we deserve, and rose again from the dead so that we can live with the risen Christ.

So, remember: God could not imagine an eternity without you and me in it. So God sent his Son to die on the cross to make a way for sinners to be transformed into sons and daughters of God. God loves us just the way we are AND God loves us too much to leave us the way we are.

And truly great news!