Ephesians Chapter 2
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
Have you turned away from God?
Have you left God because you think you'll be fine without Him,
or is it because you have messed up and now you think He won't like you anymore? You'll be back when you get yourself back together. Now you've got a few problems to solve.
I think the number one reason people stop going to church is that they have sin in their life and they’re embarrassed. So there’s this backward thinking that if I’m doing everything right — if I’ve had like several weeks of good behavior — I can go to church. But, we also think that if we mess up in some way that we’re ashamed of or if we fall off the wagon and get drunk again, that well I can’t go to church for awhile until I get things right. But that’s not true! God loves you not because of what you do, but because of who you are. You are His beloved.