Theosis- Greek term meaning deification,
the process of becoming Christ-like.
Theosis means that life is a journey, a
walk that we can either take with Christ and the Saints at our side toward
eternal life, or away from God in the wilderness. Because Christ destroyed the
powers of sin and death over our lives, we do not have to be perfect. We all
stray from the path, we all find logs and mountains in our way that we cannot
move or overcome by ourselves. We will all make mistakes or shy away from doing
the utmost of what we’re capable of; and that’s just fine. Because God Loves
us! He loves us so much that he sent his son to open the gates of Paradise and
show us the way to them.
John 3:16 states: “For God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son so that whosoever believes in Him
should not perish but have Everlasting Life.”
People often get discouraged when they
know that they have sinned and they wonder whether God still loves them or if
they have fallen too far. You can Never fall far enough for God to abandon you.
“Listen to Me O house of Jacob and all
the remnant of Israel, both those taken from the womb and those instructed in
childhood. Even to your old age I AM, and even to your gray hairs I AM. I bear
you; I have made you and will forgive you.” (Isaiah 46:3-4)
“For thus says the Lord God, I take no
pleasure in the death of the wicked but that he turns from his way and lives.
For why will ye die O Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11)
“But You our God are kind, true,
patient. And govern all things in mercy for even if we sin we belong to you and
know your might.”
(Wisdom of Solomon 15:1-2)
These scriptures make it quite clear
that if we repent and ask God for forgiveness He Will forgive us. It’s never
too late to start on the path and the only way we can fall to far is to not try
to get back up again.
However, even taking God’s limitless
mercy into account… we still can’t expect to be forgiven for mistakes we don’t
realize were mistakes. We have to make the effort to know what God is asking of
us and do it. We have to repent our mistakes and then not repeat them. If we
just kept repeating the same sins over and over we may as well have glued our
feet to the road because we will not progress any further.
“Do you not know that the unrighteous
will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists will inherit the kingdom of God. And
such were some of you but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you
were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
(1Cor. 6:9-11)
Paul said it clearly “and so were many
of you” as in they had repented… they had given up their sins and become better
people for doing so!
Jesus also illustrated this quite
clearly.
Then the scribes and Pharisees brought
to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they
said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now
Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You
say?”
This they said, testing Him, that they
might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote
on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they
continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without
sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down
and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their
conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.
And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had
raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where
are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one,
Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
(John 8:3-11)
Now this story shows us 2 very important
concepts within this idea. The first is the real definition of repentance, as
has been stated before it is to not only ask for forgiveness but to turn away
from that particular sin and not repeat the same mistake.
The second is to focus on our own walks
of faith. No one but God can truly know a person’s heart and soul. Therefore
only He as the authority to judge them and decide their eternal fate. We can,
and should, know and stand up for what is right and stand against what is
wrong, we can judge the mistake itself but we cannot judge the person, we
should also make sure not to misrepresent ourselves. We should only call
someone out on a mistake they have made if we are ourselves doing things right
in that area. “He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.”
To sum this all up, we are each on our
own journey and based on an accumulation of choices we make and how we react to
the situations God presents to us we can either walk toward heaven or away from
it but no matter how far we stray God will always be there to guide us and to
comfort us and he will help put us back on the path that leads to life if we
let him.
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