Quote:
Originally Posted by LancYP1990
As a minister, how can you help someone, kind of like a young person - who is dealing with a lot of fear and condemnation. They are so afraid of being blatently disobedient to God, or being lukewarm, that they scrutinize every little decision they make. It seems to me that their view of God is one of an angry God holding them over the flames of hell by a thread, instead of a loving God who wants to direct their life and save them. My suspicion is that they feel this way because of mistakes in their past. What would you say to help them gain their confidence in God back?
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Emphasize grace and help them out of legalism.
Legalism can bring this sense of fear and condemnation.
They should fear God over their sinful behaviors and their carnal struggles. But this fear should be a holy reverence that brings them to the foot of the cross in confession and an honest reasoning with God over their human condition. They need to cease focusing so much on their failures and focus on their identity in Jesus. The truth is... we become what we focus on. If we focus on our sin and failures... they will never cease. If we focus on grace and growing into Christlikeness in spite of our human weakness... we'll see vast improvement we never thought was possible.