“What Do I Stand For?” F2 = −F1 Action = Reaction…Choice=Consequence

“…and that in consequence of their fall (Adam and Eve) all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.” (The Doctrines of The Salvation Army, Doctrine #5)

“We believe in the immortality of the soul; in the resurrection of the body; in the general judgment at the end of the world; in the eternal happiness of the righteous; and in the endless punishment of the wicked.” (The Doctrines of The Salvation Army, Doctrine #11)

What do I stand for? This is the question I’ve been asking and trying to answer all week…

Thus far we’ve explored: Selflessness over selfishness; God’s Justice & Social Justice. These are fundamental areas of a Christian life. So let me throw some fuel on the fire, so to speak…when we recognize what it is we are standing for, where our ideologies lay and are guided by specific principles in our lives we must begin to recognize that Isaac Newton’s third law of action-reaction applies to our spiritual lives as well.

Isaac Newton’s 3^rd Law – Action/Reaction:

When a first body exerts a force F₁ on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force F₂ = −F₁ on the first body. This means that F₁ and F₂ are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.

Did you catch that? Just kidding, unless you’re really into physical laws and laws of mechanics you might not understand this definition…here’s the definition that I understand: “To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.”

In our world, morally speaking, this reaction is called consequences. Everyone who makes choices both consciously and sub-consciously will find that there are consequences to each and every choice we make. All too often, however, in our world today many people have chosen to ignore these consequences by blaming other people for their mistakes, or simply running away from the consequences. Adam and Eve, as I’ve mentioned before faced God’s justice in the garden because of the choice they both consciously made: Action (Choice) = Reaction (Consequence).

Similarly, if we continue by this line of reasoning we come to a junction in the road that brings us to ultimate consequence. Everyone whole heartedly embraces and understands that all humanity will one day face death…as it’s been said, it’s inevitable like taxes. We will one day die. It is quite sad to consider those who are Atheists who believe that there is no further existence after death…that this is all there is to this existence. In the Christian perspective, we believe that our souls do have an afterlife and that within this afterlife there is heaven and there is hell.

As I’ve stated before some people have a difficult time facing this reality and that God would eternally punish those who reject Him. But as I’ve mentioned before if our action is to purposefully and willfully turn our backs on God, then the eternal consequence of such an action is the reaction which leads the soul to eternal separation from God. Hell is a real place! Hell will be inevitable for some people…and I am not the judge, never will be and I’ve never claimed to be. But if we are to embrace such a reasoning as an afterlife and the notion of heaven, then ought to understand that there is such a place as hell.

Here’s are some closing thoughts on this for today:

1) Own up to your actions!

You and you alone are responsible for the choices that YOU make…I am responsible for the choices that I make!

2) Consequences are real!

If you make a poor choice the consequences are yours. If I make a poor choice the consequence is mine. Not someone else’s. Stop blaming others when consequences come that we don’t like that are based on our poor choices.

3) There is always a right and better choice!

God doesn’t simply want a relationship with us, He want to transform us to become like His Son Christ on our spiritual journey! He doesn’t want us to remain the way He has found us. He wants us to choose Him every time in our daily lives. This means consider the consequences of our actions, consider the path that we wish to take and also consider God knows what He is doing! Choose Him, and His path…it won’t be easy but His path is right!

4) Believe in Eternity and live for God’s kingdom in the here and now!

If we choose His path, His direction in our lives, we not only fall in step with His will but we recognize that life is so much more than just this human experience. Eternity is so much longer and lives are at stake. We must be Christ’s ambassadors in our world! We are called to this higher calling to not only look forward to heaven, but to introduce Christ to those who have yet to believe and add to this heavenly family on this journey.

What do I stand for? What do you stand for? I will own up to my choices…I will face the consequence of my poor choices and strive, with His Holy Spirit’s help, to live a Holy life in word and in deed!

April 18, 2013 1

“What do I stand for?” Pt. 2 (God’s Justice)

Have you ever heard the expression from a parent just before they discipline a child, “this will hurt me more than it will hurt you?” Perhaps in your home you heard it differently, perhaps not. I used to think to myself when I heard this said, “oh sure it will, if it hurt you more than me then why am I getting the spanking?” Humorously I’d try to find ways to protect my rear end from harm. Sometimes I would have enough warning because the phrase my mother used was “go to your room and wait for your father to come home!” And so I would sit up in my room and contemplate what I had done as I was considering how many pairs of underwear I could put on without my father noticing so that I could lessen the blow of the spanking. Truth be told, I didn’t get spanked all that often but I will never forget the phrase, “This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you.”

I am convinced that our Father in Heaven feels that way too! He does not want to inflict pain and suffering on those He has created, yet because of humanity’s poor choices, at times, He has to. We were not created by a vindictive God who loves to punish. That wasn’t His purpose for creating us. God’s justice wasn’t initially a part of creation until the fall took place. Before the fall of Adam and Eve, God walked with us. God communed with His loved ones. The very fact that He had to drive out Adam and Eve from the garden must have been very difficult for Him! The pain in which He must have gone through because of their deceit and consequential sin. I can almost imagine God saying to Adam and Eve; “This is going to hurt me, more than it’s going to hurt you!”

After all, wasn’t it God who created for Adam and Eve their first line of clothing? (Gen 3:21) Even in the midst of their disobedience God was there to provide for them. God’s justice is something that He withholds until it is the absolute last resort. He doesn’t want to impose punishment on His creation, yet the consequences of willful and utter disobedience is punishment within the realms of God’s justice.

I know many have a very hard time comprehending the God of the Old Testament where it seems that all God does is wipe out whole cultures…yet we fail to comprehend how it must have cost God to do something so drastic. Mankind had ascended into the deepest darkest places of morality and sin. They had turned their backs on the One who created them, and because of this His justice had to take place.

Throughout all of history, God has made the attempt to reconnect with His creation. He has made covenants with them…and it should be noted that none of His covenants were ever broken by Him…they were broken by us, humanity. God knew that humanity could never find salvation by themselves, and so Christ, God’s one and only Son, enters the world to redeem us all. Once and for all, a perfect example of humanity’s blood can now cover all transgressions should they call upon the name of Jesus.

God’s justice should never be taken lightly. We must realize that how we live makes a difference. How we live dictates how God imposes love and justice towards us. If we claim to be Christians and yet our lifestyles say other wise we are knowingly sinning against God. To do so, places us in the path of His judgement. We know of God’s forgiveness and yet many use this as a ‘get outta jail card’ like in the game monopoly. Many think that because God will forgive they can carry on in sin and at some point ask for forgiveness and all will be right again…but to do this is willful disobedience and God will have His justice.

Yes God is a God of love and mercy, but He is also one of justice and judgement to those He loves. “because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (Proverbs 3:12 NIV)

What do I stand for? I stand for a love relationship with God. I stand for obedience to God…am I always obedient? No! But, I do know better when I sin and when I fall. His Holy Spirit is given to all who call upon His name and He can and will provide prompting, discernment and even conviction when we go astray.

I stand for a God of Justice even when I feel sometimes His justice is harsh. Though I may feel this way, I am not all knowing and unlike God, I do not have all of the evidence. God does, and in faith, I have to trust that He knows what He is doing. I am NOT God, nor am I even close to His level…so why feel as if I know better than He does? Sometimes, this can be temptation, after all wasn’t it Satan in the garden in the form of a snake who told Eve to eat of the fruit because then she would have the knowledge of God?

God’s justice is difficult to understand from our point of view at times. Sometimes we feel it’s too harsh, sometimes we feel it comes to slowly. Yet one thing is absolute within this line of conversation, God will have His justice and everyone one day, will account for what we have done on this Earth both good and bad.

Evidence of this truth:

Matthew 12:35-37 (NIV)
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV)
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Matthew 25:31-43 (NIV)
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

What I Do Not Stand For:

Mankind taking God’s justice into their own hands; (Governments excluded they provide our base of law and keep us safe). Those who would Lord over people and inflict their marred understanding of justice are not speaking for God!

God’s justice is like the parent that says “It will hurt me more than it will hurt you”. He never wanted to punish His creation, yet without that correction His justice would be the consequence of disobedience.

***Tune in tomorrow as I explore “Social Justice”…an extension of this conversation today!*** “Same bat time, same bat channel” 😉

April 16, 2013 0

I get knocked down…but I get up again!

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…” (1 Timothy 6:12)

Rocky is training for the fight (yeah I know this does age me doesn’t it?) he is running, he is working diligently for the fight and every ounce of sweat, tears and endurance is focused on THE EVENT, when he will face Apollo Creed. He is trained, ready and focused on the goal.

In this Academy Award winning film, the main character ‘Rocky’ pushes through a lot of adversity to face off with the world champ in the ring. The main theme of this film is on focus, determination and perseverance.

Aren’t these qualities what every Christian needs in this world today? Haven’t you ever felt like giving up? Have the pressures of the world around you seemed insurmountable? When you get knocked to the mat by criticism, gossip and even slander have you wanted to quit? I imagine each of us in our own power would have quit long ago!

Having perseverance in the faith requires us to have a firm footing in whom it is we worship and count on to lead us. God wants so very much for us to keep fighting no matter what! It’s not a physical fight we wage in this world, but this very real spiritual battle does spill over into the physical world doesn’t it?

Today, whatever you are facing, whatever trouble that might come your way, know that God is in your corner! He wants you to keep going and not to quit! He gives us His strength when we are weak, the supports us when we don’t have the power to stand on our own. So if you’ve been knocked to the mat, and the referee is counting there in front of you, get back up! Don’t quit…Eternity is our goal and Christ is our coach!

April 12, 2013 0

Book Review: “Falling in Love with God” by Bob Hostetler

Hey all, a little over a month ago I was asked to give a book review on a book that just released yesterday, April 9th, 2013. The book is called, “Falling in love with God” by Bob Hostetler. If you get a chance to, pick up a copy and read it for yourself!

For your convenience I have posted two links where you can purchase this great book:

http://www.christianbook.com/falling-in-love-with-god/bob-hostetler/9780891123743/pd/123743?item_code=WW&netp_id=1055981&event=ESRCG&view=details

http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Love-God-Bob-Hostetler/dp/0891123741/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1365606837&sr=8-7&keywords=Bob+Hostetler

As I read this epic story of God’s love for his people anew through the eyes of Hosea, Hostetler illustrates for us to the lengths in which our Father in Heaven will go to buy back His Bride from the deepest darkest depths of total depravity. Hostetler weaves this journey of God’s Redemptive love in a very practical and personal way for us today! Not only does he accurately expound on the scriptures of the book of Hosea, but brings our lives into focus for the here and now! How God desires to love us more deeply, and He wants us to love Him back! If you have ever pondered the extent in which God will go to win back His Bride, read the book of Hosea in the Bible, then pick up a copy Bob Hostetler’s new book: “Falling in Love with God“. I know you won’t regret it, check it out and I know you will be blessed as I was when you read its pages.

April 10, 2013 1

“Who do you think you are?”

“Who do you think you are?” I heard this from one of my sons just the other day as he was sent to his room and was expressing his outrage at the sentence that I had just handed down to him. He yelled it at the top of the stairs just after stomping up each step like a charging Elephant. His comment kind of brought me up short, who was I? In a moment of tears and anger, my son had struck a chord in me. It wasn’t so much the situation at hand, he certainly needed to be sent to his room (consequences of poor behavior), but it was an existential question that got me thinking literally “who do I think I am?”

In order to answer that very basic question, the Lord gave me His response that question. A moment of epiphany took place within me in my preparation for Good Friday. I was to bring the message that evening and so my study of God’s word became focused on the crucifixion story. Prior to the crucifixion story is an amazing yet brief expository examination on the identity of who Jesus was. Matthew 16:13-16 records this event. Jesus asks His disciples “who do people say the Son of Man is?” His question is first what does the common person know about the identity of this Son of Man? And their response to His question is essentially the Son of Man is a good person, maybe John the Baptist, maybe Elijah, maybe Jeremiah or some other prophet. It’s a response that essentially declares the people didn’t know who the Son of Man was. They truly didn’t comprehend what God’s plan was within the identity of the Son of Man.

Then, after Jesus hears their responses He asks them a more directed question…this time it’s personal, intimate, unguarded; “But what about you?” He asks them looking into their eyes as if He is looking directly into their souls, the very fibers of their created being. The moment of truth is hovering and hanging upon the completion of Jesus’ question, and slowly He asks it almost as if He’s concerned what their answer may be; “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Imagine Andrew glancing at John, as John frowns and exchanges eyes contact with the others and then finally looks at Peter, who always seems to be the boldest of the group. Peter, as if prompted by the non-verbal exchange looks back at Jesus and makes his declaration of faith, identity and purpose; “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!”

In a single solitary sentence, Peter makes a statement so bold that to speak it in the wrong place at the wrong time with Pharisees or priests within ear shot would have meant a death sentence. Peter declares Jesus to be Messiah and God’s Son! Jesus’ identity is revealed in scripture, confirmed to His followers, and this epic redemption story is about to unfold for all of humanity. All because that question “Who do you think you are” is answer by Jesus.

Identity Revealed:

Because of who Christ is, revealed to us, we are then able to be identified with Him, who was crucified for our sins and also with His resurrection which is our door by which eternal life is opened to us!
“But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12 ASV)

We now have the right to be called sons and daughters, children of God! That’s who we are! If we are members of the body of Christ, then we ought to no longer struggle with this identity crisis! We are His children! Christ has been revealed to us, His identity is real and His power as the Son of God has conquered sin and death for us! When people ask “who do you think you are?”; we can humbly and confidently reply that we are children of the Most High! Our identity doesn’t give us license to lord it over the world, or judge the world either, but I hope it does provide a measure of peace for our souls. WE ARE HIS! If we identify ourselves as Christians, and we also claim that we too are crucified with Christ then our identity is also answered and we ought not to live in crisis over who we are in this world! (Galatians 2:20)

Who do you think you are today? This question isn’t asked in a condescending tone, but simply inquiring whether or not you know who you are and more importantly WHOSE you are!

April 5, 2013 1

Spinning like a Merry-Go-Round

James 1:5-8 (NIV)
⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

A few years ago I experienced a very bad bout of vertigo. I was laying on my bed, looking up and the room was spinning round and around and around. It was like involuntarily being on a merry-go-round as it spun faster and faster and faster. It was a very disconcerting thing for me. I felt sick to my stomach; I had lost control and couldn’t stop this awful ride. To put it plainly it was hell. Eventually I had to go to the emergency room and get checked out. After a series of tests it was revealed that I had a buildup of fluid behind my ear and this was the culprit to my world spinning around.

Isn’t it funny how such a small thing can become such a problem in life? I struggled with my world seemingly spinning out of control and it happened that one of my ears had an issue. It makes you really appreciate and also realize just how delicately balanced our lives and bodies are.

So it is with our faith as well. Not so much on God’s end, but our end. We are often like a merry-go-round in our faith. We go round and round and sometimes we never come to any decision and we make no long term commitments to God. Yet God is standing there ready to supply us with the wisdom that we need if only we ask Him. Why is it that we forget that He’s there? Why is it that we don’t cry out to God every day when our world seems to be spinning around us?

I think pride is a part of it. All too often we feel as if we need no one’s help and if we were to ask it would be a sign of our weakness or inability. Yet God wants us to call on Him in every season of life, spinning or not. He knows how difficult life is because Christ lived it. Jesus came to our level and He can truly identify with our struggles, our temptations, and our pains. Having this knowledge of His intimate understanding of the human existence, it would be foolish NOT to call upon Him in our times of need and contentment. Pride shouldn’t play a part in us missing out on His wisdom and strength.

Lastly, as James writes, we shouldn’t doubt that when we ask God that He will or will not respond. God is always faithful to those He loves…and guess what? He loves YOU! So don’t have second thoughts about God hearing you, answering you or being there for you…He will be there, He will hear and He will answer! If there’s one place in the Universe that you can place your faith and your hopes upon it’s our Father in Heaven. He will never let us down!

A closing word of caution:

Even though He will never let us down and He hears us when we call, don’t treat God like a good luck charm or a ‘Get out of Jail’ card. He doesn’t work like that. His desire is for us to seek Him every minute of every day. He desires a relationship with us that is so much more than a word of prayer in the midst of our troubled times. God desires our hearts, our lives our love. When we have this type of relationship, He not only intercedes amidst our merry-go-rounds of trouble, but He joins us in the battles and in the struggles.

April 3, 2013 0

Worship…not just reserved for Sundays

This song has been running through my head all night and all of yesterday. We sang this song on Sunday, but it has just stuck with me. For me, music speaks…for me not a day goes by that I don’t find myself breaking out in some sort of song. It’s just my temperament I guess.

But singing songs of praise isn’t the only form of worship to God is it? Music is a very easy conduit that brings us into worship though doesn’t it? It can transform a humble chapel into the very throne room of Heaven, and connect with in ways with the Savior. Worship is so much more than just the songs we sing though. Mere words cannot express who God is, and how we are called upon to bring Him glory. But that doesn’t mean we ever stop…after all the creatures before God in the heaven are singing His praises never ending (Rev 4:8).

Our worship is all about God and what He has done for us. If it becomes mere performance and we lose the emphasis of authentic praise then we ought to re-evaluate our intentions in His sanctuary. When our songs become anything less than praises to Him, they become empty words that only edify our old selfish spirits. That may sound harsh, but that is the reality of things.

Worship isn’t just for Sundays:

Truth be told, we come on Sundays to get reconnected to God, but we shouldn’t unplug ourselves from Him as soon as we shake the Pastor’s hand and exit the building. In fact His praises should be evident in all that we do, through-out our week! Worship takes on other forms in the work place and on our drive to work. How we relate to others around us can be evidence of our Worship to Him. How we respond when others attack us or cause us difficulties is also further evidence of that same worship of Him.

Why Worship in every aspect of our lives?

Because if we believe in a living and active God who created everything and wants to be apart of our lives then shouldn’t we also invite Him into our work week and into our homes? When we do so, we begin to see the full spectrum of the kind of worship that is required of us. Don’t just hang up your worship with your Sunday suit and tie, only to sit there until the next Sunday morning. Take His praises with you every day! He wants that kind of love relationship with you! He deserves so much more than just an hour a week!

Worship…is not just reserved for Sundays…worship is reserved for everyday!

April 2, 2013 1

Peeling Stickers and Gaining Freedom

I am a rubric’s cube champion! I can solve a rubric’s cube in my own time and my own method. Let me explain my method.

Many years ago I was given my first Rubric’s cube and began that very day to attempt to place each frustrating colored cube into the right sequence to match them all up. I tried turning the columns this way at that to find success..I would make a turn only to realize I have been going around and around making the same mistakes, actually repeating the same sequential turns which turn into repeated bad habits. When it was all said and done I was a stubborn fool going round and round doing the same things which were not leading me anywhere near success in solving the colored cubed problem. I recall many times tossing it aside in frustration and vowing never to pick it up again only to break that vow countless times.

I had all but given up, then I had a bright idea…it was one of the older rubic’s cube models and because it was older, the colored squares that made up the cube were actually stickers glued into place.

HERE’S WHY IM A CHAMPION:
I had this bright idea, I would solve this cube puzzle by my own methods…and so I proceeded to peel off the first sticker, then another, then another…I peeled off all of the stickers and then re-assembled the pieces until there in front me was a completed rubric’s cube puzzle all uniformly placed in color coordination. I was now a rubric’s cube champion…in my own mind that is.

Okay confession time, truth be told I admit that I cheated…but I did solve the problem, just with my own method and my own out of the box idea.

WHAT AM I TRYING TO SAY?
Life is like one big Rubric’s cube sometimes. No matter where we go, turn we take, we keep making the same mistakes and the same stubborn wrong decisions. It is said that doing the same thing over and over again is complete and utter insanity…so we must all be insane sometimes. Truth be told we live in a fallen world and we are a fallen people. The Bible teaches us this. Yet over and over again we play the game of life and think we’re on a healthy path then make decisions or encounter the consequences of prior decisions and we end up right back at the place in which we started from. Life can become utter insanity when we live like this. We go round and round, vowing to live better, make better decisions, to be good people…then our actions or our attitudes and our habitual lifestyles get the best of us once more…we become frustrated, tired, worn out, and we just want to throw our hands up and just quit.

Jesus came into this world and proved that the Law wasn’t God. Jesus came into this world and illustrated for us that the Law that people had added to and Pharisees regulated couldn’t be kept…God’s children were going round and round, making sacrifice after sacrifice in order to compensate for their habitual life style that had them going round and round in circles. Jesus came to break that cycle of sin. Jesus busted the game of sin, peeled the stickers (so to speak) off of the lives of humanity and reset them through the shedding of His blood on the cross. He set us free from the cycle and from certain death…because we could not solve this puzzle of life which is Holiness in and of ourselves.

Jesus wants to peel the stickers off of your life and reset them for you today…will you allow him to do this for you? God’s object is to free us…will you let Him?

(My apologies to those avid Rubric solvers out there…It’s just an epiphany that struck truth in my life today!)

March 20, 2013 0

Question: “Why Did God come to Earth?”

“It is only because he became like us that we can become like him.”

-Dietrich Bonehoffer

Jesus came to earth. That impact alone has been felt through time, like a ripple in an ocean that eventually became a tidal wave. God came to us! This one statement should touch us in a way that no other statement on earth can compare itself to. The Creator of this planet, and everything else for that matter, descended to our level…descended to become one of His creations. Why? Why would He do this? What would the motivation be for Almighty God taking on human form? Was He bored? Was there nothing else to do? Obviously there must be a reason.

The Reason:

John 3:16 tells us plainly the reason for God coming to us as a man. “God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life!” God loved us! Not just the world that He created, but the men and women that He created in His own image…you and me! God came to our level so that we might be saved.

Wait.

Saved from what? Was there some sort of cosmic invasion? Were there still dinosaurs out there that needed vanquishing and we needed protecting? No! So what were we saved from?

The answer is that we were saved from ourselves. Huh? What does that mean? Romans chapter three puts it plainly for us: “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” –Romans 3:22-24 (NIV)

Everyone on this rock that we call Earth has sinned. Everyone. Romans 3:23 says “all have sinned.” Back up a few verses and it also says, “There is no one righteous, not even one…” Romans 3:10 (NIV) Since Adam and Eve broke God’s heart in the garden of Eden and committed the first sin, everyone who has ever lived carries this ‘sin gene’ within themselves. There is no one on Earth that is good enough, holy enough or perfect enough to merit meeting the expectations of “righteous”. So this is why God had to take on human form and save us. He came to save us from ourselves. To save us from our own punishment that is certain death without his redemption and sacrifice on our behalf. God knew we needed a redeemer and so He provided a way for us to be saved. Why do this for us? Because He loves us that much! He loves us more than we could ever comprehend or understand. He loves us even before we reach out and reciprocate (or try to reciprocate) that love. Then and only then can we truly understand what Jesus was saying when He said, “The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” –John 10:10 (ASV)

Do you need some assurance today that you’re loved? Do you realize just how important you are to God himself? He extends His arms of love to us today and still says to us “I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly!” Our Father in heaven invites you to experience real life today. If you need help learning more about this great love He has for you, begin by reading the gospel of John…read the gospels and especially read the very words of Jesus. Don’t miss out on the abundant life that God has for you! Don’t miss out on His love. Begin today…I dare you!

March 4, 2013 1

John 3:16 (More than a Church thang, it’s a love thang!)

John 3:16…

“For God so loved that world that He gave His only son, so that whosoever believes in Him, will not perish, but have everlasting life”

we needed saving, we’re hopelessly lost, our life is literally going to hell in a hand-basket and what does this passage of scripture tell us? God loved us. It’s like giving your watch to a bank robber…it doesn’t seem to make sense. We don’t deserve such grace, and yet grace is just what we get with God.

God gave us His one and only son…so we wouldn’t have to die eternally…so that we could once again have a relationship with our Creator. This Son of God’s, was perfect, without sin, and He sacrifices his life for ours…so that his blood now covers our ocean of sin.

I’m not sure about you, but when I read this passage of scripture I don’t just think, “yeah I’ve heard that passage many times in church and Sunday school”; but I now think “Wow…I don’t deserve it…and yet it’s there for me!”

Christmas just came and went. and during that holiday season – kids will be kids and ask for so many things that it drives parents crazy, yet we know that we love them and we desire to give them what they need not what they want.

In God’s case, however, he gave us what we need and what we will want for all time. To be loved. The next time that you feel unloved…think again. You may not have your friends or family around you at that moment, it may hurt, the circumstances around you may not be great, but YOU ARE LOVED!

I want to challenge you to cry out to God in your times of need and in your times of plenty. Know that you have been thought of from the beginning of time and God wants a relationship with you!

January 23, 2013 0

Tag: God