In the past twenty or thirty years there have been so many different ways of looking at religion and those who claim to be religious. From evangelists on TV to cults to churches that preach “prosperity” gospels and quite frankly Jesus would not endorse most, if not all, of these. Young people today have been exposed to so many false teachings that it is no wonder that there are so many people, young people, not claiming any religion at all.
Jesus came to bring God and even the worship of God down to us at a human level. Reading the Bible can be overwhelming for someone who has never had a background in a real teaching church that teaches the Bible as God’s Word. Church and the services that we attend are supposed to be teaching God’s Word as He had the scribes write His Word down. Simple, easy to understand but not mixed up with personal ideas or political agendas. The Bible and the message of Jesus is supposed to be taught by using His Word and His wisdom, not ours.
When we begin to add our own ideas and our “wisdom” into a message that is meant to be taught from God’s Word and His Wisdom we are diluting it and changing it to fit our “idea” of who we think God is. We are bringing Him down to our level and placing Him into our “box” and God doesn’t fit in a box! He is the Creator and the Almighty God, not our genie that we call on when things go wrong or when we need or want something. God has provided a Savior in the Person of Jesus who died on the cross and paid the penalty for my sins and yours. All that we need to do to have salvation through Him is to believe that He did this because He loves us.
God does love each of us and He has since the very beginning. He planned the salvation of the human race through Jesus’ sacrifice at the same time that He was creating mankind in the Garden of Eden. It didn’t surprise God that man disobeyed His law/rule about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He knew that they would disobey Him even before He created the Earth. The message of salvation began in the book of Genesis and continues with God being merciful to Israel throughout the Bible. He used other nations to discipline them and get their attention turned back to Him, and then He forgave them and rescued them each time. Then, they would turn away from Him and begin to follow other gods all over again.
The truth of the gospel is that God loves us far more deeply than we can grasp. But, He doesn’t like the lifestyle that many of us have chosen to live. Being gay is a sin against God’s law but He still loves you…the person. He wants to save your soul but in order to do that you have to give your heart and soul to Him and turn away from your sinful life. That is what it means to repent of your old way of living and follow Him. Yes, God loves every person but their lifestyle may be offensive to Him. God is holy, like a pure white field of snow. We can’t take one step into His Presence without being cleansed by the blood of Jesus. With that cleansing, we take on the holiness of Jesus and we can come into God’s presence as if we are walking above the snow and not making it “messed up” and dirty.
The problem with our humanity is that we can give our hearts and our lives to Jesus and then fail to follow Him every day. That is what He meant when He said to take our cross and follow Him. We have to nail our old selves to that cross every day. Our sinful lives and the way we were living before we gave our hearts to Him have to be nailed to the cross every day. Then study His Word and learn from Him how to be more like Him. Don’t ignore the possibility that God loves you enough to save your soul by believing in Jesus as your Savior.
He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, Shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: But when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Proverbs 29:1-2 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.29.1-2.KJV
Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, our country is not doing very well regardless of what the media or those talking heads in Washington, DC are saying. We, as a country, NEED to get back to our Christian roots. Will we do this? Not likely. There are too many who either don’t agree with Christian values or just don’t care.
Why has our country wandered down this road at this time? Mainly because we have kicked God out of our education system and out of most homes as well. In the past twenty-five years or so, our country has moved away from religion in almost all forms but especially away from Christianity. I know that in the past Christianity was used in ways that didn’t line up with the values that were taught in the Bible, but it has done much more good than harm in the past couple of thousand years.
Granted, there have been some very dark times in its history but most of that was caused by the so-called “leaders” in the church and their quest for power and money or riches. Kinda sounds like our country today, doesn’t it?
We, as a country and a culture, need to get back to the values that America had when it began. Look up the history of our “Ivy League” colleges. They all started as schools for clergy and missionaries. Although, some of that history was misused when they tried to “Christianize” and civilize the Native Americans. Yes, the church has had some bad times in the past mostly caused by people using its message in the wrong way. For-profit or to “tame” some culture that didn’t need taming but needed understanding. It was also used to enslave people by using the Word of God to justify actions that never should’ve happened in the first place.
All of the bad things that have been done by the “church” or even “Christianity” was done by the people in charge or people using the Bible to justify their actions by claiming that it was OK because God’s Word said so. Slavery, hatred, and other things like racism and bigotry are not in the teachings of the Bible. God loves us and He provided the way for us to have salvation through belief in Jesus as our Savior. Seek Him through a church that teaches from the Bible.
You have worth in God’s eyes. He values each of you so don’t turn away from Him.
This one-word command, “Believe”, is the one that we should be following. I know it sounds like such an easy command but it is also one that is looked at by many people as “too easy”.
John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
It takes only your belief in Jesus to bring salvation into your life. Then the work starts. You have to learn more about Him and live your life accordingly every day from that point on. Not just on Sunday and Wednesday night, but every day! Your life in Him cannot be just a once-a-week thing. The disciples couldn’t do it that way and we can’t either.
Belief takes faith and your faith comes from God. He chooses you to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus by faith and belief in Him. We don’t have anything to do with our salvation except our choice to give our hearts and our lives to Him. Do you have a choice? Yes and no. God chooses you when you realize that you need Jesus for your salvation. It is your choice to accept Him at that time or you will accept Him later. Once God has chosen you, then one day you will follow Him. I found this out myself when I felt the call on my life nearly forty years ago but I didn’t want to answer it at that time.
It took about thirty years or so before I surrendered to His call on me to be a preacher. The decision about my salvation came about when my son was born. I had accepted the Lord as my Savior a few years before he was born but when my son was born, I became more intent on following Him so my son would have faith in the Lord and be able to see it in my life. Kids today need to have an example in their immediate family, especially their parents. If parents don’t teach their children about their belief in a Savior, the world around them certainly won’t.
Reading God’s Word as a family is one of the best ways to show your faith and your belief to your kids. I didn’t do it as much as I should have until I became a preacher but he did come to Jesus as a child and I made sure that the home-school material that we used taught Scripture as well as his other subjects. Why? Because the pathway to wisdom begins with God’s Word. Wisdom is one characteristic that our world needs desperately. Real wisdom, not just education, is only found in the Bible by studying it daily, not just one hour on Sunday.
The church that began on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached and over three thousand were added to their number is the church that the world needs today. Not the one that fights over the color of the carpet or how many bathrooms there will be down the hallway. Tell people about the gospel of Jesus and the fact that He died to save us from our own sinful stupid ways. Get back to being the church and the people that Jesus called to be His people, those who were chosen to take His message to everyone who will listen to it and live by it when the Holy Spirit touches their hearts.
The Living Message of Christ 