Category: Faith

Life…..


What does it mean to you? Liberty? Happiness? Freedom? Your pursuit of these things maybe? Life is more than just these feelings, it is more than we have been told to believe. So, how can we live it fully without knowing what it really is? This life that we live here and now is one that has been given to us by our Lord and Creator, God, who loves us unconditionally but this is something that we have to acknowledge about ourselves and about Him! We are here for a purpose and that purpose has nothing to do with stuff that we accumulate during our time here. I am talking about money, cars, houses, tablets and cell phones and any number of other “toys” that so many people chase after.

Your life and mine are short and since we are not guaranteed tomorrow by anyone, then what truly good thing will come out of all of the things that you have? Debt, bills, gas to be bought to run some, electricity to run others, cell phone plans and Internet connections to keep up with everything and everyone…all of this is like chains and shackles which confine and keep you from your real life. So, what kind of life am I talking about? I am not talking about living like a hermit and giving up all of today’s “wonderful gadgets” that we have come to depend on like some sort of drug but I am talking about getting your priorities turned around and going in the right direction.

God did put you here for a reason and if you are a child of His, then you owe it to Him and to yourself to find your purpose in Him. “What could that be?” you might ask? Well, the first step is to read the letters that He wrote to us and find out! The Bible is a collection of historical truths and poems which reveal God’s character to us and His purpose for us because it speaks to each of us in a way that nobody else hears. That is why it is called the Living Word, no one who reads it gets the same message as another person, and the next time you read a scripture it may say something different to you than it did the first time. Many people in the world that don’t know God can’t understand this and they won’t until they become Christians, if God calls them to Himself.

Yes, He knows who will accept the call and who will not yet He calls each of us. Whether we choose to accept that call or not is our own choice. He doesn’t shout or clout you upside your head to get your attention, but it is usually a whisper or a nudge and if you don’t recognize Him in it then you may not get another chance. Even if you do get another chance, you may not recognize His call on your life if you brushed Him off the first time. Life means more than many people realize, not only to you or your family but to God as well. Each life, each person is special to Him because no other person can do or say the things which you say like you can. Your ministry, wherever it may be, is special because only you can touch the people around you in the way that you can.

Your life here is a training ground for the eternity that is to come and the continuing work in eternity will depend on the answer that you give to God now. Believe in Jesus and the saving work that He did on the cross to redeem you. Accept Him into your heart and repent of the life that you had before, the words, the habits that you had need to be gone so that your life will point to a changed heart and one of purpose and meaning for all of eternity! The next person that you meet might take the message that spoke to them to hundreds or thousands of people! That is a life of true purpose and not just one that involves technology and stuff which has no good purpose in it except to enslave you to the world in which you live.

Give your life to Jesus and follow His example. Repent of the old person that lived in your body and their ways and determine to follow Jesus’ example. Learn His ways and His words, study the Bible and pray about the things which your heart and God brings to mind. He will give you the strength and the knowledge to carry out any task that He draws you to and He will bring you through the trials that come from this point on if you will walk with Him daily and allow Him to teach you the way that you need to go.

What would you think if I told you…


that I know what the secret to life is? You would think that I was completely out of my mind, and you would be right! I don’t know the secret but I do know the Person who does! Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit that we have as Christians living in us! Usually I start off a missive with a story or some other bit of information before getting into the “meat” of the message, but time is growing short and you need to hear this.

That’s what the Holy Spirit does for you. The Holy Spirit gave you the secret not only to life here, but to eternal life! He convicted you of your sin. He drew you to Christ (John 6:44). Don’t get the idea that anybody, you or I, can simply come of his own will and his own volition to Jesus Christ. No one could come. No one would come, except by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has given you the secret of life. And He has drawn you there Himself! That’s some best friend, wouldn’t you say? If you don’t want to know Him as your best friend, that is OK, but it is the biggest mistake of your life.

The mistake of living your life on your own, by your own rules will cost you your eternity. It is true that living without Jesus can be fun and there is no Spirit to convict you of any act or sin that you may commit, but our lives are short in comparison to eternity. I know that many don’t really believe that the Bible is the Word of God and some don’t even believe that it is true! My contribution to the world is small, but the One that is the focus of the entire Bible has changed the lives of millions of people around the world. His name is Jesus, the Son of God.

He is my Savior and I am bringing these words to you because I have to. It is my duty to tell others about my wonderful Savior so that you might want to know Him too. He has changed my life from one of sorrow and heartache, depression and fear to a life lived with the promise of eternal life with Him! I was a shy, introverted person most of my life. I was also angry because of my parent’s divorce when I was very young and I took that anger out on many people, but mostly on myself. I thought that I was the cause of their break-up and for a while I thought that if I wasn’t around they might get back together.

Foolish teen-age thinking is what all of that was and if God had not had something in mind for me and had been keeping me from really bad decisions, then I would not be writing this. I did a lot of stupid things like most do while in their teen years like drink alcohol and smoke pot. Granted, those are tame by today’s drug scene, but the drinking alone could have been deadly both to me and to others. My angels had a lot to do to keep me alive and well enough to get to a point where God could use me.

That is part of the reason that many people don’t like “church” I think. It is the serving part that seems to bother people the most, but consider this: Jesus gave up Heaven, immortality,  and eternal life to come as our Savior in human form with all of its limitations and pains so that we might be reconciled to God through Him! And, He did it before we were born!

God saw down through the ages of time and noticed each of us that would believe and come to know Him, and loved us enough to send His Son to die a human, agonizing death on a Roman cross so that we might be able to have a chance at eternity! How can you decide not to serve One Who loves you so completely? Ask Jesus to come into your life, and confess your sins to Him. Ask His forgiveness so that you can be made into a new creation in Christ. You will never regret it and you will have an eternity to enjoy it with all of your brothers and sisters who accepted Him too.

What are we doing?


Arguing about the realities of life on Earth and whether we evolved from mouse-like mammals or whether God created us and everything else on this Earth! There are many people who are arguing or debating, depending on how civilized the debate goes, about how life came to be on this planet. Why? What is so polarizing about life’s beginnings or how life began on this planet?

Yes, there are fossils which are supposedly found in layers which “date” back hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. These same layers have also been found in the ash flows around Mount St. Helen’s eruption, which are less than fifty years old. Also, the “carbon dating” of rocks and fossils is subject to interpretive and radioactive false readings, check the dates found on newly deposited lava flows in Hawaii. Some of which were “dated” at over one hundred thousand years of age, yet they were deposited just days or even hours before.

Our world is not billions of years old, yet some scientists seem to think or believe that it is. I will not debate what is a perception of belief. The Earth is here, we and all other life on this planet are here, the cosmos and all that is in it was here and is still here. Explanations aside, scientific or Biblical whichever you prefer, we are people who aspire to explain things which we can’t explain. Faith is something that we find hard to believe as well as being hard to explain to scientists and others.

If you are not a believer, a Christian, faith is nearly impossible to understand. Anything which requires faith to believe, such as God being the Creator of everything, causes a polarizing effect between scientists and so-called Creationists. People, mainly Bible believing Christians, who truly believe that the Word of God is true don’t question the account of creation as told in Genesis. I happen to believe that God is the Creator and since He is God, if He wants to create everything in six twenty-four hour days then He can! Making the universe and the Earth itself appear to be older than it is would really not be a problem for Him at all.

Give it a rest, the evidence shows what it shows and how you believe what you see or read is totally up to you and your own beliefs. Debating the issue will not change what I believe and telling you what I believe and why will not change your mind either. When He comes to rule the Earth, the answers will be evident and clear to everyone.

Salvation, what is it?


“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” 1 John 5:1

What is salvation? I will tell you that it is not a creed. You might say, “Well, I believe in the plan of salvation.” You can believe the plan of salvation and go straight to hell. You’re not saved by the plan of salvation, you’re saved by the man of salvation, the person Who purchased your salvation with His blood.

Salvation is not a creed. It’s not a code. You say, “Well, I believe if you live right you’ll go to heaven.” If you could be saved by living right, then Calvary was a blunder and a colossal mistake! It’s not a cause or your church. You say, “I’m a member of a good, fundamental, Bible believing church.” It’s not any of these things. It’s Christ Jesus, the Holy One of God, our Savior and Redeemer, our Creator and Shepherd, our Protector and our Lord and King! Belief in Him, and giving your heart and life, including your money, your family, your job and your home to Him is the only way to Heaven.

I don’t mean , like the rich young ruler, that you have to sell everything to be saved, but you do have to at least acknowledge that your blessings came from Him and that you thank Him for them. Jesus did not mean that he would be saved because he sold all that he had, but that he had to turn his heart toward the Savior and turn his back on the things of this world. But, he couldn’t let go of his “stuff”, so he walked away sadly because the things of this world had such a hold on him that even when the Messiah asked him to give them up, he couldn’t.

Salvation is not believing in something, it is receiving Someone. The true gospel is one that centers in Jesus Christ. If you won’t put Christ at the center of your life and put everything and everyone in your life and family under Him, then what good are you to Jesus? We have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, our salvation was purchased by Him through suffering on the cross and giving His life as a ransom for all!

What have you given up for Jesus today? Did you decide not to eat that candy bar or maybe put down those cigarettes because your body, is the Temple of the Holy Spirit if you have accepted Jesus, and should be treated as a Holy Temple. It shouldn’t smell like the joint down the road, nor should it have garbage in it because that is what you want to eat! Change your ways, your eating habits so that it will be good for your body, your health so that you can be more useful to Jesus!
God loves us, and He created us to be the Temple not made with hands for the

Spirit to dwell in. What right do you have to mess up the living area of the Spirit of God? Would you smoke and leave garbage inside your church along with magazines and other things which you wouldn’t want anyone to know about, especially Jesus? He already knows what you are doing anyway, so why not admit it and allow Him to change you! Then, treat your body the same way. If Jesus is the Lord of your life and you worship Him with your body, mind, soul and your strength then show it…act like it!

The love of God is expressed through Jesus and the Holy Spirit and it is the true manifestation of God and we, as Christians, need to learn to notice it and accept it. Allow God to come into your heart and your life in a way that you have never experienced before. Many Christians have not even allowed Him to come deeply into their lives, every part of their lives, and that is what He wants of us. Because if He isn’t part of your life at home, at school, at work and at church then you may believe in Jesus but you may not have asked Him to come to live in your heart!

There are many people who can do a great job of acting like a Christian all the way to the pulpit even, but acting like one and being one is totally different. We can go through the motions and say all of the right things, but when it comes down to what or rather Who is in your heart, it is still you and not Jesus. Many people have died in this condition thinking that they were saved, when they had just been playing the role of “looking like a Christian”! Examine your own heart, ask God to examine it and convict you of anything that you may not be doing or of the fact that you have left Him out. Because, when your life is over there are no second chances to make it right.

Think about it.

A conscience, do you have one?


Many, if not most people, do have a conscience but with all of the evil, hateful things going on in the world it sure doesn’t seem like it. You would think that it would prompt more people to think about what they are doing before they do it, but when you read a news story or watch the news, it seems that thinking about what was wrong with their intentions was the least of their thoughts.

What is a conscience? Is it God telling you what you should and should not do? Your conscience is, according to the definition of Webster’s: an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior. To answer the second question: yes, it could be the Spirit of God telling you or guiding you toward and right decision rather than a wrong one. It also has something to do with your character and how you were brought up as a child. Were you taught right from wrong? Did your parents or grandparents take you to church?

The lessons learned, and the words that were heard in church came from God’s Word, the Living Word. This is where most of our collective conscience comes from since God’s Word is able to make an impact on your life, even if you are not expecting it to make an impact. It resonates with your heart and soul because it is supposed to. God’s Word never comes back to Him void, it always accomplishes what He intended for it to do. If you heard it in a sermon or on the television, if God intended for your heart and soul to respond to it, you will.

God loves you and wants what is best for you, regardless of the time or place or the circumstances that you may find yourself in. Our lives are truly important to Him, for some that is hard to understand. I mean, how or why in the world would the Creator of the universe be interested in me or you as an individual? What could we possibly do for Him? Well, what about when He called Moses? God came to a bush in the desert to call him, for something great, couldn’t He do the same thing (maybe less dramatic) for some of us?

Your conscience comes from a part of you that knows right from wrong, the truth about life comes from the One Who created it so you recognize truth, His Truth. Give Jesus and the Word of God a chance to make a difference in your life so that you can make a difference in someone else’s life. Of course, it won’t be you making the difference it will be Jesus. He will show through your life and into someone else’s life so that they might want what you have.

Think about it, then ask Him to come into your life and be your Savior. When He does, your life and the lives of those around you will never be the same.

 

What good are the Ten Commandments?


Today, do we still need the Ten Commandments? Are they relevant to our time and our lives today? Many people don’t think so today. According to most of those who don’t want to know about God and don’t want to believe anything that is contained within the Bible, these laws are null and void. According to them, God’s Word was made up by men so it has no authority. They even postulate that it had no authority at the time it was written and it specifically hasn’t any today!

Why is that? Our laws are based upon the laws given by Moses! We have laws against adultery, murder, perjury (lying under oath), stealing, neglecting your parents in their old age (honor your father and mother). Granted, you won’t go to jail for cheating on your wife or your husband, but if you are found out the divorce will cost you something! Dependent on how forgiving your spouse is, it may or may not cost you your life!

The Ten Commandments were given to begin to show people that they need a Savior, because there is no way that we can keep them perfectly. It just can’t be done, because by breaking even one of them, you have become guilty of all of them. If you have ever stolen anything, no matter how small or inconsequential it might have been, you are a thief. If you lied to your Mom or Dad about it, now you are a liar and a thief. Any one of these sins will keep you from having a relationship with God, but the most important decision of your life has nothing to do with these!

The most important time of your life is to realize that you are a sinner, separated from God and then to realize that you need Jesus in your life! That is the purpose of these Commandments! To make you realize your sin, regardless of your faith! If you have heard them or read them, then your heart will let you know when you break them. That is their purpose, to bring you to the point where you know that you need Jesus.

Your decision, the one which will determine your eternity, is whether you will accept God’s grace to you through Jesus or not. That is what decides your final destination, not a loving God. He didn’t create hell for any of us, it was created to punish the angels and Satan who rebelled against God. We have always had a reservation, an invitation to Heaven, all we have to do is accept Jesus as our personal Savior and when we follow Him, we will be where He is, where our reward is, in Heaven. It is your decision and yours alone that determines your eternity, this is why we were given a choice because God wants us to choose to serve Him!

Even the angels have a choice, they are not required by instinct or design to serve God. We are created with a spirit of choice as well. We can choose to live by the rules of the world and do what we want to do, trying to do it all on our own,to see if we can be good enough, righteous enough to earn our way into heaven. Except, we are flawed because of our sinful nature and we can’t be perfect enough, righteous enough to earn our way. Jesus is the only way into Heaven because He paid the price of a perfect sacrifice for all of mankind and all that we have to do is accept it and believe that He did it for us.

Don’t believe the lie that time is on your side, because that is a deception from Satan himself. He is using that to make you believe that you have plenty of time to make your decision. The problem with that is that none of us are guaranteed tomorrow, we don’t know if we will wake up when the alarm goes off tomorrow or if we will open our eyes to gaze at the judgment seat of God!

Truthfully, I am not trying to frighten you, I am not saying that your life might end tonight. But, kids who were just 19 years old have died in their sleep, people get killed in accidents every day, none of them saw this coming, none of them knew that it was about to happen, but it did. What if, for the sake of your eternal soul, I am right. What will happen to you if you have not asked Jesus into your heart? It will not be God’s fault that you will end up in hell, it will be yours! Because you have heard the message and the way out of hell is faith and acceptance of Jesus as your Savior. There is no other way. Religion won’t save you, your own version of righteousness won’t pay your way into Heaven, none of your wealth on Earth will go with you and it won’t help.

The only way into Heaven is by faith in Jesus.

 

What kind of faith do you have?


Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible.

This is the definition of honest, child-like faith, something which many people cannot understand, even though they have a kind of faith too. Take the scientists and professors who believe in evolution for example, the amount of faith that they have to believe in a theory which is still just a theory would have to be more than mine!

Richard Dawkins is quoted thus — “Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence.”

There is plenty of evidence for a number of extinct animals and plant life all over the world and I agree with it. There are many different types of animals found in different places and climates, which I don’t and won’t argue with. But…no one has found a transitional fossil of any kind (species) which shows an animal in the process of changing from one type of animal, like one that lives on land or even an amphibian which lives both on land and in water, into another like the theory which says that whales evolved this way.

If scientists claim that evolution takes millions of years, then where are the fossils to prove it? Unless an amphibian stepped into the water one night and the next morning found that it couldn’t get back up on land, how can this be? It seems to me that it would take an enormous amount of faith to believe in evolution happening in that way. So, how can these questions be satisfied? If faith is a cop-out, then scientists are guilty of it too, don’t you think? Jesus said that we only need the faith that a child has, trusting faith, in order to believe and receive the gifts and grace of God. We don’t have to do anything, nor can we do anything to help us get into Heaven. It has already been done, by Jesus Himself. All that we have to do is surrender to Him in faith and believe what the Word of God tells us.

Although, there are many who think that the Book, God’s Word, was made up by the men who wrote it, there are many proofs of its authenticity. Such as the historical account of Israel’s past kings and kingdoms, these have been proven by archaeology and if there is proof of part of the Bible, then the whole of it can’t be dismissed as fiction.

Forty men over the course of fifteen hundred years wrote the books which appear in its pages and yet they are all pointing toward the salvation of the world through the Person of Christ. You couldn’t get forty scientists to agree on enough issues to be able to write a book with sixty-six chapters and coherently point toward one conclusion, whether they were separated by geography or time, let alone over fifteen centuries! The message contained within this Book points clearly to the Savior but it also points to how much God loves each of us. Not specifically for who we are or because of what we may have done, but just because He chooses to.

Isn’t it wonderful that the Creator of this universe loves each of us enough to send His Son, Jesus, to take our punishment for the sin that is in our lives! It is very humbling as well, because He knew me…He knew each of us before we even knew about Him! All of this information is in His Word, the Bible, along with the promises that He made to Israel and most of their promises have been fulfilled. If those promises were fulfilled, don’t you think that those promises to us about salvation, and eternity will be fulfilled too? Give your heart and your life to Jesus because He loved you first.

New age, what does it really mean?


Many people think that “new age” is a reference to our placement in time, like the twenty-first century, but the name has been in use for many more years than in just the past decade. For a complete list of what and when this began see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age.

For many people in the world, the new age movement began to be popular in the 1960’s, which is why it is associated with all of the crazy stuff that went on during that time. Even many gurus latched onto it with their beliefs and teachings about meditation and an all-inclusive religion. One that doesn’t claim superiority  or even claim that it is right or the only way, like mono-theistic religions do.

New age tries to develop a harmony between science and religion so that you can sort of, have your evolution and creation at the same time. What a concept!?

Really?

All of the religions in the world that are apart from the three mono-theistic religions of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, have some component of work that has to be performed by man in order for him to reach a level of being above his place in the universe. An attainment that can only be reached by doing things in a correct way or prescribed manner during a person’s lifetime. Where does this work-based belief get you? Tired, frustrated, anxious, scared, wondering if you did enough or did it right, is that how you want to reach the end of your life? Full of worry and scared that what you have done or haven’t done in this life may not have been good enough?

I know the arguments of people who claim to be atheists or agnostics, I have read some of their books. The crux of the matter is this: what do you believe? If you don’t believe in anything after death, then you don’t have anything to fear, do you? You’re just dead and that’s it, so what’s the difference? OK, but what if you are wrong?

If your belief is Scientology, will the Thetan‘s carry you to a place and change you into a god? Will Allah take you into his bosom and give you eternal life? There are many other religions in the world which claim to bring you into a state of oneness with the universe, but will you know it or does your essence just merge with the cosmos forever and you fade away like a puff of smoke?

I don’t know what happens after we die, but I do know what is promised in God’s Word. Jesus said that we would have eternal life if we only believed in His sacrifice and that it paid the penalty for our sins. Is that such a crazy idea? Its not any worse or crazier than some others I don’t believe.

The New Age thinkers don’t know any more about what happens after death than any of the rest of us and they won’t until they die. The problem is that we can’t come back and tell anyone Who we ran into or what we found out on the day that we crossed over life’s threshold into eternity. It really is a mystery that cannot be solved by anyone who is still alive. I know that there are some who have had near death experiences and came back to tell what they have seen, and some of them I believe are credible and as truthful as they can be.

The truth is that we can’t really know until we die and it seems that many people just don’t care what happens after their body dies. Many people think that all of our existence stops when our body dies but according to Jesus, our soul continues on and we will have a glorified body to go with it. So, if this life is just the beginning, don’t you want the eternal part of your life to be more than you ever hoped or dreamed about?

Yes, I do believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven because He said so. That is all that I need because of my faith in Him. It is true that there are many other religions out there but do they claim to be the pathway to heaven? Most of them don’t actually, they claim other types of existence such as reincarnation or they don’t claim any eternal existence at all. I think I would rather believe the One Who says, “Today, you will be with Me in paradise!”

If not God then what?


There are many today that are trying to prove that God doesn’t exist and that nothing was before the Big Bang which started everything. But, let me pose a question here: What or Who started or initiated the Big Bang?

It didn’t just explode on its own even if it did contain all of the matter in the universe. What existed before the Big Bang? The singularity from which it proceeded from maybe? Just a huge lump of matter which was condensed to a point and yet contained everything? The Creator existed before the so-called Big Bang and He was the One who started it.

There is no way to prove my “theory” any more than astronomers or cosmologists can prove their theory of its going “boom” on its own so I won’t get into that discussion. Although, God was and is the Creator of all according to His Word and the discussion that He had with Job, so according to my faith that settles the issue.

Why does it seem that one of three people seem to want to ignore the facts around them especially that the order of everything is too perfect for it to have happened by chance? Perfection is the way that He planned everything, because that is His way.

Chance and accidental happenings on which evolution depends in the early part of earth’s history could not produce the variety of life or the abilities that the animals on earth possess. In the short amount of time that life has been present, even if it may have been over four billion years, life could not have changed from single-celled animals into all of the various forms of life that is present on earth.

God brought all of this into existence by His power and His voice, as the Bible says “by His Word”. So, why is everyone denying His existence? I know, not everyone is denying God’s existence but according to the news and the people in the news it seems that way.

Getting back to Creation, God created mankind and all of the animals as adults, they didn’t start life as babies so why does everyone seem to think that the universe is billions of years old? God created it with the appearance of age because only mature galaxies and solar systems work the way they are supposed to when they are created. The theories about clouds of gas condensing into planets and stars is great but how long do you really think that would take?

Our God, the Creator of everything, is awesome! He can stretch out the cosmos in all directions and place stars and galaxies in any place that He wishes to without exceeding the speed of light. There is no possibility that it created itself nor did it just go “boom” and then billions of years later solar systems and planets and animals and people just happened to appear. If God was not the initiator of it all and in every aspect of it, then we would not be here.

Give God the credit for it because that is Who did it all. Can we make it without Him? No and why would you want to try? What if He gave up on you and stopped giving you the sun to power the weather and photosynthesis in our plants which give us oxygen to breathe? Can you create these things?

I don’t think so. God loves us enough that He gives us every good thing that is needed for life plus He sent His Son to take the punishment for our sinful lives. Not just yours or mine but everyone on the planet from the beginning to the end of the age. If you decide to ask Him into your heart, please don’t think that you can take Him off like a glove and go do what you want to do when you want to do it. It will come back to bite you if you do. You very likely didn’t really ask Him into your heart to begin with if you leave Him in the church or don’t even go to church after asking Him into your life.

I mean, how would your spouse feel (if they stayed with you) if you left them at the church after the ceremony. Then claimed them the next Sunday or when you came back to church. That relationship will not last very long. How do you think Jesus feels if you ask Him into your life and then you leave Him out of your life all during the week until you come back to church? Think about it and let me know what you think too.

 

What do you see here?


A picture is worth 1000 words. This safe has been through a lot. Image credit: “safe” – © 2007 Paul Keller – made available under Attribution 2.0 Generic

It has been through a tremendous fire with a lot of heat which is what did all of the damage to it. The fire was particularly hot but the safe was not breached, it seems that it was capable of still being locked even though the outside was scorched and then discarded. I see an analogy of our country and the state of religion in it.

Christians, whether black or white, have taken the heat from people who follow Islam and from people who don’t follow any religion at all. We have not been broken, we have not stopped being Christians but there are some who are discarding their belief in Jesus or their religion. Why is this happening?

Is it because of the state of our country and its economy? Is it because of the state of relations between the so-called “races” of people in our country? Now, before anyone gets all bent out of shape, the reason that I have races in quotes is because God did not make us this way! God created mankind! We are all the same race, whether your skin is white or black, yellow or brown or any shade between those. Our main difference is cultural. There are cultural differences between most everyone on earth regardless of where you may live.

We are brought up by our parents and grand-parents into a culture, regardless of where you live. You may be brought up in a community in Chicago or Detroit or New York, but your culture will be in line with those that you are around.

Christian’s, regardless of race, should follow Jesus’ example. He didn’t pay attention to the cultural norms of his people, He spoke to women and to Samaritans which other Jews actively avoided. He healed lepers, he touched them which no one in His culture would do. We are to be His hands, His eyes, His feet in our time because others need to know Him. How will they know about Him if we don’t take Him with us through our actions or our words?

How can we possibly fulfill the commission that Jesus gave us to take the gospel to every nation and tribe if we don’t do it? If our cultural differences keep us apart and separate us into “us” and “them”, how can we show each other the love of Christ?

At the beginning of this post there is a picture of a burned safe which had been discarded. It did what it was supposed to do because it protected the contents to the best of its ability from the fire. That is what Christians are supposed to be doing too…protecting others from the fire of hell by telling them about the love and forgiveness of God.

Then, telling them about what Jesus did for each of us regardless of our skin color or our race or our culture. He did it for all of us and if you need to know what “it” is I am going to tell you: He took the punishment and the torture of being apart from God as well as the punishment of the cross for our sins!

God loves each of us, and it doesn’t matter which culture we claim or what skin color we have but in order for us to be considered a child of God and forgiven, we have to accept Jesus’ sacrifice and believe that it was for us because it was! The way that the world has everyone thinking is about groups of people and we need to look at each other as individuals. Each of us is unique and different but we are all the same in God’s eyes!

The contents of that safe may have burned up, but it did its job as well as it could. It may not have been designed to take as much heat as it looks like it was exposed to, but we are. Our character is molded by our culture and that character is what we should be showing the world. If your character and your ability is modeled after Christ, then they will see Him and that is the best that we can do as individuals because we were created to be mankind and have a relationship with each other and with God.