This blog says a lot about the Bible, and the Bible is all about Jesus. The Bible is God’s direct revelation to humanity, and it’s all about His Son. (You know, the Jewish guy who was crucified by the Romans around 30 A.D.? Turns out He is God’s son, and He rose from the dead, and He’s coming back some day.) To understand a tender note from someone who loves you -to really understand it- you have to know that person; not just know about them, but know them. Similarly, to really understand the Bible, you have to meet the author.
So if you haven’t met Him, I’m elated to introduce you to my savior!
The essence of being a Christian isn’t a lifestyle, or a hobby, or even a philosophy, it’s a relationship with Jesus.
You may not know Him yet, but He most definitely knows you. He created you. He is the source of life, joy, peace, love, and goodness. Your very being is dependent on Him.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”
We all have a mortal problem though: sin. We are all infected by the corruption of sin, which separates us from God, the source of life itself. We’re all born this way, and we all have freely, morally, chosen to sin. We’re each fully responsible for our dire predicament.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
The effect and consequence of sin is death: we’re all slowly dying. But more than just physically. Death is separation. Physical death is the soul separated from the body. Sin brought physical death into this world, and sin leads to a death far worse: separation from the Holy God – the source of life, goodness, righteousness, joy, and peace.
“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What a wonderful conjunction! God created you in love, you are lost, but God is not satisfied to lose you. He became one of us, lived a righteous life without sinning, died the death we deserve, and resurrected in new life. God resurrected Jesus because He defeated death, and satisfied, completely, the justified wrath of God.
“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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.“
You can’t do anything to atone, or make up for, your sin. You can’t do anything to save yourself, or to make yourself a good person. A “good person” is no where near good enough. But Jesus did it all, and offers you salvation freely. It’s a free gift, just receive it.
“[The righteousness of Jesus] shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”
“For by grace you [are] saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
“Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”
Faith is simply belief, belief-in, not just belief-that. It is saying to God, “I believe what you have said: I’m lost and I need to be saved by Jesus. May not my own will be done, but Your will be done.”
“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.“
Jesus came to the world first to save it, and someday He will return to judge it. Just as Noah and his family were spared the judgment by entering the ark, we can enter the ark of Jesus and be saved for “a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells,” and be forever with the loving creator, sustainer, and savior for eternity.
This is all an invitation. This is an assertion, not an argument. There are all the reasons in the world to support what I’ve said here, and if you’d like to know the reasons and evidence for believing this (because faith is not without reason), stay tuned! This blog is all about testing assertions and finding reasons for or against. In the meantime, ask, seek out, sincerely search for those reasons, because I promise you, they are out there. Your creator is a “rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Might I suggest, the first step in seeking is to be willing to find.
testing 5-2-1 