These thoughts often had to be short due to the limited amount of space I had to print them on. Each article also was directed to the church I was working for. We were full steam ahead on starting over and putting on a new face. Our old ways had set us back and the journey to becoming a bit more open minded as a church was in the forefront. These articles were meant to educate as well as push us as a church to take a step towards living as the Bible has instructed us.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and
only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 Most all of us should have
been able to finish this verse without having to read it. If you’ve spent any
time in church, spent time around people who go to church, or watch sporting
events on tv hopefully you know about “John 3:16.” I remember when I first read
this verse I thought, “how easy is that?! Just believe and gain eternal life!”
It kind of makes you wonder why other people don’t believe. I mean we are
talking about eternal life here! God has given us a gift, we simply take that
gift, and then boom; eternal life! Now, we do know that eternal life is a gift.
We did nothing at all to receive it. Well, ok, we did confess our belief that
Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that he died for our sins and
that he conquered death by raising himself from the grave 3 days after
entering. We then put Christ on in baptism, spiritually demonstrating our own death,
burial, and resurrection. We then rose from the water as a new creation with no
condemnation having received the Holy Spirit and the gift of eternal life.
Not that these are works to be done by us to gain entrance into the Kingdom,
but acts of faith. You see, no one is cut out to live righteously. No one can
stand alone before God and say, “I’m good enough, I make the cut.” We are all
broken and incomplete before entering into God’s grace. Even upon entering that
grace we sometimes fall short, but the atoning
blood of Jesus covers our sins, and God’s grace is made new in us. So why
is it that more people are not making a decision to accept God’s grace and live
for him? Logically and spiritually it makes so much sense! Live for the world
and die to God reaps eternal death.
Live for God and die to the world reaps eternal life. I think if more people knew the pure gospel message, they’d
make a positive eternity changing decision. But many churches have clouded up
that message, and so many “church goers” have missed their important missions
to evangelize to the lost. So now what? How do we teach this message? What can
we do as “church goers” to change this? I believe God is calling for us to step
out of the title of “church goer,” and put on the clothes of “Christ follower.” Then people will be
able to see Christ outside the walls of the church and witness the grace of
God. The thing about eternity is that we think of it as something far off in
the future when we die or when time ends. I believe it begins the moment you
confess with your lips, believe with your heart that Jesus is the Son of God,
and then put on Christ in baptism. That is when your eternity begins; an
eternal walk with God.
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