Blog # 1019

God created human beings for one primary, all-encompassing reason and that is to be in relationship with Him. At the time of their creation, humanity was in perfect community with God. And then, because of sin, man fell out of that relationship with Him and doomed the human race to total failure. But now, thanks to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we are reconciled with God the Father. It's important for us to understand this issue from creation to alienation, and from alienation to reconciliation through Jesus so we can explain it to others who are on this bumpy road we call life and don't yet recognize the need and/or purpose of salvation.

Anyone who desires a relationship with God must first understand that the gap that exists between a holy God and sinful man is a vast one, gaping open to show us the difference between the two. We often illustrate how good we are by comparing ourselves to others. We do this to make ourselves feel better about ourselves: "I stretched the truth a bit there, but at least I'm not like so-and-so who really lied about the circumstances." But God doesn't judge on the basis of comparisons ... His sole criterion is reconciliation. Are we or are we not reconciled, that is the issue. Anyone rejecting salvation through Christ cannot, under any circumstances, spend eternity with God. Reconciliation through Christ is the only way to span the gulf between us in our sinful state, and Him is His holiness.

The cross of Christ is the only real bridge between alienation and reconciliation for us. Jesus took the sin of the world onto Himself and died our well-deserved death so we wouldn't have to (Rom 6:23). Jesus suffered the punishment that was rightly ours (because of our sin) by giving His perfect life for our sakes. Now anyone who desires a relationship with God can have one. To believe that Jesus paid our debt when He died on the cross is the only requirement for crossing the bridge to freedom from debt, entering into an eternity of communion with our heavenly Father.

Anyone who believes in what Jesus did and places their faith in this fact will know God's joy and mercy instead of His wrath and condemnation. We need to ask ourselves how many of our friends and family members are still living in a state of alienation. We can help them to reconciliation by explaining the bridge of Jesus to them. Since we have already crossed over into an eternal relationship with the Father, it is His desire that we share the story with them, leading them into a personal, eternal relationship with God as well. I have intentionally stressed the fact that this is an eternal relationship from the very beginning. As soon as we say, "I believe" we enter into an eternal, living association with God. And there's nothing that can possibly happen to alter that arrangement.

God asks such a small thing of us: to believe. In fact, it's so simple we miss it and clutter and complicate it to the point that it's barely recognizable to us. As a people we think there should be more to it than just believing. We tend to think we need to follow a bunch of rules and regulations, totally missing the free gift offered to us. We litter the whole endeavor with useless "dos" and "don'ts," "musts" and "must nots." "Do not have blood transfusions." "Do not wear jewelry." "Must use only God's personal name, Jehovah." "Don't eat meat." "No smoking." "No caffeine." "Do not celebrate holidays." "Must worship on Saturdays." The rules and restrictions are limitless. They are requirements that totally miss the point and have absolutely nothing to do with our salvation. The Bible brings it all into focus and when the blur clears, only believing is left on the page. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Rom 10:9; Acts 16:31). Period. That's all that's required. Believe that he came and lived amongst us, was crucified and buried, and then was raised to life eternal and you will be saved. Have faith in the simplicity of the greatest gift ever given and you will be saved. Only Satan says that we must "do" something to be saved. So the next time someone comes knocking and tells you there are things you must do, have pity on them and offer them the real Truth. It is God first, last, always.

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Another late day. Sorry about that. I didn't set my alarm last night so I slept until after 9:00 and then Michael and I both needed to have routine blood work done after fasting. So we both got dressed right away and went over to the lab and got that out of our hair so we could come home and eat turkey sandwiches again.

We woke up to a heavy overcast and a strong, cold wind. The looks were deceptive. It didn't look that cold out. Good thing I put on my coat before going out the door. I hadn't thought it was that cold and that my sweater would have been enough. But on the side of caution I slipped it over my sweater and was glad I did. One of my scarves would have been nice too. I need to get some of my scarves out so I'll remember to grab one.

We had planned on having turkey burgers for dinner but when we stopped by the store on our way home to get the burger buns, they were out of them; completely out of buns! So, big change of plans, we're going to have another plate of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce. Yum, yum!!

We also went by the library on the way home this morning and loaded up on books to read again. Michael was down to nothing to read the past few nights. Finally last night I gave him a Bible dictionary to look through and that seemed to have made him sleepy enough to turn out his lamp after a little while. I have gotten out of the habit of reading when I go to bed but I nevertheless brought home a dozen books. We'll see how it goes. One thing about it, if I don't go back to reading before going to sleep, Michael will have a really B-I-G supply of books because his taste and mine are almost identical so he'll be able to read the ones I checked out when he's through with the ones he checked out. I checked out a Janet Evanovich book, got home and started to read it and realized I had already read it. I'll have to put that one on my calendar to remember to take it back before it ends up overdue. The others are only honor charge books so they don't have a due date. I just take them back when I'm finished reading them.

No other news here. The sun is out brightly this afternoon and the wind has died down so it's not too miserable outside at this time. It struck me funny that as I walked up to the hospital door to get my lab work done earlier this morning when the weather was cold, I looked down and saw pansies and violas blooming and I thought to myself how the weather didn't match the flowers. You don't expect to find flowers blooming on such cold and dreary days. It's kind of late in the year too so I have the feeling these were late fall plantings. But the same flowers will look perfectly natural in the sun this afternoon.

Guess I should get busy. I need to read yesterday's and today's devotionals in The Purpose Driven Life to keep up with the daily reading plan. This is definitely one of those books that is going to require annual readings. Seems like every time I've read it, new thoughts and truths come out for me. I have really enjoyed the 40 Days of Purpose Campaign we've been going through at church. I have thoroughly enjoyed the small group and I'm still going to push to keep it in someone's house rather than the church's basement or coffee house. We'll see. I think I may lose on that one. But that's the whole idea for a small group; to get it out of the church and into the house. Anyway, I better go or this blog is going to be as late as yesterday's blog (if it isn't already!). We'll be looking into the gift of grace again tomorrow ...