Life

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life..."  Let's focus a bit on Life.  God is good at life.  And I am sure that Jesus was speaking of spiritual life, eternal life, life after this life.  But God is good at life here in this life as well.

It was 2 years ago this month that I had a terrific traffic accident, previously described here.  A semi truck swerved into me on I-75.  I hit it with an explosion of metal and glass, went all the way under it in my little car, crossed 2 lanes and ended up in a ditch on the side of the highway.  The car was totaled and I didn't get a scratch. 

I suppose that we have all had our close calls and wondered if God had stepped in...and yet we couldn't be sure.  But on this one, I am sure.  There is just no way to go under a semi as it is going down the road at over 60 miles an hour, go all the way through and not be killed.  I tried to steer the car and save myself, but the car would not steer.  But I did call out to God to help me...just before hitting the truck....and it worked.  Praise God.

So no one could convince me that God doesn't get involved in our lives, even if it isn't always in the way or at the time that we want.  And so, God is great at life, in this life.

But even more important, far more important, is the fact that God provides each of us a life beyond.  He wants us to be with Him forever in that perfect environment.  He wants us to be followers of Him, trusting in Him, seeking Him.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life.."

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love.

Why Go To Church?

So if a person is a Christian, loves God, loves Jesus, and is a good person, why go to church?  Maybe it just isn't necessary at all.  Maybe a person can find a relationship with the Lord by himself; or maybe in nature; or maybe by just taking a walk with his dog on Sunday morning.  Maybe there are too many hypocrites in church.  Or maybe there are too many questionable practices or attitudes there.  So why?

The best reason is that Jesus instituted the church.  He didn't start it in His lifetime....but He made preparation.  We see in Matthew 16 where He said, "...I will build My church.."  From this statement it is clear that the church was coming and that it would be His church.  This shows that it was important to Him.

Then we see the words of Paul in Ephesians 5 where he says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it...."  We see the passion that Jesus had for His church, so much so that He gave His life for it.
  
And finally there is Hebrews 10:24, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

There are many other passages that talk about the church, both in an overall sense and in a local group sense.  But the point is clear that we benefit from the association with other Christians;  but more than that, the Lord expects it of us.  If we are able to get there and be a part, we should.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Healing the sick

Jesus performed all kinds of miracles during His 3 year ministry.  We know that He could have healed every sick person in the world during this time.  But His real purpose was to seek and save the lost.  His was a spiritual ministry. 

There are different ways to learn the Bible.  One can spend time in study, or just read.......or lately I have been just skimming.  My purpose in skimming through was to learn better, or memorize, the location of key passages.  I decided to start with the book of Matthew.  It is hard to do this because there is a tendency to get bogged down and start studying in more depth.  But I have been trying.

In Matthew we have the sermon on the mount in chapters 5-7.  Then there is a healing of a leper that comes up soon after.  But there is a really neat story about a Centurion's servant who gets sick, a servant who is dearly loved by the officer.  First, note that a Centurion is an officer over 100 men, a respectable and well paid position.  And note, too, that this story is also told in Luke 6.  The accounts quote the officer saying that if he tells his men to go...or stay....or do, they will do that.  He says that because he realizes that Jesus is of much higher authority.  In fact, he doesn't even feel worthy to go to Jesus directly, but sends some of his Jewish friends to appeal to Jesus to save the servant.  But the key to this story is that he knows,  he knows,  that Jesus has the power to save his servant, even from a distance.  Jesus, realizing the great faith that this Centurion has in Him, is so impressed that He says, "I have never seen such great faith."

The point of this story can be well applied to us today.  Jesus was impressed with this man because of his belief in Him.  It wasn't anything that he did, any great work.  In fact the Centurion did nothing of himself; he stayed home and just sent messengers.  But it shows that Jesus wants first and foremost from us all our faith, our confidence in Him.  It reminds me of the verse in Romans 11:6, "For without faith it is impossible to please Him.  For he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

God wants us to be servants, to work for Him, to do good.  But mostly God wants us to be people of faith; people who completely trust and believe in Him.  The rest will follow.

Lets do it!    Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

The Unknown God

The apostle Paul went to Athens, as recorded in Acts chapter 17, and found a lot of idol worshipping going on.  It is interesting to note how Paul taught these people about the real God.

"Men of Athens I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

                            TO THE UNKNOWN GOD

Therefore, the One whom you worship with out knowing, Him I proclaim to you:  God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.  Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' 

Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising.  Truly, these time of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent...."

Even today, people worship everything but the one true God.  And many of those who claim to be religious do not truly know God.  We also see a large portion of the people of the world, and certainly in our country, not believing that there is a god at all. 

Those of us who are believers must be sure that we are clear as to who God is.  I like the verse in Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is , and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Let us diligently seek Him.....and know that He rewards His people.

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love......

Jesus

Jesus made His position on this earth clear.  He said in John 14, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me." This is a bold statement, but is the absolute truth.  There were times that Jesus did not speak so boldly.  These were times when He felt that His words would not be believed or understood anyway.  But there were many times when He was quite clear.

In John chapter 4 we find a verbal exchange between Jesus and a woman that He encountered at a well.  The woman was surprised that He would even speak to her since she was a Samaritan woman.  Jesus answered, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  And later says, "...but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst."

Toward the end of this discussion, the woman says to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things."  "Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am He.' "  Jesus spoke quite boldly to her, letting her know (us, too) that He was truly the Messiah that had been promised for generations.

In John chapter 12, Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.  And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.  I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

Jesus made it clear that He is the Son of God.  We should listen carefully to His words and give Him the glory.  Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!