Major Questions of Life~~~

Who are we?
What are we supposed to be?
What's wrong with us?
How do we get better?

What does God have to say about it all?

Glad you asked!

Let's assume that the Bible actually contains messages from God that may help us answer these questions.

Does this sound reasonable? If not, just go along with it for a while.

Genesis 1 tells us that God designed the world, concluding with making us in His Image to take care of everything in the world that comes into our hands.

How have we done so far?

How have you done taking care of your own life? Of doing what you know to be right or of shunning what you know to be wrong?

Need improvement? Yep, me too. Same as everyone else.

Genesis 3 tells us that our first parents messed up big. Whether there was an outside tempter or their inner conflicts, they decided to distrust God, to take something that did not yet belong to them. That resulted in a fracture between them, and a break in the very order of Creation. They were cast out of their haven and sent out into a wild world- having grabbed knowledge but not yet learning wisdom. Their kids just added to that mess. With each generation, God gave guides and guardians and blessings and disasters and rescuers. You know the tales- the Flood & Noah's Ark, Abraham & Sarah & Isaac, Moses & the Exodus & the Commandments, King David...

Yet it all got worse. Even the heroes & heroines He sent couldn't do everything right & got in their own messes.

So at the right time, God stepped in directly. He always planned to. He hints it at Genesis 3:15. He outright claims it through Isaiah (700 years before Jesus)-59:15-21.
15. Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
16. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.

However, He would come undercover- as a Servant, a Suffering One (Isaiah 53).

Along comes Jesus, the Christ (aka "Messiah"- Anointed Priest/King of David's lineage), the Son of God.

John calls Him the Word, the Expression of God, which is just as much God (John 1).

He taught Law and He taught Love. He healed and forgave and taught obedience to God and himself and showed compassion on those to weak to obey and anger on those to proud to obey (read any of the Gospels at random).

The last group torture-killed Him.

That was all right tho. He planned for it, even provoked them to do it.

A recent hit movie tried to show how bad it was, but if it really revealed the worst of it, that movie would have been banned & the makers jailed. They could not have shown how Jesus took into His own heart the guilt of every monstrous abuser and the pain of every wounded victim, along with the petty faults and small hurts of everyone's life.

Compared to that, the pain of hanging by nails in his wrists under a blazing sun might have seemed a relief. That was what released His scream "My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?"

But He still died forgiving, and consoling, and trusting and triumphant. Three days later, He rose even more triumphantly. To call us into His life. To be the earthly ambassadors for His Heavenly Kingdom. To apply His Love & His Law to our own lives and into whatever area of life we can, even entire societies & cultures, until His Return.

You know what Jesus teaches- about life & work & marriage & family & love & death & sorrow & joy, even about our words & thoughts. You might not know He gives you the ability to follow Him- by the power of His Spirit, the support of His Assembly (aka "Church"), the guiding of His Word (aka "Bible").

What if you refuse?
Jesus tells us in Chapter 3 of John's Gospel-
16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18. He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20. For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21. But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Re-read verse 19- God's Judgment is that His Light invades the world, while those committed to the world want to stay in the Dark, just as our first parents in Genesis 3 tried to hide from God after their rebellion. But God would not let them hide. Neither can anyone hide from Him/Jesus in Eternity. We who serve God/Jesus, who are uplifted as His friends, who are adopted as His children will continue to live & learn & grow in His Light (Revelation 21-22). Those who refuse Him will become lovers of darkness, immune to His Love, tormented by His Light, which beats down on them as HellFire, with no promise of an relief (Revelation 14).
You probably don't hate God/Jesus. But you might not trust Him either. What you decide now is a step in one of those directions. Either step is a risk. Stepping to Him risks losing the faulty yet maybe pleasant life you know. Stepping away from Him risks becoming a thing that never wants to love Him or know His love.

Which path do you want to risk?

What to do if you want to embrace Jesus?
>Pray to commit yourself to God/Jesus/Their Spirit, turn from what you know is wrong on God's terms (the Bible), ask Him to give you His power to do what is right by His Holy Spirit.
>Study the Bible & pray regularly. Find a caring church that teaches the Bible & the Gospel explained above. If you've never been baptized, do it- if you have been, renew it with a public commitment to Christ.
>Share your faith- with fellow believers in regular churchgoing & fellowshipping & taking Communion; and with the non-believers in your life (with care and compassion, not judgment or hysteria).
>Live your life with Jesus as your guide & your guard to supply you with the grace & gifts needed to do your best & obey Him. Try not to mess up but if you do, run TO Him for forgiveness & help to do better.

Jesus dares you to trust Him. What is keeping you from His challenge?

~Ted~ August 2005~