The oft quoted scripture of John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
It is the world that God truly loves. I remember when I first came to Jesus. I wanted the "world" to know about Him. I wanted all those around me to know that He was alive and well on the planet earth and that He had enough time in His busy schedule to call me out from the world and into His wonderful presence to give me a life that I could have never have imagined.
It seemed that the people in the world that I knew stood up and took notice at my life changing event. Most of those folks were friends and acquaintances that lived in my world at that time. In hindsight I can now see what might have alarmed many of those folks about my new life in Christ. The circumstances and events that lead to my coming to Christ had no real connection to an organized church. I was an un-churched lad that came to Jesus at a friendly New Years eve party. The purity of that event has never left me. I had nothing to sort out from any religious background. I was lost and then I was found and my world literally became my relationship and purpose with God. I had no pre-conceived idea of what it was to be a church going christian. I saw this new experience as personal and on going and un-encumbered by religion.
I can relate to God's love for the world more than ever and now after 35 years I can readily understand the disdain that Jesus had for man made religion. Man made religion portrays an image of God that is not at all like Him. I've noticed how God gets blamed for a lot of things by a lot of folks that attribute the religion that we have made to be the representation of God in the earth. No wonder Christianity is on the decline in America.
It would do us all a whole lot good if we would stop looking for God in religious places but rather seek Him with our heart, mind, and soul. I can testify to that method. It is pure and it is powerful. If you want to see God, know this: God made the world, He loves the world. We made religion and we love religion. Religion doesn't love back. It doesn't open our eyes or set us free. God does that!
Again, if you can't see God on the earth then get your eyes off of religion and seek Him first. He is there and waiting for us to come to Him.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Life as we know it......
Life as we know it may not be life as it should be or could be. Most of us never take the time to examine why we do what we do or why we even exist in the first place. Maybe Rick Warren really did have something to say in his blockbuster book, "Purpose Driven Life". His premise in the book is that we don't really know how to live this life because we didn't create ourselves. Only our creator has the schematic for life. With all of this great freedom that He has rendered us we have taken great liberty and without much thought at all often times excluded God completely from our every day existence.
The world has a lot of problems. People kill each other every day. People lie and deceive each other every day. Could you imagine what the world looks like to the God that created it? Imagine moving away from the earth slowly but surely and being able to view all the cities and various populations of the world through some kind of super photo camera, Imagine having the ability to see all the morbid pain staking suffering going on throughout the planet. How many rapes, murders, drug injections, robberies, and terror attacks would you be able to see. Every minute there is a brutal crime being committed by humanity. Those are just the most visible examples of the degradation of mankind. What about all the pain and suffering that is occurring within our divorced and dysfunctional families?
And here we are trying to make a living in America in order to maintain life as we know it. What if life as we know it is askew and taking us in the wrong direction? What if life as we know it is moving us furthur and furthur from our Creator? How would we know? What could possibly tip us off that something is seriously amiss with life as we know it.
The Bible has a book in the New Testament called Romans. The first few chapters clearly describe the frightening result of a society that moves too far away from God. One of the clearest indicators of a nation's complete downfall is found in the very first chapter of Romans. The writer desribes how unnatural affections begin to take control. Sexual perversions of all kind run rampant. The part that frightens me the most is that God has been known to give us over to what the scriptures call "A Reprobate Mind". A reprobate mind is a mind that is void of judgement. There is no right or wrong any more. That kind of thinking spreading through America or any other nation will ultimately bring that nation down.
God will never forsake us but we can forsake ourselves. He has given us the right to choose our own path. He bestowed upon us the gift of choice. He knows more than any of us that being loved out of choice is the more excellent way. He didn't make us like robots. Who cares if a robot loves you? No, He wants us to choose Him. When we don't, He grieves and we are left to ourselves to devise our own way.
So maybe life as we know it should be revisited. Maybe we are ripe for change. Maybe it's time to re-examine some things because life as we know it may not be life as it should be or could be.
The world has a lot of problems. People kill each other every day. People lie and deceive each other every day. Could you imagine what the world looks like to the God that created it? Imagine moving away from the earth slowly but surely and being able to view all the cities and various populations of the world through some kind of super photo camera, Imagine having the ability to see all the morbid pain staking suffering going on throughout the planet. How many rapes, murders, drug injections, robberies, and terror attacks would you be able to see. Every minute there is a brutal crime being committed by humanity. Those are just the most visible examples of the degradation of mankind. What about all the pain and suffering that is occurring within our divorced and dysfunctional families?
And here we are trying to make a living in America in order to maintain life as we know it. What if life as we know it is askew and taking us in the wrong direction? What if life as we know it is moving us furthur and furthur from our Creator? How would we know? What could possibly tip us off that something is seriously amiss with life as we know it.
The Bible has a book in the New Testament called Romans. The first few chapters clearly describe the frightening result of a society that moves too far away from God. One of the clearest indicators of a nation's complete downfall is found in the very first chapter of Romans. The writer desribes how unnatural affections begin to take control. Sexual perversions of all kind run rampant. The part that frightens me the most is that God has been known to give us over to what the scriptures call "A Reprobate Mind". A reprobate mind is a mind that is void of judgement. There is no right or wrong any more. That kind of thinking spreading through America or any other nation will ultimately bring that nation down.
God will never forsake us but we can forsake ourselves. He has given us the right to choose our own path. He bestowed upon us the gift of choice. He knows more than any of us that being loved out of choice is the more excellent way. He didn't make us like robots. Who cares if a robot loves you? No, He wants us to choose Him. When we don't, He grieves and we are left to ourselves to devise our own way.
So maybe life as we know it should be revisited. Maybe we are ripe for change. Maybe it's time to re-examine some things because life as we know it may not be life as it should be or could be.
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