So yesterday I was driving somewhere and this one guy walks up to me and says: “You can have this for free, but you can come back on Monday or Tuesday to pay“…
My reply to him was: “Then it ain’t free at all…“
Where did this misconception come from? It is Easter and we are all about the eggs and tradition that we miss the meaning of it… What if Jesus said: “I will die for you for now, but later you have to die yourself”… Or what if it was like in the old testament where we had to crucify someone yearly, just to get our sins forgiven? This is not how it was and it will never be so again…
John 3:16, we all have heard it at some point, yet we do not believe it….
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 CSB)
We read this and say: “This can’t apply to me.” Or we ask the question like the rich man in Matt 19:16:
” Just then someone came up and asked him, ‘Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?'” (Matt 19:16 CSB)
Why do we ask these things and exclude ourselves with these statements? Jesus never said we must do this and do that…. He gives us guidelines to make our life easier… but my question is as follows:
DO YOU WANT TO LIVE IN A WORLD WITH NO GUIDELINES, WHERE LIFE IS HARD? OR DO YOU WANT TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE JESUS ALREADY GAVE US A GUIDELINE TO MAKE OUR LIVES EASIER?
When it is said to flee from sexual immorality, do you think it was said because God wanted to take the fun out of life, OR BECAUSE HE KNEW WHAT THE TOLL WOULD BE ON YOU AND YOUR SEXUAL PARTNER, IF IT WASN’T DONE IN THE RIGHT TIME? He gave guidelines out of love not punishment…
If you would ask a woman like Brittni Ruiz, a former porn star and now living for Christ, what this does, you would find that this guideline is to help us have a full life… Brittni’s testimony is http://www.christianpost.com/news/i-could-never-go-back-says-former-porn-star-who-found-jesus-101606/.
Now, we are still thinking God takes our life from us… God gave us HIS ONLY SON… Parents out there would actually know how this feels…. Abraham in the old testament also knew how that felt, and he was only asked to do it as a test… Think for a second to the day you have children, would you like to sacrifice them? Give them as a offer to be killed? Like I said parents would know how it feels… I wouldn’t ever want to have to sacrifice my kids, AND I AM NOT EVEN A PARENT… His love was proven to us in the fact that while we were still sinners, HE GAVE US HIS SON… yes Jesus, rose from the dead, but it must have broken the Father’s heart… We ca also be His children… YET JESUS HAD TO BE SACRIFICED FOR THIS TO BE POSSIBLE, for us to have a relationship with Him…
Now I am not saying we just get saved and go to heaven… Jesus died so it would be a possibility for ALL of us to go to heaven… NOW… if we confess with put hearts that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that He died for us, we will be saved…
I explained forgiveness like this to someone, it doesn’t help us to say we forgive someone, yet in our heart we hold a grudge to that person, then we do not truly forgive, we must be willing to bring our hearts into submission and even in our heart be able to forgive… Same applies to being saved, doesn’t matter if we just say we believe, you hearts have to also be brought into submission to this, and we must believe it in our hearts… I know I might have some resistance to what I say… but this is something I believe a person can pray the so-called “sinners pray” a million times. If we do not believe we will be saved because we confess that Jesus is Lord, we will not be saved…
God has grace with us yes, but we are not able see the kingdom of heaven if we do not believe…
When God send His Son to die about 2000 years ago… HE SAID:
“IT WAS SUFFICIENT THAT MY SON DIED FOR YOU”…
God bless and remember the world included everyone of us… thus He dies so that everyone of us, who do believe, can enter into the kingdom of heaven…
Last note… The Anima Series is doing a series on Easter as well which you can follow… http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAnimaSeries