May 2007
In this Monthly View, I share my failure to receive God's love from those who loved me as a child; my rejection of God by turning my back on Him to indulge in the pleasures of this world; and, my eventual belief that God's love could change my life through the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross.
My Childhood Memories
My parents took me to church and held me as a baby in their arms, while singing and hearing God's word. I remember how friends of the family shared God's love with me at Church and Sunday school. I memorized John 3:16, the Apostle's Creed and many hymns, such as "Jesus Loves Me This I Know" and "The BIBLE, That's The Book For Me." I even sang in the choir as a teenager, while Rita Beth played the piano.
I had many opportunities to develop my beliefs in Christ. Once, I put together a “Tabernacle in the Wilderness" kit during Vacation Bible School. I can remember my English teacher assigning us to memorize "The 23rd Psalm" and having us recite it in front of our eighth grade classmates. I visited many churches while growing up in a Bible-believing community.
It is common to have struggles while living a Christian life. Of course, some of us have many trials and sorrows. Jesus said we would, but to take heart that he had overcome the world.
The key to spiritual growth is to humble ourselves to God's heavenly view, and to understand how we fit into His big picture. It may be hard for us to surrender our will, opinions and view to the will and view of God found in the Holy Scriptures. But as we acknowledge the truth, a whole new course of life will unfold before us. The ability to surrender ourselves comes as God reveals His plan to us by His Spirit, who searches out everything and shows us even God's deep secrets.
My purpose is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ in a way you can understand it. On a recent visit, a new friend named Steve said, "I never saw it that way!" He saw that receiving Christ is not about doing religious works, but receiving the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to make us right with God through His work -- His death, burial and resurrection.
One way to alleviate speaking idle words is to pray and meditate God's Word. The National Day of Prayer, on Thursday, May 4th, can be a catalyst to launch you to a whole new lifestyle of worship. Most of us have a need for constant prayer so that we never give up.
The purpose of the Monthly View is to affect the way we see ourselves in light of God's promises. Our faith is built on the reality of the finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, His precious blood and righteousness. Moreover, because of His resurrection, we "...know in ourselves that we have in heaven a better and an enduring substance [reality].
The purpose of the Monthly view is to affect the way people see God and the way they see His love for them. It is God's desire that you know He loves you so much, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
In an August 2005 survey of 1004 Americans, NEWSWEEK magazine andBeliefnet found that 67% say the soul goes to heaven or hell when we die. Remarkably, 81% of Protestants and Catholics believed that a good person of another faith can attain salvation or go to heaven, even though their Savior Jesus declares: "I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Our lives pass in a moment compared to the time we will spend in eternity. It is a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.