Month: July 2015

We can learn from bugs.

Within the lowly ant God has placed wisdom that at times can be even greater than our own.  In the Bible God says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8, NIV).

God points us to the lowly ants as tutors to teach us to make the most of the opportunities we have when we have them.  An ant cannot think on the level that you and I can. God has “wired them up” with His own wisdom.  They don’t have a choice.  But to you and I He has given the glorious privilege and responsibility of a free will and the opportunity to personally know and love Himself, the loving God who made us. God didn’t “wire us up” to love Him. Love cannot be forced. What He did do is give Himself totally to us. By dying on the cross to forgive our sins He made a loving relationship with Him possible. And by rising from the dead He made it possible to live now and forever with Him.

So now is the time to decide. You were created for a life forever with Jesus. And only you can make the choice to join Him. Ask Him to forgive your sins and be the Lord of your life and He will fill you with His love, life and presence both now and forevermore.

To learn more about God’s love for you read, the Bible (Hebrews 2:5-18), talk to a friend who knows Jesus’ love, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

Jesus faced problems. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus sweat great drops of blood when facing the anguish of being separated from God his Father. Jesus knew that soon he would take upon himself all the world’s sin, including mine and yours. God would then pour out all of his holy wrath against sin upon Jesus, and God would turn his back on his Son.

How did Jesus handle this problem? Jesus began by asking that God would take away this problem from him, but only if that was God’s will. Jesus asked three times but God did not choose to remove Jesus’ problem.

Instead, as Jesus poured out his troubled heart to his Father, Jesus found the strength and the peace from his Father to do his Father’s will. There in the garden, in fellowship with his Father, Jesus gained victory over what was to come. And, because of Jesus’ faith and obedience even to the point
of death on the cross, God raised him out of the grave on Easter morning to be our Lord and Savior forevermore.

The same strength and peace that Jesus found in his trouble is available to us for ours. And through God’s love and power working in and through us we can have the same victory over our problems that Jesus had over his.

And then we can rise above it all.

If you know Jesus personally you can know His power. If you would like to know Jesus personally simply tell Him you are sorry for the wrong attitudes and actions you have had in the past. Tell him you believe He paid the price for those sins when He died on the cross. Ask Him to come into your heart and be the Lord of your life. And tell Him you believe that when He arose from the dead He arose so that you could live both now and forever with Him.

If you would like to learn more about Jesus, read the Bible (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 14:7-9, Matthew 26:36-28:20), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

“Forgetting what is behind and straining

toward what is ahead, I press on

toward the goal to win the prize for

which God has called me heavenward

in Christ Jesus.”

– the Apostle Paul

(Philippians 3:13b-14, NIV)

If we were trapped by our past and limited by the finite possibilities of our unchangeable history, we would be truly hopeless creatures indeed. But God, through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, wiped away all the things that could hold us back.

Our sins, and our inclination toward sin, were nailed to the cross with Jesus. And when He died, the problem of our past died with Him. If you and I will admit our sins to God, turn away from them and allow Jesus to save and lead us, then through God’s resurrection power, Jesus can offer us a brand new life.

We will still be influenced by the thought patterns and habits of yesterday. But, now we have a choice. We can choose our old way of life again and suffer the painful consequences. Or, we can resist our old patterns and choose to love and obey God.

If we choose to obey Him, our mind will be renewed and we will be transformed to be more and more like Jesus Christ. And then we will know the joy of the Lord.

If you would like to know more about new life in Christ, read the Bible (John 10:10, 14:6, Romans 8:1-17, Philippians 3:7-17), talk to a friend who has found new life in Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.