Saturday, March 14, 2015

I Can't Get No Satisfaction!



   I was getting ready for work the other day and the song Hallelujah by Darlene Zschech began to play. The first line caught my attention, it goes, “He is King. The Savior has been born, the One we’ve waited for, surrounded by our praises”. “The One we have waited for” caused me to think that we have all waited for something in our lives.  I remember when I first started working in the early 70’s thinking that once I finally made ten thousand dollars a year my life would be so good.  The odds are most of us are waiting for something to come and change our lives, the perfect mate, the new car, the job of our dreams, to finally get out of school, you fill in the blank. Living unsatisfied lives is a common trait among humans. If you sit here today surrounded by plenty and still feel like something is missing in your life, I have the answer for you.

Part of the continuing search for meaning in our lives comes from an inherent emptiness inside of each of us.  There is a God shaped hole in our lives caused by what the bible calls sin. The bible tells us that we all have sinned and fallen short of Gods glory; it also tells us that the wages of sin is death. Everyone but one, (you’re not the one)  who has ever lived on the face of the earth has sinned and missed the standard set by Gods glory, and consequently has or had the penalty of death upon their heads.  Billions, upon countless billions of people have missed the mark and have lived and died under the penalty of death.  

God is a loving God, God’s character is defined by love, and in fact God loves you so much that he sent his one and only son to pay for the penalty of death that follows us through our lives. Only Jesus lived a sinless life.  Two things are evident through the teaching of scripture, the first thing is that the death that God says we deserve (Genesis 2:17) is spiritual death, which is separation form the Gods presence for all eternity;  if we die in our sins we are exiled to a place called hell forever. We are told in scripture that hell is a place of fire and brimstone where we burn eternally without any relief. But the greater anguish is those who choose hell are an eternity away from God’s presence and love. You have one life and within the boundaries of that life you are given the opportunity to *repent, or turn from sin to God, through Jesus.

Since the day Christ died on the cross, and rose form the dead to pay for our debt, we have been living in the days of grace; all of us from the worst to the best have lived under God’s merciful grace, as He patiently waits for the best and the worst of us to choose eternal life over eternal death. God does not suddenly take people out just because He had a bad day (He never has a bad day).  As we live here in this wonderfully complex world that God created, we are all given a life time of chances and choices to choose Him. I believe God gives us all of the time we need to accept his open invitation for a new life through His Son, Jesus.  It is not Gods will that anyone perishes but it is his will that we all be restored to a right relationship with Him. The time that it takes in a person’s life to come to this point of understanding varies. People have turned to Him from early childhood all the way to death bed conversions.  This fact bears out the compassion of our God.

The sad truth is that everyone on earth will not be *saved. The bible says that few will choose him and many will be cast away from his presence, because the pathway to destruction is wide and easy to travel, but the path to eternal life is difficult and narrow and few will find it.  There is a line from another song that fits what I am saying it is from Caedmon’s Call “This world”, it goes “This world has nothing for me and this world has everything, all that I could want and nothing that I need”.  In the bible, Proverbs 14:12 tells us “There is a way which seemeth right unto man but the end thereof are the ways of death.”(KJV). Are you living in a way that “seems right” but offers no satisfaction, like drinking a glass of liquid that does not quench your thirst?

I encourage you to seek the One we have all been waiting for. He is Lord of all, He is redeemer, savior, lover of your soul, Master of the sea, and Lion of the tribe of Judah, His name is Jesus. He will fill the emptiness that is in your life.  We have a need that Only God can fill we are openly invited to come and dine at the masters table, regardless of who you are or what you have done. His forgiveness is powerful, His healing is refreshing. He will wash you whiter than snow.

May God bless you richly, remember He loves you more than you deserve and more than you could ever imagine.

 

* Saved is a term used to describe escape from the penalty of sin that is upon all of our heads, before regeneration. It comes only through confessing your sin and asking Jesus to come into your life to be Lord and Savior. From the bible the book of Romans the third chapter the twenty third verse and romans chapter six and verse twenty three.

* Regeneration is a fancy term that means a new life and a new heart, not a changed heart but a new heart because the hold heart is corrupt. The heart is the mind and consciousness of human beings.

*Repent is a term that means to do a 180 degree turn away from your old life and walk in a new life surrounded by Gods love and guidance. You must know that to repent does not mean that everything is automatically perfect and your life changes overnight. In most cases it is a slow process of relearning how to put God first in your life and to get rid of addictions or blatant sins (specific things that are contrary to the word of God and are hurtful to your life, and your walk with God). This done by simply in trusting in Jesus and letting him live his life through you. In the bible you will find the book of John chapter three verse sixteen and it will tell you of God’s love. Specific verses about repentance are in the books of: Matthew 13:3, Acts 2:38 (the need and the benefit.)

 

 

 

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