Life is so unpredictable. At times this can be very exciting but sometimes it can be very frightening.
That flood in the house, the illness that took us by surprise! How were we to know? It can be disconcerting! As mere mortals, we cannot control our circumstances and have to try to cope with what is inevitable as well as we possibly can.
That flood in the house, the illness that took us by surprise! How were we to know? It can be disconcerting! As mere mortals, we cannot control our circumstances and have to try to cope with what is inevitable as well as we possibly can.
There are many situations like this in life. Illness cannot be avoided at times and most circumstances are out with our control. The ultimate uncontrollable event is death. We may be able to take our life, by force - it is very sad when someone gets to that level of despair, but we cannot and do not live for ever and we have no power over the day of our death.
There is hope, however. The only man who ever lived who had control over death was Jesus. Not only did He bring at least three people back to life, see the accounts in the Bible - John 11, Luke 8.41-56, Luke 7.11-18, but He voluntarily sacrificed His life when He died on the cross. I am not only referring to Him going to the cross willingly but that when it came to His death, life did not ebb away, as it would with us, but that He consciously sacrificed His life so that we might have life, see Luke 23.46.
The profound message of Christianity is this
Sin has moral consequences. God is loving and unfailingly holy. His distaste of sin is such that it would be an insult to His character to allow people into His presence who have been marked by sin. The dilemma is that God wants to share life with His creatures but His creatures by willful disobedience have distanced themselves from Him.
So is there a solution?
Enter, the Son of God. The divine plan was this! The Son of God would become a man as a result of a miraculous conception but a normal birth. In His life of thirty-three years, He would demonstrate that He was God by His miracles and His teaching. His life would also prove that He was holy and flawless in character. All men die because of the principle of sin but Jesus could not die as He was without sin, fault, wrong or error. His death would be a voluntary payment for guilty humanity. God could still be holy and yet in His love offer individuals pardon and forgiveness.
So how do you get this forgiveness? God treats His creatures as thinking individuals. He has given them the capacity to choose. The offer is on the table. Consider, grieve about and admit your sin to God, not a Priest nor anyone else. Believe and depend on what the Lord Jesus has done and accept Him as your Saviour.
I cannot describe the change that you will find when you come. It cannot be defined in words. It does not guarantee a problem-free existence. It will bring about changes in your lifestyle, not enforced change as a result of rules but changes in interests and desires for better things. It will mean your guilty status before God has been resolved. You will be saved for ever.
Read the Bible, seek the Lord while He may be found.
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