Are you reading your Bible …

I know I struggle with being consistent when it comes to reading my Bible.  I get to feeling guilty for not reading it, then, I get it out for a while and do some good reading.  But then … I put it down again for days (and often weeks) on end.

WHY????

I put on a good Christian face most of the time.  Most of my friends would probably tell you I am a good Christian who could serve as an example from others.  As far as I’m concerned … that just makes me a pretty good actor.  I have been a Christian since I was 10, and I know how to act like a Christian.  Rather than BE the real thing, I pretend.

WHY????

I am weak and stupid.  That is why.  Weak because I cannot maintain the consistency that I would like to maintain.  Stupid because I KNOW … I REALLY KNOW … that a Christ-directed life is the best life in the world.  By not reading my Bible consistently, I might as well be hitting myself in the head with a baseball bat regularly.  It’s as if I say to myself – “reading the Bible would draw me closer to God and bring me ultimate joy … hmmm … what can I do to screw that up … don’t want any of that joy.”

What about you?  Are you reading your Bible?

I have a suggestion for you.  This is something I am going to try to do as well.  I heard it from a preacher on the radio the other day.  And no … it’s not reading the Bible all the way through in a year or anything.

I am going to read 1 John every day for 30 days.  There’s a lot to be said about repitition.  By the end of the 30 days, I ought to have a pretty good idea of what is in 1 John, and I will also probably (by the end of 30 days) realize that 30 days of reading 1 John is not enough.  That’s key.  We can read God’s Word over and over and over and there will always be more for us to learn.

I’ll close with these verses:

Psalm 119:11
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

1 Peter 2:2 – 3
Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

Go with God,
Donald B

Bringing the Truth into Your REAL LIFE

Have you ever experienced God? Or have you ever had some kind of mountain top experience where God showed you something that He wanted you to change in your life or gave you some mission or showed you an act that He wanted you to perform? Have you ever come to a place in your life where you simply knew what God wanted you to do? How did you respond?

My blog today comes from a devotional that I read this morning. Check out this bit from the devo:

My Utmost For His Highest, by Oswald Chamber
Beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mountaintop with God. If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness. “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23). The moment you forsake the matter of sanctification or neglect anything else on which God has given you His light, your spiritual life begins to disintegrate within you. Continually bring the truth out into your real life, working it out into every area, or else even the light that you possess will itself prove to be a curse.

The last sentence is the one I want to focus on. Here’s the question I want you to answer today:

WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU OR HAS SHOWN YOU?

John 14:26 (NIV)
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He promised to leave us with the Holy Spirit. As we read in John 14:26, this Holy Spirit will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. And we know what the Holy Spirit shows us or teaches us or guides us in or anything is trustworthy and excellent because the Holy Spirit is God! Therefore, as Christians we have God – the Holy Spirit – living in us and guiding us through this life!

It is this same Holy Spirit that is responsible for the experiences we have where God seems to enlighten us on what to change or how to live or what act to perform next. The problem is how we answer the question above. What are we doing with it?

What we should be doing is what Chambers says in that last sentence – Continually bring the truth out into your real life. We constantly hear God … but refuse to act on what He has shown us. WHY???? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that I don’t want to continue ignoring God.

Check this out. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says “Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.” We stifle the Holy Spirit by not heeding His instruction. The problem with stifling the Holy Spirit is that soon … if we continue to ignore … we will no longer hear. Is that what you want? Do you want to be in a position where you never hear from God again? I don’t.

So … today … what do you need to be doing with what God has given you or has shown you?

Go with God,
Donald B

Logos Bible Software

Logos is a company that produces and sales Bible Study software.  But what makes this software so cool is the way they make it so easy to search through hundreds – if not thousands – of resources (Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, books, magazine articles, etc.) at the push of the enter key.

After that introduction – and looking at the rest of my blog – you may be wondering why I am plugging for this software.  It’s a very simple thing really.  Logos searches the web to find where people have advertised – by word of mouth (or blog) obviously – for them.  And then, in turn, they place a link to your site (or blog) from their Logos blog.  A good trade I think.  First, I get to tell you about a software I use which greatly enhances my ability to prepare papers for seminary or lessons for a Bible class I might be teaching.  Second, when found by Logos, my blog gets advertised at a site where people might come looking for answers or resources to different topics.  It is my hope my blog can be used by others as a source of encouragement or even enlightenment.  I don’t believe I am the brightest bulb in the pack, but I do believe God has given me an understanding he expects me to share and the ability to share it.  With all that said, back to Logos.

I am using the Leader’s Library.  The reason I purchase the Leader’s Library rather than the Scholar’s Library: Gold is because of price.  The price for the Scholar’s Library is more than I can spend on anything at the moment.  However, I will say, for what you get it is well worth the money.  I was able to scrape up enough to get the Leader’s Library.  And even this library will be a mound of information for me to use.

These different systems are called libraries because that is exactly what they are.  They are packed with Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, books and magazines.  And the easy to use search functions make it easy to search through all of them for particular subjects or writings related to biblical passages or anything like that.  The very cool part – as far as I am concerned – is how they insert foot notes in the correct format for papers that I have to write for seminary.  Simply put, they do all of the annotation work for me.  AWESOME!!!!

This is the end of my advertisement for Logos!  Check out their website by clicking on the image above or on any of the highlighted links in this post.

Go with God,
Donald B

Commute

Commute is a word I never used before I moved to Washington, DC. Even at Randolph AFB in San Antonio, TX … I never used the word “commute”. I walked to work most days. Church was just a half mile up the road.

In Montgomery, 15 minutes was a long ride, but we still did not talk about our commute to work or anything like that. There was this one lady that moved out of Montgomery but continued to work with us. Her drive was 45 MINUTES!!! ONE WAY!!! That was forever!

What I would do for a simple 45 minute drive to work today. For those of you that are fortunate enough to live in a place where everything is within a 15 minute drive, the word “commute” is a word that those of us that live in the big city areas use to describe our drive into and away from work. And for most, it is a miserable thing.

The fact that we have a “commute” to and from work inevitably roles over into our personal life as well. Unfortunately, there are still millions of people living in this area who have to go to Walmart and the grocery store on Saturday just like you. Therefore, your personal life is effected by the “commute”. However, we don’t call that a “commute” … no … that’s more of a “hassle”.

I’m still trying to figure out why I started writing this blog … so, I’m going to try and take it into the spiritual realm now.

1 Corinthians 9:21 – 23 (NIV)
To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

How does this verse connect to the word commute in any form???

It’s like this. Understanding that we use the word “commute” in the DC area, but not in the Montgomery, AL area should seriously affect the way you do church. Who are you ministering to? Who are you trying to reach? What are their lives like? What is important to them?

Here … the most important thing people have is time. But time is important everywhere. I guess the difference is that when we plan ministry events here, depending on what day and time we schedule the event, we could be eating up more than 3 hours of a person’s personal life … whereas in a city where 15 minutes is a long way, you may only be requiring 1.5 hours of time. It all adds up after a while.

So … the whole point of this jabbering. If you want to effectively minister where you are, KNOW ABOUT where you are. Know about what’s important to those that ARE where you are? YOU change in order to meet their needs.

Enough said (probably too much)!

Go with God,
Donald B

Breaking the addiction …

Looks good … doesn’t it!  I think it does.  Unfortunately, I think it looks TOO good.  You see, I was in the habit of drinking 5 or more cups of coffee a day.  You may not think that is much until I tell you that my cup is a 24 oz. Dunkin’ Donuts coffee mug.  That’s a lot of coffee!

The problem with my coffee drinking is that it controlled me.  Not to mention the effects it has on me physically – raises my blood pressure, keeps me awake at night, and it messes with my stomach.  I mentioned how it affects my blood pressure to a professor where I go to school, and he asked “why would you continue to do something that is obviously causing you harm?”  At first, I just blew that off … but then, I asked myself, “why ARE you doing something that is obviously causing you harm?”  And the only answer is the addiction.  I have to have it!  It affects the outcome of my day!  It gets me going in the morning!  It is my juice of life!  But then … we start thinking about that whole “who’s your master” thing.

Matthew 6:24 (NLT)
No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

While this verse speaks of money, it is true for anything that has mastery over you.  You CAN NOT have two masters … period!  That means money, coffee, sodas, cigarettes, tobacco, soap operas, reality TV shows, TV in general, eating, and on and on.

But since mine is coffee, I want to speak a little more on that.

Who can guess what this is???

If you said caffeine, you are correct!  This is a caffeine molecule and it’s logical diagram.  My problem is caffeine.  Yes, there are studies that say caffeine is good for you.  People are all the time telling me that one.  And they are partaking in caffeine BECAUSE it is good for them.  But guess what … EXERCISE is good for you too.  And those same people will not exercise.  The point I am trying to make is let’s not make excuses for the things in our lives that have mastery over us.

So … I’m trying to quit.  Today is my 4th day without caffeine.  The withdrawal symptoms are heavy upon me.  Fortunately, I don’t get head aches … but I do get constipated (sorry for having to share that), I have a lack of appetite (which is a big thing for me), and I am VERY fatigued.  I noticed it BIG TIME when I tried to go running today.  I am a runner.  Running 5 – 9 miles a day is something that I’ve grown to enjoy.  I was shooting for 6 miles today.  I made it 5 minutes.  I have never felt so drained in my entire life.

It almost made me want to get a cup of coffee. 

So … how do we overcome?

By daily being filled with God’s Holy Spirit and allowing Him to work in us and through us.

 Ephesians 5:18 (NLT)
Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit

(While getting drunk is a no-no … drinking wine is not forbidden … so, focus on the last part of the verse.)

INSTEAD, BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT!

For me, I might be able to paraphrase this verse to say … Don’t be dependent upon coffee to keep you going.  Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.

By immersing myself into God’s Word and praying to Him continuously (begin the morning in prayer, pray as you drive, pray when you feel weak, pray when you are bored).

In closing … I hope this has helped you.  And I also covet your prayers!

Go with God,
Donald B

How do you deal with temptation?

Recently, my wife and I purchased a new front loading, high capacity washing machine for our family.  Please understand what a blessing this was.  Washing for a family of 8 can take FOREVER with a normal sized washing machine. 

In our house, we have placed this washing machine in our laundry area which is at the base of the stairs leading to my daughter’s room.  Just imagine it … every time she walks by she thinks “I wonder what it would be like to get into the washing machine?  I wonder if I could actually fit?  I could post this picture on my mySpace and win cool points with all my friends?”  Weeks go by and this temptation continues to pull at her.  Finally, she gives in.  One night, when no one is looking or around (most likely … we were all in bed … where she should have been) … she sets the camera to auto, quickly hops in the washer and gets the shot.  But, as with all sin, she is soon discovered.

Her mistake (besides getting in the washer) – not removing the picture from MY digital camera.  I discovered the incriminating photo the following night.  You may be wondering about how angry a parent can get at a child who does this kind of thing to an expensive washing machine … but I must admit, the totally and ridiculously thought about what she did tends to make you laugh more than be angry.  It’s kind of like that 2 year old who got into Mommy’s lipstick and painted her face with it … how can you NOT laugh at that???

I regress … let me continue.

My daughter failed at dealing with temptation.  She gave in to the calling of the washing machine.  But what about you?  When the opportunity comes to cheat on your taxes slightly in a way that you “know” you won’t get caught comes up, how do you deal with this?  When a situation is set in place which puts you in contact with someone of the opposite sex (who is not your spouse) on a regular basis comes up, how do you deal with that?  Men … if you are in an airport and you see the risky magazines calling you to buy them (and look), how do you deal with that?  Women … when your husband is not giving you the attention you need, and you see opportunities to have that gap filled elsewhere, how do you deal with that?

The list can go on and on.  How do you deal with temptation?

First, remember this …

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Second, remember to pray …

Matthew 26:41 (NIV) and Mark 14:38 (NIV)
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.

Third, remember to be filled with the Holy Spirit daily …

Ephesians 5:18 (NIV)
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

Please notice that the title of this blog is “How do you DEAL with temptation?” and not “How to AVOID temptation.”  Temptation is real.  From satan, from the longings of your flesh, and from the things around us that we see and hear on a daily basis.  So, prepare yourself now to deal with the temptation to come.

The scriptures above … Matthew 26:41 and Mark 14:38 were spoken to Peter before Jesus was arrested.  Jesus knew Peter’s temptation to deny him was coming.  Who knows?  We may not have the scriptures of Peter’s denial in God’s Word had he prayed when Christ told him to pray.  Instead, he slept.

What about you?  Are you sleeping.  Pray now for strength and wisdom to deal with the temptations that are coming your way!

Go with God,
Donald B

What could 3 accomplish?

Have you ever felt like this?
            Or does this describe your life now?

Ecclesiastes 4:2 – 3 (NIV)
And I declared that the dead,
    who had already died,
    are happier than the living,
    who are still alive.

But better than both
    is he who has not yet been,
    who has not seen the evil
    that is done under the sun.

I know I have. And my own opinion is that if you said “no” … you are not being completely honest with yourself. At some point in our lives, we all have to come face to face with the “why am I here”, “what is my purpose” or “who cares that I’m here” questions.

Some of you may be saying … “YES! That’s me now! As a matter of fact … that’s me all the time!”

Are we supposed to live feeling this way? I don’t think so.

What’s the solution? PEOPLE

That answer came pretty quick. Let me show you why I believe this to be true.

We are given these scriptures in the first part of Ecclesiastes 4. But then we get verses 9 – 12, and I firmly believe that God’s Word is so well written and constructed that there is a reason why certain verses follow certain other verses. So, read verses 9 – 12.

Ecclesiastes 4:9 – 12 (NIV)
Two are better than one, 
   because they have a good return for their work:

If one falls down, 
   his friend can help him up. 
   But pity the man who falls 
   and has no one to help him up!

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. 
   But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered, 
   two can defend themselves. 
   A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

The answer is people! God’s answer to our loneliness, our lack of will power, our inability to stay on a diet, our failure in the world of fitness … and even more importantly, our lack of spiritual growth, our lack of desire to apply God’s principles in our lives, and our inability to establish a consistent quite time … is PEOPLE!

I’m sure I could continue that list above. Parenting, being a teenager, work ethics, taxes, etc. And I’m sure you have your own list that you have been going through in your head.

Our inability to be all that God wants us to be comes when we try to “go at it alone.”

I was thinking yesterday that if I had 2 brothers who would commit (me committing also) to making daily verbal contact with each other for the purpose of asking a set of prying questions we have all agreed to and for the purpose of pushing each other to do the things we’ve committed to do I would be able to qualify and finish the Ironman Triathlon (if you know me … HA to that.) But as silly as that seems even to me … things even greater than this could be accomplished. Spiritual growth as never seen before could happen!

Some of you may be saying … “That’s all fine and good, but a sign of spiritual maturity is being able to stand on your own without being dependent on others.” (Did that sound snooty? I was going for snooty.)

BALONEY!!!

God designed us for relationships! Look in Genesis about why God created Eve.

Genesis 2:18 (NIV)
The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

We were designed to work best together when we work together.

Are you depressed now because you don’t have these kind of people in your life? Well, stop. Pray! Ask God to bring them into your life. He will.

You … be ready. Remember, you have to commit to them also.

Go with God,
Donald B

Which translation of the Bible should I use?

Have you constantly struggled with which translation you should use?  Or are you the person who has landed on one particular translation of the Bible as the “ONLY TRULY INSPIRED TRANSLATION OF GOD”?  My purpose today is to briefly discuss translations.  I am not the expert, but this topic does need discussion.

These 3 links (pdf files) are excerpts from books that discuss translations.  I found them to be very enlightening.  Maybe you will too.
What are the differences in Bible Versions – do they matter?
Where does the Bible text come from?
How are Bible Translations made?

It is important for each of us to understand what a translation is, where it comes from and how it was translated … in order to keep us away from the unnecessary fear of apostasy or heresy if we are reading a misleading translation.  Better worded … we should not let translation-phobia keep us from reading and understanding God’s Word.

First, if you have one single translation that you stick to as the only and best translation where every other translation is wrong or inferior – YOU ARE WRONG!  Sorry to be so blunt, but this type of person is bordering on idolatry.

2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV)
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

2 Timothy 3:16 (NASB)
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

No matter which translation you use above, they all say the same thing.  God’s Word is inspired.  What they DO NOT say is that a particular translation is more inspired over the other.  Let’s get real very quick.  In order to have the exact Words of God you need the original copies that were written down by the authors of the text.  And even then, you have to know the language to be able to read them.  And even then, you have to know the language well to understand the idioms that are there.

(Dictionary time … idiom is a term like “that politician is slicker than a greased pig”)

And here’s another important fact … even if you do know the languages well enough to even understand and know the idioms … WE DO NOT HAVE THE ORIGINAL TEXTS!  Don’t go hide in a corner now because you think we have inaccurate copies of God’s Word.  If you do any reading or studying about this, you will find that the actual book – the Bible – is more researched, better proved and more authenticated than ANY BOOK EVER!  If you want to read up more on this, check out Josh McDowell’s book The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict.  (This is a revision or update … or maybe it’s a translation … of his book Evidence That Demands A Verdict.)

Now … to the basics.

For those of you who do not want to do a lot of research on your own.

There are 2 ends of the spectrum that most translations fall into.  There are the word-for-word translations.  And there are the thought-for-thought translations.  Word-for-word translators try to translate the copies of the original texts as closely as they can word for word … yet, make it readable.  If they were to translate word for word exactly, we would not be able to make sense out of what we were reading.  Thought-for-thought translators take a text and try to say in the language they are translating into the thought the author was trying to convey.  However, most thought-for-thought translators do this while trying to stay word-for-word where possible.

Then, there are paraphrases.  These are Bibles that are usually completed by one or a few people.  Basically, they read the Bible and just write it in their own words to better express (in their view) what is being said.  While these are not evil, they are also not useful for actual Bible study.  They are good for reading though.  As a matter of fact, I have a copy of The Message on my shelf.

So, which is better – word-for-word or thought-for-thought?

NEITHER!!!!!!

They both have their strengths and weaknesses.  My suggestion is for you to use both.  Don’t get stuck on one translation.  Don’t lift another translation above another.  However, I will ask that you research where a translation came from and how it was translated?  Here are some questions to ask.

Who translated it?  If it was one person, I call that a paraphrase.  If it was a group of theological scholars educated in Greek and Hebrew who come from a myriad of religious backgrounds … I feel pretty safe with that translation.

What texts did they use to translate?

Why did they produce the translation?

What are the spiritual leaders of the day saying about the translation?

These are all good questions to ask.

As I finish this up … I do have a negative comment to make about one particular translation that may get me into a lot of trouble with some friends and some readers of this blog.

The KJV is NOT a good translation … today!  When originally translated, it was good.  It was the best English translation they had at the time.  But the KJV was translated using inferior copies of the original texts.  At the time of its conception, many of the Greek and Hebrew texts that we have today had not yet been discovered.  The KJV was translated from a Latin translation of the original texts.

But we can learn an important lesson from the KJV.  Although not perfect in its translation, God’s Word was taught well to English-speaking people for many years.  This translation was much better for the people than the Latin versions of the day because the people did not understand Latin.  What is important is that every person be able to read God’s Word.

It always amazes me that we can have such strong debates over the different English-translations, but have nothing to say about a Spanish translation or a German translation.

Going back to 2 Timothy 3:16 … God’s Word is inspired.  I’m sure that we would all benefit greatly from the ORIGINAL TEXTS if we had them.  But we don’t.  Therefore, our scholars strive to provide us with the best translations possible.  Archaeologists continue to dig and search for clues to help understand the original languages of the Bible better (and even hope to find an original text or two.)

Bottom line … I believe that when God says His Word is inspired,  He is not referring to the actual words of the original text but the principles those Words teach.  I believe that if He had meant the actual words were inspired, then a full understanding of Greek and Hebrew would have come with our salvation and we would all have access to the ORIGINAL TEXTS.

So … read the Bible!  Read the NIV, NASB, NLT, ESV, TEV, NKJV, The Message, TLB and even the KJV.  Read them all!  What’s important is that you are soaking up God’s Word.  Ultimately, the Holy Spirit is our teacher.

Go with God,
Donald B

Becoming a Christian …

Today, I blog on the most basic … yet most important … aspect of Christianity.  How does a person get “saved”?  This is where it all begins.  This is what it is all about.  In order to be a Christian, we have to have some knowledge of what that is all about.  So … here is my input on this all important subject.

If you have ever seen Campus Crusade for Christ’s tract call The Four Spiritual Laws this will look very familiar to you.

First, it is important to understand that God loves you.  No matter who you are, what you have done, or where you have been … God loves you.  Read the following verses:

John 3:16 (NLT)
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Answer this question after every verse you read –> “What is this saying to me?”

John 10:10 (NLT)
The thief’s [satan] purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My [Jesus] purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Romans 5:8 (NLT)
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

My take: God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to live as a human – perfect … without sin – and to die on a cross as a permanent sacrifice for us.  Jesus’ purpose for coming was to save us from the effects of sin and to give meaning to our lives.  And He did all of this without requiring us to become good or get better or fix the bad things in our lives.  He did this for us BECAUSE we are sinners and have bad things in our lives.

Second, we have to understand WHY we needed Jesus to do this for us.  The quick and easy answer is because we are all sinners.  We have done bad things.  Check out these verses.

Romans 3:23 (NLT)
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Romans 6:23a (NLT)
For the wages of sin is death…

My take: If you think you haven’t sinned … you are lying to yourself.  Ever told a lie or disobeyed your parents?  We all have.  We are all sinners.  And because of this sin, we have to pay the “wage”.  And the “wage” for our sin is death.  Death – as in Romans 6:23a – is referring to spiritual death.  While it is true that physical death is the result of sin (Adam & Eve’s original sin) … our sin results in our spiritual death.  Spiritual death is better stated as an eternal separation from God.  After we experiencing physical death, we will either be with God in Heaven forever … or we will not (better known as spending forever in Hell).

Third, we have to ask “So, what can we do about this?  It seems that we are condemned already?  How can we avoid this spiritual death?”  In order to answer this, we have to look at what Jesus had to say … and then, we’ll look at some more verses in Romans.

John 14:6 (NLT)
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Romans 6:23b (NLT)
but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:9 – 10 (NLT)
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

My take: Jesus is the only answer to our sin problem.  Any thing else that any one offers you is false hope … a lie.  Jesus is the only way to an eternal life with God (in Heaven) rather than without God (in Hell).  While the wages of our sin is death, the alternative is eternal life through Jesus Christ.  And Romans 6:23 tells us that this is a FREE GIFT!!  This is important.  Understanding Romans 5:8 and Romans 6:23 together, we see that we DO NOT DO anything to receive this gift.  We simply just receive it.  Romans 10:9 – 10 tells us HOW to receive it.  Believe and Confess!  Believe it in your heart and say it with your mouth (to God).

To help understand the free gift part a little better … check out these verses:

Ephesians 2:8 – 9 (NLT)
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

It is an absolutely FREE GIFT.  It’s called grace.  Someone gave us this acrostic for GRACE.  God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.  While simple … it’s true.  We get God and all that He has to offer simply by saying YES to His FREE GIFT!

Now … it’s up to you.  What will you choose?  No one can force you.  You have to choose.

The prayer offered below means nothing if you don’t believe it.  It is also not a magical incantation for how to be saved.  My prayer of salvation was “God … I’m afraid of Hell.  Save me.”  But I believed God was who He claimed to be.  And I confessed I needed Him to save me.  Here’s the prayer (a little more eloquent than the one I prayed).

Prayer
Jesus Christ … I believe You are God and that You became human and that You died on the cross to pay for my sins.  I thank You for Your sacrifice.  I am a sinner.  Forgive my sins.  Save me from myself.  Save me from Hell.  Come into my life and be my Savior.  I willingly accept your FREE GIFT!  Thank You for saving me.  Teach me how to be a Christian and how to let you be LORD of my life.  Amen!

If you prayed this … and you believed it … then, you have received God’s FREE GIFT!  There is nothing you can do to ever lose this gift.  You will still sin.  You will still have bad things happen to you.  But you are still (and will forever be) a child of God.  1 John 5:13 (NLT) says “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”  In the first four chapters, John told us what a Christian should look like.  But then he tells us that we can KNOW that we have eternal life.

So … no matter how bad things become … always hold on to this moment and remember that you ARE a child of God – and forever will be one.

Now, it is important for you to learn what it means to be a Christian.  It is very important for you to find a local church where you can learn about the Bible and grow in your faith by hearing and serving.

If you have questions, I will GLADLY answer them.  I will always be available to any one who desires to grow in their relationship with God.

donald@lifecc.us

Go with God,
Donald B

New Year’s Resolutions

Originally posted in a previous blog on January 10, 2007.

What kind of resolutions have you set? Do they center on losing weight or getting into shape? Maybe you want to reduce your financial debt? Some will try to stop smoking. Others may want to cut back on sodas. Maybe you decided to get a little spiritual with it and you say “I want to be a better Christian” … or “I want to grow in my relationship with Christ.” Or maybe, the penultimate spiritual resolution … reading your Bible through in a year.

Let me first say that I believe all of these are admirable resolutions, and I too try a few of them each year. But I have recently been smacked in the face with something that should be pretty obvious to one who has been a Christian for more than a year … much less to one who has been a Christian for 26 years.

This smack in the face that I received came from a book I have been reading called Growing True Disciples by George Barna. Barna is the guy who does all of those religious polls that you find in other books when they say “1 out of 10 witness” or something like that. You can click the book image and purchase the book for yourself if you would like. Any way … in this book, Barna points out that when most Christians are asked what their main goal in life is, they do not respond with answers like “I want to be more like Christ” or “I want to be a true disciple of Christ” or “I want my life to be what Jesus wants it to be.” In fact, it seems that our life goals as Christians more reflect those of the secular world. We want to be able to retire when we are 50 or we want to be able to ensure we have enough money to carry us until we are dead or we want our kids to grow up not going to jail or anything like that.

So, the first thing I resolve to do is to answer questions about my life goals with “I want to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ.” I figure that if I say that, and I think about that then I will begin to do things that will take me in that direction. Will I be perfect at getting there? Not a chance. But I’m going to try. The book points out one more thing that we seem to not do as well. What does it take to be a “true disciple?” How do we get there? And there is the problem. Yes, I want to be a true disciple of Christ as I lay on my death bed many years from now (I hope). However, if I’m going to get there, I need to take active steps to point me in that direction.

Therefore, I have set a few goals for 2007. And I will encourage you to set some goals yourself … spiritual goals.
1 – I want to verbally witness to at least 7 people this year with the intent of having them respond to Christ’s invitation to eternal life
2 – I want to find 2 people that I can begin discipling on a consistent basis.
3 – Our church has a goal of seeing 20 people baptized this year. I would like for 1 of those people to be someone that I have had the privilege to lead to the Lord.

I dare you to actually write down some kind of goal like this. For some of you, this is cake walk … so take a few minutes to find that thing that scares you spiritually … and verbalize it.

Then, think about it everyday and pray to God for his help to accomplish these things.

Go with God,
Donald B