The world is in trouble. There are many people all around us that live as if God were not real and some just don't care one way or another. I used to be one of those people. For the first 28 years of my life I didn't believe that there way a God and I didn't really care if He existed or not.
I considered myself an agnostic. I only believed in God when I got into trouble. The first time I ever bowed down my knees to pray was right after my dad died of a massive heart attack on the kitchen floor. Then later that same year my mother was hospitalized for two months of so. I prayed for her non-stop.
She eventually recovered, but I still really didn't come to know God in a relationship. I thought I was a good guy. I bragged that I was a nice guy and most people probably would have agreed of you would have asked them. A few years after my mother got out of the hospital I was invited to a church service by my future sister-in-law.
I heard the Gospel preached by an older gentleman with a slight southern accent. He told about Jesus in a wonderful way that seemed to draw me in. Later that year I received my first Bible for Christmas from my sister-in-law and I read it like I have never read any other book. That is because the Bible is unlike any other book you will ever read. The Bible is the true word of God. The Bible reveals the absolute truth about who God is, who we are as people (we are sinners), and how we can be reconciled back to God through faith in the one He sent, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I kept reading the Bible and I discovered that I wasn't as good as I thought I was. I really thought I was good. I didn't drink. I didn't drink. I didn't do drugs. I never got into trouble that people knew about. I was really proud of my goodness, but I found out I was wrong.
There is nothing good within Michael Rairdon (that is in my fleshly nature). There is something broken inside of me and it is my sin nature. We are born with a sin nature that separates us from the Living God. God is Holy and sin can never enter into His presence.
I found out that despite all of my good works that I would never be good enough to earn God's forgiveness. I was totally lost and dead inside and I never knew it. I surrendered my life to the Lord Jesus Christ and came to faith in Him. I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior in 2004 and I was baptized later that same year.
Psalm 14:1 says,
"The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
I was a fool for not believing that there is indeed a God. He is the Creator of all things seen and unseen. There is only One God. He is the God revealed in the Holy Bible. He the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God is real and He does exist. He loves you and He wants to have a personal relationship with you. God demonstrated His great love for you and I by sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to this world to live a perfect and sinless life. Jesus went to the Cross where He shed His blood for our sins past, present, and future.
I never understood the Cross or the Bible for that matter until I came to faith in Jesus Christ. When I came to know the Lord the Holy Spirit cam to indwell within me as He does with anyone who comes to faith in Christ and He opened my eyes so I could see the truth of who God is and all that He has done for me.
I Corinthians 1:18 says,
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God."
It is a foolish thing for us not to believe in God and it is foolishness to reject His way to coming to know Him. The Lord wants each one of us to come to repentance of our sins and He wants us to come to faith in Jesus Christ, the One who came to save us by His shed blood on the Cross.
Lord,
Thank You for not giving up on me when I lived as a fool.
I am thankful for Your patience and all the people You placed in my path to draw me to You.
I am not perfect. I still struggle with sin and I stumble.
I am thankful for Your mercy and grace.
Thank You that You are still working on me to make me more like Jesus.
I pray that more people will come to know You Lord Jesus in the days ahead.
In Jesus Name I pray,
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment