Jesus Christ and Him Crucified

Here is a little honestly for you. I've written this post four times and deleted each one. Why? Any time I try to make Jesus look good, I just sound stupid. It does not matter what I think about Jesus and if you're honest, you don't care what I think about Jesus. The things I think and say are meaningless compared to the truth of who He is and what He can do.

 

So here is the truth Friends. I was a girl raised in a home with believing parents. My Grandfather was a pastor, my Uncle is a pastor, my Cousin is a pastor. Thy did their best to teach me to Love God and Love Others. To say that I was raised around Jesus is an understatement. If the church doors were open, we were in them. I grew up knowing all the Sunday School answers. I can quote scripture to you. Bible Drill, I bet I could drop you every time! But I didn't meet Jesus until I was 18. Sound silly to you? It's not, and I'm not the only one.

 

 

 

Here is the thing Friends, I grew up in a generation that focused on moral issues rather than the transforming power of the gospel. I was taught to be good, respect my elders and give honor to my country. I was taught "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am." I'm part of the please and thank you generation. You treated each other the way you wanted to be treated. You don't steal, you don't lie, you don't do drugs or drink. And by glory, you saved yourself for marriage. You obeyed all the rules and you knew there would be consequences if you didn't. Are those things wrong? By No Means! Those are all good things. I want my own children to know and do them. The problem is, if that's what we're  focused on, we miss the entire reason we're doing them in the first place. Preach truth. Teach Jesus and those things will be the fruit of your salvation. They'll be put in their proper place and they'll make since.

 

I tried those things only until those things didn't bring me peace. I did all that I was taught Jesus wanted of me. But I was still hopeless and sad. So in my mind I tried Jesus and He didn't work. Truth: I never even met Him.

 

By the time I was 18 I was going my own way and I was as lost and hopeless as ever. Until the day I actually met Him. And when I did, it was because He finally opened my eyes to my own need for Him. When I heard truth for the first time, it was transforming and powerful. Jesus came not to condemn me, but to give me life. Life Everlasting.

 

If you don't know Him, the fact that you're even reading this is proof that He's drawing you to Him. He wants to do the same thing for you. Stop trying to be good before you come to Him. You can't. That's His job.

 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

John 3:16-21

 

Truth Friends. It will set you free. And those who Christ sets free, you are free indeed.