By: Dale Weckbacher
Ephesians 3:17-19
that Christ may dwell
in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and
depth and height — 19 to know the love
of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness
of God.
NKJV
Many look at the Ten Commandments and all of the thou
shalt's and thou shalt not's and believe Christianity is a religion about
adherence to a strict set of rules and condemnation of those not adhering to
these rules. This is why the world is
quick to point out any violation of these rules by anyone professing to be a
Christian. While the standard Christians
are to live up to is the high calling of God in Christ (Philippians 3:14),
strict adherence to a set of rules is not what this calling is about.
In His final words prior to ascending to be with God the
Father, Jesus told his followers to go into all the world and share the Gospel
(Mark 16:15). This Gospel is not a
Gospel of salvation through our works of adherence to a strict set of rules
(Ephesians 2:8-9) but a Gospel of God loving humanity so much that he sent his
Son to earth to die for their sins creating a path of salvation for fallen man
(John 3:16, Romans 5:8). However, this
does not make the law null and void but places the law of God, including the
Ten Commandments, as a standard people are to strive for, knowing we will slip
up and find it necessary to seek forgiveness, which God will always grant (1John 1:9). Even the Apostle Paul had to
deal with this internal struggle (Romans 7:14-25) and was thankful to find
release from this struggle through Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, the basis of many other religions hinge upon
one performing certain works of obedience to a set of rules and changes in
lifestyle in order to please their god.
In most of these religions, these rules involve abstaining from certain
activities or foods. We may not agree
with these beliefs but they are not harmful to those not adhering to them. However, as we are beginning to see in our
world today, some of these religions are radicalized and have as part of their
practice the belief that one must eliminate those not adhering to their belief
through murder if necessary. These
radical religious zealots even believe dying for ones beliefs is rewarded in
the afterlife. These religions are true
religions of hate and pose a threat not only to Christians and other religious
beliefs, but also to people practicing lifestyles forbidden in their religions
such as homosexuality.
While the Bible condemns the act of homosexuality (Leviticus18:22, Romans 1:26-27), it does not call for Christians to slaughter people
practicing this sin and instead calls upon Christians to share the Gospel of a
loving God that wants to forgive them of this sin. Therefore, I as a Christian want to condemn
the slaughter in Orlando, offer my prayers, and support for those victimized by
this act of terrorist brutality. My hope
is not for harm to homosexuals but that they will enter into a relationship
with a loving God who sent His Son to die for their sins, and receive salvation
and reconciliation with God as I and many other Christians have done.
The good news of the Gospel is that entering into this
relationship is simple and does not require us to make things right with God
first for Jesus Christ already did the work on the Cross. Therefore, all that is left for us to do is
accept this free gift of love from God.
If you have not done so, I want to invite you to enter into this relationship
with God by praying with me now,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans 3:23) and know
that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans 6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse
me as you promise in your Word (1 John 1:9).
I believe you died, was buried, and resurrected from the dead and now
declare you Lord of my life.
You now have total forgiveness of your sins, no matter how
great they may be. You also have a
relationship with a loving God. I now
encourage you to do as people normally do in relationships, grow closer
together. This may seem difficult in a
relationship with God but is actually something we can do by doing what we
normally do in our earthly relationships.
We can grow closer to God by,
1)
Communicating with God – Relationships grow
strong when both parties spend time together and our relationship with God is
no different. God has communicated to us
through His Word, the Bible so we can hear from Him as we read it. God has also made it possible for us to talk
with Him through prayer. I encourage you
to begin praying and studying the Word of God regularly.
2)
Spending time together – While we cannot
physically be with Jesus, we can hang around with others that have a
relationship with Him through regular church attendance. Unfortunately, many do not regularly attend
church due to some negative experience in a church in the past or due to
someone forcing them to attend church against their will. If you are reading this and do not attend
church due to one of these reasons I want to encourage you, especially those of
you who have just entered into a relationship with Christ, to view church
attendance as an opportunity to worship your new friend through song and
hearing a message from his Word the Bible.
I encourage you to also understand that churches are full of sinners,
for we all have sinned (Romans 3:23), and not to let that discourage you from
regular church attendance.
Christianity is more than a religion of adherence to a set
of rules and instead a religion of entering into and growing in a relationship
with God, our creator. It is therefore
not a religion of hate and why I encourage everyone reading this to enter into
a relationship with the loving God of Christianity.
No comments:
Post a Comment