Ever been asked the question "Why should a non-believer believe"? Well, I'm sure you have. Here's what I used to say. I would say "what are the drawbacks? If I live my life more pure, avoiding such things that would get me and my family in trouble, and I treat everyone with respect and kindness, and love everybody...... then if I find out later I'm wrong.... well what was the drawback?" That's what I USED to say. But, right now, i'm finding some serious problems with that answer. While all those things are nice and maybe things we should try anyway they just aren't enough to describe my God. My God is more! He's more than some blanket "just in case" insurance policy. How weak is our faith if we only believe "just in case" its true? Let me tell you why I believe. Because The Holy Spirit poured into me and made me believe!!! I couldn't do anything about it. Trust me, I tried. I was a serious skeptic. I was a serious sinner. I didn't deserve Jesus. People had told me about Him my entire life, and still it didn't matter. The Spirit had to intercede. I think sometimes we, as humans, over think things that are more simple than we make them. To prove this I asked my 5 year old daughter this question.
Question: Why should someone believe in God?
5 YEAR OLD: So they can go to heaven! (with a duhhh type of an attitude and rolling eyes)
Question: IS there any other reason?
5 YEAR OLD: So we can live in heaven and be happy forever. And because He told us to.......
Profound isn't it? How true are those answers. How pure are those answers? Why should we believe? Because He told us to, to spend eternity in Heaven, and to be happy forever. Pretty good answers. We think we are so smart with our degrees and all. Sometimes I think kids are the ones who understand things the way they are supposed to be understood. Innocent, uncorrupted, truth hearing little things, those kiddos.
When God created me He loved me. When I sinned against Him countless times, He loved me. When He sent His Son to die for me, He loved me. And, when He filled me with His spirit, He loved me.... and I loved Him. What does He ask? Love Me, and your neighbor. Seems simple. Why do we make it so hard. There are many things I don't know. Here are some things that I do know. God deserves my love and faithfulness. He deserves more than I can give Him. He deserves more than the three times a day prayers for meals, and more than the ten minutes a day I give His word. He deserves everything. I deserve nothing. God's grace has saved me. All He asks is that I obey His word. He's a person, and longs for our hearts. Jesus, take my heart, my soul, take it all. I love you.
-Adam (aka grateful non deserving sinner)
5 comments:
Very cool! I love reading stuff like this. Meaningful, genuine, theologically accurate. Thanks!
"Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
(Mark 10:15 ESV)
Adam, I got you loving the book Speaking of Jesus by Carl Medaris. A whole book dedicated to the simplicity of the gospel and how we complicate and confuse things.
- Terry
Great post... spoke to me more ways then one!!! Thanks and God Bless!!
Adam,
thank you for being such an encouragement. I dont know if you remember me, but you were huge in my spiritual walk at the time of my tommy jon surgery. Being able to experience God in such a time was life changing for me. I just wanted to thank you for being a great role model. Tim Elsworth did a great job as well putting together our stories in an article. It was an amazing was to witness and show how men work together to sharpen each other in our walk with Christ. Season is only a month away for me. We open up with Navy on Feb. 17th, and as of right now I am scheduled to start. Thanks again for being an Iron Man for Christ.
Sincerely
Eric Chiz
eric, i've told our story many times. thanks for being apart of it. Dominate this year
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