by David Brenneman
People can try all they might to push and pressure to make their will to be done in their lives. Some mistakenly believe that they were standing on their own two feet because of their own achievements and efforts. Whether or not they openly admit it, they raise a shaking fist at God.
Some don't even go that far. They just deny that God exists and pursue life at their own whims.
What is there to say...but all this points yet still to the Bible. There's nothing new under the sun. In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon writes at length about every thought and every thing thought to provide pleasure and peace to man through man's way of living...and the futility of it apart from God.
Do you do a "talk to the hand!" at Jesus?
Do you go so far as to be that childish individual who puts their hands over their ears proclaiming "I'm not listening!"?
Do you devise your own plans that intentionally do not include God in them?
Do you have outright anger at God for something that happened to you or someone you know or knew and you refuse to let go of it?
Are you harboring anger or malice towards God because you didn't get what you wanted out of Him?
This life we live isn't about what we will get out of it. We would like to think that prosperity and joy ought to be ours in abundance because of the fact we think we deserve it. That our own moral standards weren't broken so it ought to be good enough for God.
The bar that we set wasn't high enough from God's point of view. The Biblical view of morality and of living is a bar set higher than any man or woman can achieve without Christ as their Savior. It's called holiness. Being holy as God is Holy. The thing is, without salvation in Christ Jesus its impossible to please Him.
But what about my plans? My desires? What I want?
The unshakable truth of God is a day is coming for each and every person to stand before Jesus to give an answer as to why they should be allowed into His Heaven. To be with His Father. There is only one answer to that and it's all because the man who was on the middle cross, crucified for the sins of mankind, said so. If a person has not come to Christ for salvation, they won't enter in. I do believe in the Biblically based notion of the age of accountability. That there is a definitive point in a person's life when they know and understand what sin is. For some it never occurs throughout their lives due to a mental illness. For most it is at some point extremely early in life.
When we understand the truth of God in Christ Jesus to be saved, we begin a new life in Christ. We receive new orders, as it were, for what's to come for us. We become His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we might walk in them. These same said people are placed in the body of Christ as the Spirit sees fit. They have a divinely appointed job to do, a Heavenly function to fulfill in the body of Christ, His Church. We don't pick and choose what we do in the body of Christ.
But that's so restricted! If indeed you are saved in Christ Jesus, out of appreciation for all He's done, whatever He asks you to do should never feel like it's restrictive. You begin to develop a new sense of life that's based on eternity.
There's two plans running at the same time from God's perspective. What He has in mind for you and what has been written in the Bible for all mankind. Both will be accomplished wholly and completely.
The greatest of angels used to be Satan. He could not thwart the plans of God. Yet still tries. He spends much of his time both trying to stop the next parts of Biblical prophecy and trying to destroy lives.
Lives because these matter most to Jesus.
You matter most to Jesus. Every human heart matters most to Jesus.
We can easily take the wide road that the world is turning to and spend our time, energy and effort to get what we want out of life, only to find one disappointment after another. Because none of that lasts or matters in light of eternity.
We hate it when we learn of things we buy or do not lasting the length of a warranty, much more so when we cry out that a life appears to have been cut short!
Lives are never cut short. Jesus is sovereign over all creation. He knows when someone will never turn towards Him for salvation. That there is a point of no return.
That such people will refuse til their dying breath to receive Him as Savior.
That such people will hurt others whom He's invested time in who will say yes to His free gift of salvation.
People are all that is most valuable to God. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. Perhaps the most quoted verse from the Bible.
You.
Jesus is not going to be waiting up in Heaven to rain condemnation down upon you. He wants a full relationship with you. He wants what's best for you. It's not found in products or services that companies sell to you. His relationship that He offers came at the cost of His own life 2,000 plus years ago. He's ready to really give you the full life that He intended for you in this time in history. It's more than our finite understanding can comprehend.
I had some dreams of some great inventions. At best, Jesus has told me they would have worked, but were not to be made. They wouldn't work with His plans. I had thoughts of places to visit. They are only just that, thoughts, because right now He has other things for me to be doing. It's written that it should be His Will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Jesus isn't some harsh God, His love was spread out on a cross for you and I. He loved you enough to take all the punishment you deserved for your sins upon Himself in your place. Isn't that enough to live for Him?
There's trillions of people in Hell crying out to God for putting them there. This too is a lie of Satan. Truth is they put themselves there by refusing Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. There's a consequence to a life lived without Christ. You end up paying for all eternity for your own sins.
I heard a song long ago that goes along the lines of "There's room at the cross for you". My Friend, there still is room for you. There's still room. Jesus said that all Heaven celebrates when one person comes to Jesus to be saved. If you haven't come, they await that moment to celebrate your birthday in Christ Jesus. Those whom you know or may have known, who are saved in Christ Jesus who are in Heaven, want to hear your name being called out for coming to Christ for salvation!
When we surrender to Jesus and are saved in Him, we will begin to see that there's way more to life than our plans for it.
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