“Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, ‘Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” (Romans 4:1-3 NLT)
Abraham rightly discovered the only pathway to life was found in undivided devotion to the One true God. What have you discovered? Who is YOUR ruler? Each of us is being ruled by something or someone, but unless that Someone is the Jesus of the Bible, we’re dead in our sin and eternally lost. Unless and until we discover why we’re in that predicament we’re likely not going to do anything about it. So, what’s the answer?
For many we’re like the man who was wondering in a field who stumbles onto a treasure. In Matthew 13 Jesus tells the story of such a man who, upon finding the treasure, sold everything he owned to buy that field. Here’s the irony: there’s no indication in the story that he was even looking for anything, let alone a treasure, he was simply walking across a field. Simply going through the motions of his everyday life, browsing, not searching.
That’s often how we find Jesus, our Treasure. We’re simply walking through life – going to work, to school, shopping, for a drive, to a park, to the beach, on vacation – and without realizing it we make the discovery of a lifetime! Someone tells us about Jesus and explains to us that we can have our sins forgiven and have new life in Christ alone by faith alone. Or we’re given an invitation to a church, that we’d normally put in the trash, but something tells us to go to that church (unless it’s a cult! Check it out, don’t just show up 😃)
Most of us, unless there’s something unusual going on in our life, figure we’re not that bad. We don’t intentionally hurt anyone, we’re good at our job, we have a good work ethic, we treat our family well, we pay our taxes – we’re just a good all-around person. Why do we need church or God? That’s a reasonable question that deserves an answer.
The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” “Whoa! I’m no sinner! I’m a good guy/gal!” So, you’ve never sinned? Hmmm! Have you ever stolen anything? A pencil? A candy bar? Lied? Taken the Lord’s name in vain? Lusted? Desired to have something that someone else had? Driven too fast? Spoken negatively about another person? We need only commit ONE sin to have broken God’s law!
Imagine a rope stretched tightly across a room. How many times do you need to cut that rope before it falls? Only once! That’s the way it is with God’s laws. You don’t have to break them all, you only have to break one and we’ve all done that and much more. THAT’s why we need a Savior, because our sin has separated us from God and Jesus is the only One who can reconnect us with Him. But how?
Corky Calhoun gives us guidance when he writes: “Prayer is the only pathway to discovering who God created us to be, everything else is just a guessing game.” “But I’ve never prayed in my life! I wouldn’t know how to start. I don’t even really understand what prayer is.” Prayer is conversation with God. It’s simply sharing our thoughts with Him with the understanding that He knows our thoughts and even if we struggle to understand exactly what to say, He understands our heart and will clearly hear what we mean. When I first gave my life to Jesus, I sat an empty chair across from me and began speaking to Him, believing He was in the chair listening to my every word. That’s true, because He did hear me.
If you want to discover how to have a relationship with the Lord, please tap anewstory.com and let Ron Hutchcraft walk you through a simple, clear explanation as to how to open your heart and life to Jesus. It’s a discovery that will cause you to rejoice for all eternity!
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 