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The Most
Important Person Who Ever Lived said that the
most important thing we can do is love God with
all our heart, soul, mind and strength. But true
love for God does not come to us naturally. Entering
into a right relationship with the Holy God, and
being genuinely pleasing to Him, and accepted
by Him, is unnatural for human beings. From the
moment that Adam and Eve (who were very real people)
rebelled against our wonderful Creator, everything
changed. Their sin and rebellion affected every
aspect of their nature. Their body, their soul,
their will, their mind, their spirit, their love
for God, their relationship to God all became
corrupted. Instead of drawing nearer to God, Adam
and Eve ran away from Him. They became alienated
from God, from Heaven (which is a very real place)
and from eternal life. As a result of their sin
and alienation from the Lord, Adam and Eve were
exiled from the Garden of Eden, and forbidden
to eat from the Tree of Life. They were headed
toward death the First Death physical death, and
the Second Death Gehenna, Hell, which is the Lake
of Fire (also a very real place).
The consequences
resulting from the rebellion of our first parents
have been transmitted to all of their descendants,
spreading like a deadly virus. That corruption
of body, soul, will, mind, spirit, relationship
to God, and the loss of eternal life all of it
was passed on like a horrible disease, infecting
all of their descendants - you and me.
But there
is Good News! The Good News is that the good and
merciful Creator did not leave us in that horrible
and hopeless condition. This infinite, almighty
and all powerful God, who is good and beautiful
and wise beyond description, so loved this fallen
world of sinful men and women that He sent His
unique and eternal Son, who shares the Father's
name and nature, deity and essence. The Son of
God undertook a great mission. He willingly left
Heaven, came to Earth, and became a human being.
The Messiah was born into the Jewish nation. The
young carpenter from Nazareth became a rabbi,
and lived a perfect and sinless life.
Rabbi
Yeshua taught us the most delightful truths, performed
the most fantastic miracles, and then accomplished
His greatest work of all, willingly sacrificing
Himself and dying on a cross. Then God the Father
raised His beloved Son from the dead, thereby
overcoming sin and death, and making the complete
forgiveness of all of our sins possible. Because
of the Messiah's death and resurrection, our estrangement
with God can come to an end, and we can be reconciled
to Him who is the Source of life, goodness and
blessing! Everyone who comes to genuinely believe
that the God of Israel is the true God, and that
Yeshua is the Savior, and that He died and was
resurrected, and lives forever, can also live
forever!
When we read the Holy Scriptures, and grow in
our knowledge of God and the Messiah, and then
place our growing trust and faith and confidence
directly in God Himself and the Messiah (not relying
on our own efforts or good works, since on our
own we can never be good enough, or righteous
enough to please God; and not relying on religious
institutions, ceremonies and rituals, since they
are no substitute for an intimate and personal
connection with God in fact, they can actually
interfere with developing and maintaining a personal
relationship with God!); when we enter into a
personal, close and intimate relationship with
the Father and the Son, then we will receive eternal
life, and we will never, ever perish! There is
no power or force in the universe that can ever
separate us from the love of God!
Those
who are joined to God and the Messiah will eat
from the Tree of Life which is in Paradise! The
sons and daughters of God will possess new minds
and glorified bodies, energies and abilities that
will perfectly respond to our will, so that we
will be able and willing to do what God wants.
Those who are joined to God and the Messiah will
be eternal kings and queens who will rule and
reign with the Lord forever and ever! They will
be allowed to sit down on the Messiah's throne,
just as He overcame and was rewarded and sat down
with His Father on God's throne! Good will overcome
evil! God will triumph over Satan and all the
spiritual forces of wickedness! Heaven will overcome
Hell! Life will swallow up death! Righteousness
and peace and everlasting joy will replace sin
and rebellion, and sorrow and sighing and sadness
will flee away!
This is
not some myth, or fantasy or science fiction,
but reality! The purpose and goal of life is to
get reconnected to your Creator, from whom the
whole world is estranged, and then live forever
with Him.
Do you
have this kind of personal and intimate relationship
with God and the Son of God? Do you know for sure
that you have undergone a spiritual rebirth, so
that the Spirit of God is now living in you in
a whole new way, and you sense this intimacy with
God, so that you know that He is your Father,
and the Son of God is your Elder Brother and Savior?
Do you have that inner sense, that inner witness,
that you really belong to God and Messiah, and
that the Spirit of God is living in you in a new
and greater way? Are you confident that you are
headed to Heaven, to the New Jerusalem, and that
you will live forever? Are your values, goals,
priorities in keeping with those of God and the
Messiah? Does your life show it? Or are your values,
goals and priorities more reflective of the world?
Enter
into eternal life by going through the narrow
gate, the gate of true faith in God, and a life
that genuinely pleases Him. The gate is small,
and the road is narrow, and not well traveled
that leads to everlasting life, and only a minority
of human beings will experience it. Be willing
to travel with the minority. Be willing to go
against the majority, for the road that leads
to eternal death and destruction is broad and
well traveled by the majority. Do you know which
road you are really on? |
