The Bible was given to us over the centuries – by God Himself. He has given us His message.
We can know what God wants from us – by reading that message. Are you reading it? 1
It is what it is: The Bible Is God’s Word To Us
God Is Asking You To Repent
God has made it very easy to get saved. It’s not complicated. It’s simple. It’s so simple many cannot grasp it as God’s way to Heaven, calling it “utter nonsense“.
1 Corinthians 1:23
but we preach Christ crucified, [a message which is] to Jews a stumbling block [that provokes their opposition], and to Gentiles foolishness [just utter nonsense].
No matter who you’ve been, what you’ve been, how bad – how “good”… God is asking you to repent and follow Him. That is it! (Luke 9:23)
“All your life – an unattainable ecstasy has hovered just beyond the grasp of your consciousness. The day is coming when you will wake to find, beyond all hope, that you have attained it, or else, that it was within your reach and you have lost it forever.”
– Source: C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan, 1962, pg 147).
There is absolutely nothing you’ve done that God cannot forgive. Nothing. God can forgive any repentant sinner – of any stripe or persuasion. No exception.
There is one thing, however: there is a time limit. You have till your last breath on earth. After that, it’s game over. And sometimes it’s over before you know it!
There is a place for those who fail to repent. The good thing is: God wants you in His Kingdom. He died on a cross to save you. I’d say that’s a pretty good indicator that God loves you! See John 3:16.
Holy God does not overlook and excuse our sins. Never has. Never will. He either forgives – or – He condemns. God is a Damning God. But He is a Forgiving God. One and the same God.
However, Jesus is much more merciful than we tend to be with our self and our sins – and the sins of others. When it comes to “sin”:
Is your brain noggin talkin’ biblically, or …how?
– Source: The Chutzpah of Wannabe Christians
When you repent
When you finally come to God in prayer to repent — sin is not the issue. The issue is your heart. Is your heart willing to yield to Him in all things?
Where is your heart? That is what God looks at. Are you sincere and truthful when you turn to Him? Or are you full of chutzpah, holding-back on Him?
yield to Him in all things?
See:
Approach God with a true and sincere heart
The Chutzpah of Wannabe Christians
God will accept anyone into His Kingdom. Jesus saved me. He can save you. He asks that we repent of our self-centered ways… and follow Him. This is what the Bible says about “getting right with God“:
John 1:12 But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—
1 John 5:11 And the testimony is this: God has given us eternal life [we already possess it], and this life is in His Son [resulting in our spiritual completeness, and eternal companionship with Him].
1 John 5:12 He who has the Son [by accepting Him as Lord and Savior] has the life [that is eternal]; he who does not have the Son of God [by personal faith] does not have the life.
1 John 5:13
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
This is it …THIS is all the life we get!
Are you His? Do you “hear” His voice (in the sense of believing His Word)? Do you listen to Him (as in – not reject what He asks of us in the Bible)? Do you follow Him in sincerity and truth?
As I’m stepping into eternity, I will rest assured that Jesus gave me eternal life. What a God He is!
– Source: Adapted from “I give them eternal life”
“You must be born again now …before you die.”
You cannot fake your way into heaven, sneak into heaven… go under the fence, over the wall, buy your way in, talk your way in, by-pass the system, plead your position, convince the Judge of your worthiness, get God to rethink His position on the matter, have a lawyer plead your case, make a deal with God, or get a coyote to lead you in through a back door.
God does not have grandchildren. Just because your paternity is Christian, that does not get you into Heaven. Your Christian background has no pull with the Judge, nor Christian parents, nor friends. Your Christian spouse or well-meaning priest may have lots of chutzpah, but their prayers won’t pray you in after you’re dead.
We must be born again now, before you die. It is only Jesus that was the perfect sacrifice to take our place of condemnation. He is calling you to accept Him. – Source: Extreme to the nth degree.
– Source: “I give them eternal life”
Not sinless, but “given-over”
When we make the decision to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, we do so realizing honestly that we cannot be “sinless”. But we must be 100% given-over to Him in our heart. No holding back.
God jump-starts our spiritual journey to eternal life by instantly making us brand new… and then we grow spiritually, little by little becoming more and more like Him in our daily life and practice.
“…he [who is born again] cannot habitually [live a life characterized by] sin, because he is born of God and longs to please Him.”
–1 John 3:9
“Seek the Lord
while he may be found;
call on him
while he is near”
– Isaiah 55:6
In his book, Heaven, Randy Alcorn, asks us:
“Have you confessed your sins? asked Christ to forgive you? placed your trust in Christ’s death and resurrection on your behalf? asked Jesus to be your Lord and empower you to follow Him?
Wouldn’t it be tragic if you read this book on Heaven but didn’t get to go there?”
– Source: Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Tyndale, 2004, pg 37)
FOR MORE:
God forgives all wrongdoings of all repentant sinners, no exception
Passing on through to the other side
In Christ I am a strong person
Promises God makes about your salvation
It is what it is: The Bible Is God’s Word To Us
Excerpt: The Rich Mindset of God
God is so high above us. If you stick to your own level of thought you’ll never make it to Heaven. You have to think like God — in order to get saved.
How you doing with that? Do you think as God thinks?
God’s Think
Get over it: the world is wrong-headed, full of an erroneous “think” that is contrary to the realities God has established. Why go with that?
The Christian is a brand new type of human being. We are no longer “mere humans“.
See: Who I am in Christ
Our metamorphosis was such that Christ totally and permanently changed us – by God. We are brand new, not just whitewashed and made to look better. And God is presently preparing us for the moment we start living in His Home Heaven.
See: | What God does to prepare you for Heaven |
| Your “new leaf” …once you have repented |
Your spiritual journey to eternal life
Your “New Leaf”…once you have repented
God is easy, light-handed, gentle
The Reality of Incompleteness on Earth
Being faithful little by little
Growing into our natural new life in Christ
Footnotes
- “As a legitimate way to determine whether or not Christianity is religious truth, legal reasoning is of tremendous value. Christianity is the only religion in the world where its truth-claims can be tested by legal reasoning — that is, by evidences, especially eyewitness testimony. All other religions require its followers to accept their tenets based on the unverified claims of their founders or documents.” – Source: Can Apologetics Go beyond Evidence for Christianity to “Proof” of Christianity? -by Dan Story; at ICR; May 13, 2020.
- Amplified Bible version of Luke 9:23:
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