An Invitation
Having lived on both sides of the wall of salvation, I feel compelled by the Holy Spirit to invite you to seek a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. If you have not accepted Him as the Lord and Savior of your life, I urge you to do so. I have experienced life without God. I once knew how to gain acceptance in the world. At the risk of sounding egotistical, I discovered the secrets of being popular with my peers. Life without Christ, was like living in a black and white world. You are either cool or uncool, successful or a failure, young or old, useful or useless. The world judges you by who you are and what you have accomplished.
When you accept Christ, you step beyond those qualities which the world values. You step into a relationship which brings color and beauty into your life. You receive forgiveness for your transgressions against God, and the empowerment to forgive others. For the first time in your life, you will experience an unconditional love, which only God can offer. God accepts you just as you are. He takes you into His embrace, not because of whom you are or what you have to offer, but rather because you are lost . . . and cold . . . and weary.
Throughout this book, I have written of having a relationship with God. Before closing, I would like to clarify just how you can have this relationship.
You must first realize that you are a sinner, lost and hopelessly separated from God. Without this realization, there can be no admission of guilt on your part. Only when you see how far you have strayed from God, can you begin to seek entrance into his grace. It is the Holy Spirit who causes you to realize your sinfulness. The unsatisfied feelings that I felt were the stirrings of God in my life. God calls out to every individual through the Holy Spirit. He seeks a relationship with you. It is not his will for you to remain lost and in danger of judgment. Feelings of dissatisfaction, isolation, curiosity about God and your eternal destiny do not originate in you. The external forces of God, through the Holy Spirit are at work in your life. Your decision to listen to and accept God, (or your rejection of Him) will determine where you spend eternity. Your decision to continue reading this piece of work is an invitation by God to come closer to Him. He loves you and he wants to wrap His arms around you. Before the embrace is possible, you must accept the fact that your sins have placed a gulf between you and Him. Your sinful nature caused you to make a decisions, which created a gulf between you and God. God is willing to forgive your sins and bridge that gulf through His son, Jesus!
You must confess your sins and repent of them. This is the most painful part of the path to salvation. You must be willing to give over all of your sins to him in order to receive forgiveness. While it is impossible to remember every sin, it is possible to confess the general categories of sin which you are guilty of. Later, as the bonds of love grow, you will experience an even greater intimacy with God. This intimate relationship (Born Again) will empower you to make changes in your life and attitude which were formerly impossible. You will be able to give over all of the sins which He makes you aware of. It took you a life time to get as messed up as you are. It will take the rest of your life (and a relationship with God) to keep you straight. This act of contrition is essential, in order for an honest relationship to flourish between you and God. God does not ask for a list of sins like a reporter from a scandal magazine.
Formulas of confession are nice, but what God is really looking for, is a sincerity of the heart. The important thing is not an all-encompassing list, but rather the sincerity (contriteness) with which a confession is delivered. The prodigal son did not deliver a list of transgressions to his father, while standing in the shadows of his former home. Father and son were both aware of the depth of sins to which the son had sunk. The son came to the father with a contrite heart and was forgiven. In his heart he knew what he had done. There would be time for in-depth discussions later. The son knew the rules of his father’s house, and was determined to abide by his father’s instruction. He had reached a point in his life where rebellion was no longer an option. He was home and was surrendered to his father’s will. The father identified his son’s sincerity from far off. When someone is sincere in what they are doing, their actions are unmistakable. Upon his return, the son was not beaten or chastised, he was embraced and restored. There was no talk of punishment because the father had chosen to fully restore his wayward son.
Ask God to forgive you of your sins. Before asking God to forgive you . . . you must believe three things; that you have a need to be forgiven, that God wants to forgive you, and that Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection were enough to satisfy the debt of sin which you owe. Sincere confession and repentance (turning away from sin) combined with the belief that God desires to heal you, brings God’s forgiveness. Asking God to forgive your sins, with no desire for change in your heart, does not reflect repentance. It does not demonstrate a sincere desire for a relationship with God. A heart, which does not desire change, reveals a stubborn goat like spirit. The prodigal son did not return home with the intent of loading up on more of his father’s goodies. He returned home, seeking refuge from where his life’s choices had lead him. He sincerely wanted to remain in his father’s grace.
Allow God to forgive you. God, the Father, wants to forgive his wayward child. Like the prodigal son’s father, God has waited for your return since the day you chose to leave. When you repent of your sins and ask forgiveness, it is granted immediately. God will not withhold forgiveness and salvation from one who does what was explained in the previous three steps.
One of the hardest things for a Christian to do is to actually believe that God will forgive them. Self-flagellation after salvation hinders many Christians from reaching their fullest potential. Since forgiveness is granted immediately after confession and repentance, all that is left for you to do, is BELIEVE. When a child approaches a parent with repentant tears and begs forgiveness for a transgression, a loving parent automatically responds. Tears which were shed in repentance (not for just having been caught) result in a parental embrace of love and comfort. The restoration of relationship is complete in that instant. God loves you with a depth and breadth that no earthly parent can. No matter what your (or anyone else’s) feelings are about your past, God is able to forgive and forget it.
YOU are so precious to him, that he allowed his own son to be crucified in your place. God paid an incredibly high price for your salvation. In his eyes, you were worth it!
Ask God to come fully into your life. After the father celebrated his son’s return with a feast, life would never be the same in that household. The celebration started a new relationship between father and son. The father exclaimed, "For my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." What clearer picture could God paint for us, about life after receiving his forgiveness? Like the father who receives a son who was given up for dead, God receives us into his embrace with tears of joy. The father in the biblical story placed a ring on his returning son’s finger. The ring signified to everyone who saw it, that the son’s position in the family had been restored.
When we enter into this righteous relationship with God, He sends the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. The Holy Spirit leads us in our daily walk. God’s presence in our lives (through the Holy Spirit) should be as evident to the world as the prodigal son’s ring. We are not to walk around with our noses in the air and a smug sense of superiority. We are to remember where we came from, and the price that had to be paid for our restoration. We are meant to be reflections of the love and forgiveness that God has shown us. The Holy Spirit empowers Christians to exude patience toward those who remain lost and blinded by sin. Anything less than the love and mercy which God has shown us is sin, which must be confessed. Without the presence of the Holy Spirit, Christian Ethics would collapse into an exercise of religious legalism.
Allow Jesus to be the LORD of your life. Lord means "master" of your life. Salvation is not just a pat on the back that we receive from God. You cannot enter into a relationship with God, if you have no intention of following him. Jesus Christ is not merely an insurance policy which we cash in later on in life when we die. Unlike your former life, your Christian life has real meaning. Jesus’ death on the cross was not just for you. It was for everyone. What you have freely received from God, you need to share with the world. You have no right to refuse God’s direction by the Holy Spirit. He placed no preconditions on your salvation. Therefore, you have no right to place preconditions on your new life. The same God, who lovingly brought you into his saving embrace, should be the One who directs all of your decisions.
God did not trick you into a relationship with him just so he could manipulate you like a puppet on some strings. Like the shepherd who leads the sheep, God knows where you need to be. Sheep never have need to question the shepherd’s direction. They know that the shepherd always leads them to greener pastures and life-giving water. Sheep do not rebel against authority, like goats and pigs. It would be helpful for you to have the same mind set as those sheep. God knows what He is doing. He knows where you need to be each day, in order for you to reach full maturity. A flock, which remains in the same pasturage, will eventually run out of food. A sheep which seeks its own direction in life, beyond that of the shepherd, is no sheep at all. Don’t let external circumstances (whether good or bad) be the driving force of your life. You trusted God to save you, now let Him lead you to into those good places and situations. The lyrics to an old spiritual hymn advise us to "trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." Those words give some of the soundest advice that one could receive.
Make the choices necessary to stay connected. You cannot be in a relationship with someone, unless you make the effort to get to know them. The more familiar you are with God, the easier it is to obey him. When you enter into a saving relationship with God, it is more than just a onetime ritual. Daily prayer, Bible reading, Christian disciple courses and regular church attendance are critical to sustaining a relationship with God. Without these four essential pillars, the reality of God will become distant and cold. His authority in your life will seem arbitrary, and his commandments harsh and devoid of love. By making the choice not to move closer, you deny yourself the opportunity to know the creator and sustainer of life. Growing in true knowledge of God, will strengthen your love and understanding of him. If you do not make the choice to stay connected to God, you will find yourself reconnecting to secular society. You cannot cultivate a relationship with God, by watching documentaries on the life of Jesus Christ. Be they good or bad, televangelists cannot nurture the bonds of love between you and God. It is your relationship that needs to be strengthened. Having a clear picture of God is essential to your new relationship. If you don’t know who the Shepherd is, the questions of whom and how to follow will remain as stumbling blocks in your life. Where Do We Go From Here? I hope you have gained a clearer picture of what it is like to have closer relationship with God. More eloquent writers than I have tried to shed this same light into your life. My humble attempt was to reach out to those who may have needed a different approach. I’m not alone in my understanding of God and the need for a radical relationship with Him. Through much prayer and meditation, I’ve tried to allow the Holy Spirit to craft this work. If I have offended anyone with the style of this work, I apologize. If I have offended anyone with the truths contained in this work, I would direct them to the Author of those truths. It is my hope that you (the reader) will experience all that I have (and more), if that is possible. I cannot hold in all that has been shown to me. What I have received from God, you can have also. What I receive later on in life, (and death) you can receive also. The choice is yours; I cannot make it for you. God will not force himself and his will upon you; it is a choice that only you can make. I must ask you to search your heart and ask the question, "where will I spend eternity?" If your answer is that you will inherit eternal life; then on what basis are you making this assumption? To know for sure that you have eternal life requires a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The decision you make to reject or accept Christ, must be made quickly. Your present age is no guarantee of how much time remains. Everyone does not live 80 or 90 years! On the contrary, I have seen many people die much before "it was their time to go." As for me, what lies ahead is boundless. As I complete this work some would look at me and say my life’s glass is nearly empty. Others may look upon me and say that my glass is nearly full. I look upon my life, and declare to you that my glass is not only full, it is overflowing! Abraham and Sarah were in their nineties when they saw the fruition of God’s promise of a son. I try to live my life at the direction of God. The work, which you have in your hands, was the furthest thing from my mind when I started. I have dreams for the future. Whether they come to pass or not, depends solely on if they line up with God’s plans, and my faithfulness to them. I trust God with my life. I know if He can handle all of creation, He can certainly manage my life. My life is freer than it has ever been, because I don’t have to worry anymore about its direction. God is in control. Although I lack money and property to sustain such a ministry, I none the less have dreams of a farm ministry. This ministry would incorporate much of what has been shown to you in this work. When you serve God, there are no obstacles which are insurmountable. I will pursue this dream until it comes to pass, or until God shows me that it is not in His will. If it is not in God’s will, then I will not be crushed by that fact. I have a tendency to get ahead of the Lord and this could be one of those cases. Rather than feel sorry for myself and my own crumbled dreams, I will move on with the Lord and see what he would have me to be about. I have no doubt that what He has in store for me; will be much greater than anything my mind could ever conceive of!
I trust you enjoyed reading this. If you have read this and have made a personal decision to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Saviour, I would love to hear from you. Comments as well are welcomed. You can email them to me at:
info@thewayparables.com
I pray that the Lord blesses you on your own journey!!