The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!Every person on this planet is born with a hole in his or her heart. Not a literal hole that a surgeon might repair, but a spiritual hole. Wired into our makeup is a longing to connect with God and until that connection is made, we suffer from a heart that has a hole in it.
A lot of times we try to plug the hole with all kinds of stuff. Some of us figure money and possessions will fix the hole. Others try pleasure-seeking through drugs, alcohol, or sex. Still others pursue education or just flat out work real hard and stay busy. But in our honest moments, most agree that neither money, pleasure, education, nor business do anything to quiet the pain in our heart. And the bottom line is none of these things were designed to do so. We still need a connection with God.
The Bible tells us that this connection with God is made possible through Jesus Christ. Now that may sound a little mystical to you, so perhaps it would be helpful to provide you with a framework in which to understand that statement. Take your time and see if the following is helpful in your understanding of healing the hole in your heart. By the way, the bracketed sections below refer to verses in the Bible. If you have a Bible, you might try to look them up as you read. The index at the front of your Bible will help you find the right page. If a copy of the Bible isn't handy, simply click on the link to view the text.
God loves you. Because God loves us, He desires that we establish a connection with Him.He is not some scowling, angry deity waiting to fry us at the first real good opportunity. He loves each of us. (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:4,5) | |
Each of us is a sinner. A sinner is simply someone who is not perfect. In other words, we don't always do what we should and sometimes we actually do what we shouldn't do.Call it whatever you want--a mistake, a misstep, an error, or a sin. I think we would all agree that none of us is perfect. But God is perfect and so the big problem is how do we, who are imperfect, connect with the God who is perfect? On our own, we can't, and we remain disconnected from God. Ultimately, after our death, we will remain eternally disconnected from God. (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:10,23) | |
We can't fix this on our own. People sometimes figure they can work this out on their own. If they just focus and apply themselves they can overcome this disconnect with God. That sounds good in our independent, self-sufficient culture, but it doesn't turn God's head. There is nothing we can do to establish a connection with God. We cannot earn God's salvation. (Ephesians 2:8,9; Titus 3:5; Romans 4:4,5) | |
| God sent Jesus Christ to provide the connection. Who was Jesus Christ? The Bible tells us that he was fully human and fully God. What Jesus did was to live a perfect life, then die on the cross, taking the hit for us. Then he rose from the dead--that's what made the difference--doing what we in our imperfection cannot do. He provided the way for connection with God. (1 Peter 2:24; Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21). | |
| A person follows Christ through faith. Faith is trusting in what Jesus Christ has done for us rather than trusting our own efforts to restore the connection with God. Faith is relying on Jesus Christ, not ourselves. (John 14:6; Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9,10) | |
| You can freely choose to be a Christ follower. Simply acknowledge to God that you, like me, are a sinner. Just think through this past week. Did you lose your temper, tell a 'white' lie, exhibit a tad of jealousy? You get the idea? As you come to God and admit your real state, simply ask him to forgive your sins because of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. Embrace by faith Jesus Christ. If you would like to talk to someone about God's free gift for you, please give us a call at 610-676-0442 or drop us a note at info@getvictory.net. We look forward to hearing from you and sharing in your good news! |
