If you can you relate to or agree with any of these statements then this message is for you:
1. I base my faith on seeing God through people.
2. If not all, many Christians that I've encountered are mean, condemning, hypocritical, and/or critically judgmental.
3. I don't have much knowledge or experience with Christianity or the God of the Holy Bible.
4. The experiences in my life has taught me God isn't real.
5. I don't understand why God allows evil to exist.
6. I am a believer and a Christian and I'd like to affirm what I know or get my insight and perspectives.
Imagine that you've decided to have a baby. You plan and prepare for the home you want to provide, the budget you'll need, and envision an amazing future as a family. Imagine that your baby was just born. The baby is beyond everything you ever imagined and you are so excited to bring your baby home. You get home and you say, "Welcome Home!" , "Look at what we've prepared for you!" , "This is all yours!". You go to each room in the house and say, "Here's the kitchen... bathroom..." and leaving the best for last, you finally say, "Here's your room!". The feeling is beyond words and you're ready to love, protect, and provide with full passionate excitement and enthusiasm. This is how I envision God, Our Creator, Our Heavenly Father, and Most High Yah.
I can just imagine when God created Adam. I can imagine God showing Adam all that He had made and prepared for him. I can imagine God saying, "Look Adam, here's your home!" "Here's your very own room!" "I made the day for you to explore, and the night for you to rest. I made water for you to drink and bathe and swim. I made delicious and nutritious fruits and veggies for you to eat. I made all the birds, animals, and sea creatures for you to discover, learn about, and enjoy. I made you from all of the elements: earth (dust), wind (breathe), water (blood), and fire (spirit and DNA). So, you can delight in the energy and rejuvenation that the sun, the ground, the water, and plants give you. See! Everything here is yours to enjoy! To be sure, I gave you 5 amazing senses: you can See, Hear, Taste, Smell, and Feel/Touch all that I've made and soak it all in, experiencing it an many different ways. I'm so elated for you to experience it all! This is going to be great!
Now let's stop here! Isn't this a beautiful and amazing way to view God, our Creator? Don't you want to know more? Don't you want to get to know this INCREDIBLE, AWESOME, LOVING GOD?
Well, here's a little bit more for you...
We all know how children are. Imagine that the baby you brought home has gotten older. We know how children love to play, have fun, explore and want to touch everything. We know that they are prone to hurting themselves. WATCH OUT! DON'T DO THAT! DON'T GO THERE! DON'T TOUCH, IT'S HOT! BE CAREFUL! GET DOWN! STOP! We constantly have to warn and direct children. We know that the rules, warnings, and consequences we give are only for their good, safety, and protection. We hope that they'll do what we ask and learn to appreciate our directions, but in the moment, children may just think that we're being mean. I believe this is how we treat God, Our Heavenly Father. We often act like we believe that God's commands are just God "being mean" or ruining our fun. But the sum of all of God's commands are simply that God loves us and God wants us to love Him and love each other. (Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)says, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? ”Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”)
Come on! Think about it! The commandments are just Our Heavenly Father God saying, "WATCH OUT! DON'T DO THAT! DON'T GO THERE! DON'T TOUCH, IT'S HOT! BE CAREFUL! GET DOWN! STOP!" If you consider God's commands at a glance, God's love and wisdom is so apparent. It's basically,
~Do not kill, steal, cheat, lie, moral laws, etc... = Love each other. Don't hurt each other. (Exodus 20: 1-17, Deuteronomy 5: 6-21)
~Dietary laws/ Do not eat this because it's not good for you. Cook or kill it this way because you can get sick. = I, your God and Creator, love you and want you to be healthy. (The animals I asked you not to eat are the scavengers of the earth, made to help clean the earth.) (Leviticus chapter 11 and Leviticus chapter 20)
~No idols, no other gods, sacrificial and ceremonial l laws, etc. = Remember who I, your Creator, your God, "I Am" and do not to take me for granted! I've shown my love for you and I want you to show that you love and respect me by trusting me, obeying me, and giving me credit and appreciation where it's due (which is worship). (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
~I don't want to make you do it! It's your choice! = Why sin, hurt, pain, suffering, trouble, and evil/bad things and people exist.
Once you know that God is love, that God sent us His Son, His Holy Spirt, and His Holy Word, why wouldn't you want to try to know, claim, and serve a God like that??
Are you still asking, "Why God? Why not try God?" I am not here to beg or plead, because God doesn't. But have you ever had something so delicious, so beautiful, so exciting, so good, that you just wanted to share it? You just wanted to experience it will someone else or at least try to see if they'll love as much as you? Well, that's what this is. So, I'm going to share 4 more beautiful reasons to want to know God and perspectives to appreciate God:
1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, “Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude and does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs/it forgives. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…”
John 3:16 (KJV) - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
1 Peter 5:7 (NLT) - Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
Matthew 11:28 (NLT) Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest
Isaiah chapter 53 and Matthew 27
Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
This fruit is delicious y'all!!
God's word is full of goodies and treasures such as wisdom, guidance, direction, and advice. It offers hope, heaven, harmony, and all the answers we need to live a great life if we all tried to apply it and live by it. Like, 2 Peter 1:5-7 , Proverbs 3:13-22, Romans 12:13 , Luke 6:28, 31, Gal. 5: 19-21, etc. PLUS...
~Who doesn't want to be free of the cares of the world and learn that they do not have to worry? (Matthew 6:25-27 , Matt. 6: 34, Philippians 4:6)
~Who doesn't want to count on the promises of God while walking this journey throughout our lives? (Jeremiah 29:11 and many more)
~Who doesn't want to imagine that there's more to life than this and better beyond this? (Revelation 21:4 , John 14:2)
~Who doesn't want to believe that they'll see their loved ones again? (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 , 1 Corinthians 13:12)
~Who doesn't want to think that they'll be justice someday for those who may seem to have gotten away with hurting, harming, or ending their loved ones, themselves, or others? (Ecclesiastes 12:14 , 2 Thessalonians 1:6 , Romans 12:19 , Psalm 9:7-8)
~Who would like for all the false teachers, hypocrites, and those who misrepresent what a Christian is and who God is, to be exposed and account for it all someday? (Matthew 7:5, Matthew 15:8-9, 1 John 4:8, Matthew 7:15)
If none of these things appeal to you, NOT ONE OF THEM, I don't know what more to tell you!!
Lastly, Everywhere I go, whether at work, at the store, at the park, at church... wherever I go, I often speak to others. (My little girl with autism even goes up to people and hug them. She's so quick with it that I don't get to stop her.) But whether it's me speaking to others or her hugging others, I imagine each stranger being someone I'll see in heaven someday. It makes me feel like no one is really a stranger, just a soul that I might get to know in heaven one day. So, when people refuse to speak back or acknowledge me, I just think, "That's ok. We'll be friends in heaven someday (or we're already friends in the future) and they'll speak to me then." So know this, "PLEASE KNOW THIS!", everything I've said is out of hope, love, and sincerity. Nothing is meant to be forced! Even God doesn't want that. God just wants to love you and know you and vice versa. Ok. So, whether you give God a try or not, I hope this is received with love, because God loves you, and so do I.
Sincerely,
Evonne Renee