So what do you know?

A former co-worker used to joke that, "What you don't know would fill an ocean."  I thought this was an insult until I realized he was teaching me.  The knowledge of my ignorance can humble me and give me the desire to learn from others and grow.  Or, I can fear that I am inadequate and try to hide my ignorance with arrogance and pride and be unteachable.

Even if I talk with someone to exchange knowledge with them, I, and they, may come away with totally different meanings of what was said.  English is ambiguous at best.  I enter conversations with preconceived ideas that influence the meaning I assign to what I hear.  I see what I want to see, what I am prepared to see.

That is why stigma is so devastating.  The label of mental illness changes how I perceive someone.  Even if I have met someone and been in a conversation with them and formed an impression of them, if I then find out they have a label, my interpretation of all my knowledge of them changes.  At a local mental hospital the patients don't wear shoes.  Doctors, and other staff, do wear shoes.  Sometimes doctors can be seen talking to someone and briefly looking down to see if they have shoes on.  Do the doctors want to know how to interpret what they see?  Do they not trust what they see, and want a label?

The stigma of a lack of education is another example of not knowing what I don't know.  A certain pastor of a large church was reported as saying he would never hire a pastor that did not have a college education.  It is interesting that the head of the church, Jesus, doesn't qualify to work in his own organization.  The religious leaders of Jesus time felt the same way. They remarked that he had not gone to school so, "Where did he get this teaching?"  This pastor and the Pharisees felt they had nothing to learn from someone who had not gone to school.

The stigma of skin color and other physical features, perceived intelligence, wealth, cultural heritage, language, weight, youth, lack of youth, all claim to inform me about someone without me having to do the work of getting to know real individuals.  When I do get to know real individuals they are always more wonderful than the lying, deceiving stigma told me they would be.

So what do you know?

Jesus is healing my racism

What is "race"?  Is it possible to define one race from another?  What attributes would you use?  Are the attributes of one race possible to be found in a different race?  If those of different races can have children then aren't we all part of the same gene pool?  If we are all part of the same gene pool then aren't the attributes that define race arbitrary?  For example why is it that skin color is used to define different races but eye color is not?

I am guilty of prejudging people, of prejudice.  I have looked at people with mental illness labels as if they were less than me somehow.  I have believed that those with a developmental disability are less than me somehow.  I have looked at people with different skin color, language, height, weight, culture as less than me somehow.  I have even believed that some people with different attributes than me were better than me somehow.  I have allowed my fears and ignorance about others different from me to influence my perception and conclusions about them.  Fortunately there is help for me, and His Name is Jesus.

Jesus said to me in the Bible to love God with all that I am, and love all people in the same way I love myself.  I couldn't do that until I received God's love for me.  I have hated myself much of my life.  I have also loved myself, but in a self-serving way.  Trying to feel better about myself I despised others.  This was not a reflection on them.  This was the result of my rejecting Jesus' love for me.  It wasn't until I humbled myself, asked forgiveness, and actually believed what God said, that God loved me, that I experienced His love and healing.  And now I can love God and other people, not perfectly, but hopefully in increasing measure each day.

My "God's Not Dead" University Experience

God's Not Dead is a great movie, very inspiring.  It supports God as "First Cause" or Creator of Creation.  I believe the movie could proclaim even more truth.  God's Not Dead seems to imply an endorsement of evolution as the creative mechanism God used in the development of life.  I would like to humbly suggest evidence that challenges this view.

God's Not Dead implies an endorsement of the universe being 13.7 billion years old.  Some of the team that put the first people on the moon held that view as well.  They argued that the amount of space dust that the moon's gravity would attract, an amount that could be calculated, would be several feet deep by now.  This could jeopardize the moon landing.  When the astronauts landed on the moon they found about an inch of dust on the surface of the moon.  This suggests that the moon is about 10,000 years old.  This is consistent with the Bible's account of creation and not nearly enough time for evolution to explain life as we know it.

Our Sun has been documented to be shrinking at a predictable rate.  If the sun were 13.7 billion years old, it would have started out the size of the orbit of the earth.  Some scientists purport that the Sun actually grows in size between the times we measure it.  They say that this explains the problem.  However, there are no facts, or theoretical mechanisms to support this theory.

Evolutionists point to the fossil record to support their theory of evolution.  The strata of rock they say reveals millions of years of time between layers.  There is a fossil that crosses between two strata or layers that is inconsistent with this theory.  It is, however, consistent with what you would expect to find if there was a world-wide flood and sediment and debris settled in layers.  This separation of sediment into layers and trees crossing between strata was demonstrated at the base of Mount Saint Helen's when its side exploded and the fallout mixed with heavy rain.

Evolution hypothesizes that chemicals somehow came to life and then reproduced with beneficial mutations that resulted in the species we have now.  God's account says He created life and His account specifically and repeatedly says that species reproduce after their own kind.  The fossil record supports God's account, as the ancestors of different species that Darwin predicted would be found have not been found.

Evolutionists argued that opposing views needed to be represented in the public schools decades ago when they were in the minority.  My experience at Grand Valley State University showed me that evolutionists don't believe their own words.  Now they want to be the only view and suppress good scientific evidence to the contrary.  I presented some of the above challenges to the teacher and students in a class I was taking around 2009.  When the students became interested in learning more about Creationism, the teacher, who did not disprove these challenges, decided to end the discussion by an appeal to authority.  She quoted what I believe was the National Science Foundation saying, "Evolution is a fact."  She ended the discussion in her class, but there are now young people whose curiosity has been piqued.  They, like me, and maybe like you, may not be satisfied with the evolutionist's declaration of "fact."  We may want to find out more for ourselves.

Jesus heals rejection

What could a 4,000 year-old Law, given to a group of 2 million homeless former slaves, have anything to do with our living our life today?  After God had miraculously shown his power over the fake gods of Egypt He led His people out of slavery, through the Red Sea, to His Mountain.  There God gave Moses His commands so that evil would be restrained and love would be encouraged.  One of those commands was to Honor Parents.  This meant that adult children were to take care of the needs of their parents, especially in their parents’ old age when they are more dependent.  Two thousand years later, when God had not sent a prophet in 500 years, the religious leaders of Jesus time didn’t want to follow God’s command.  They wanted to keep their money.  They made up their own rule that sounded godly, but was designed to get around God’s command of love.  The Pharisees taught that if a man said that what he owned was devoted to God he didn’t have to help his old, struggling parents with it.  Then, when he wanted to use it for himself, he said it was not devoted to God.  Jesus was disgusted with these men and their uncaring hypocrisy.  Especially because they claimed to represent God and gave their followers the impression that God was like them.

Jesus said to the people that they needed to respect their leaders, but do not be like them.  God said in the Bible about these Pharisees hundreds of years ahead of time, “These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.”  The Pharisees were very concerned with looking right, but cared little about their own real evil thoughts and motives.

What does this have to do with us today, 2,000 to 4,000 years later?  Do you know anyone that claims to know Jesus, and tries to “look” right but doesn’t accept you, thinks they are better than you?  That is a hard place to be.  Maybe you have attitudes and actions that the Bible says are wrong.  And the “so-called-Jesus-followers” look down on you because of it.  This should never be.  Jesus accepts you.  Jesus died for you.  Jesus spent most of his time with those whom the religious leaders of his day rejected.  It was the “sinners” who first came to accept Jesus not the religious.  

So if Jesus freely accepts us how does he feel about our attitudes and actions the Bible says are wrong?  Jesus calls us to trust him to help us turn away from sin.  You may feel that sin has taken you prisoner with no way out.  This is a lie of satan.  Or, you may feel you have no sin.  This is just as much a lie of satan.  Jesus knows we can’t free ourselves from satan’s power in our own strength.  If we could we would have a long time ago.  No, he asks us to turn away from sin by his power.  And his power is limitless.  Ask Jesus to come into your life, free you from sin, and give you a brand new life, a life truly built on love and forgiveness.  He answers that prayer every time.

Oh, and what about the people that rejected you?  Now you can offer Jesus to them.

Know the Christmas Child

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, 

and the government will be on his shoulders. 

And he will be called 

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” 

(Isaiah 9:6, NIV). 

Jesus came to earth as a baby. And he was a baby much like you and me. He laughed, he cried, he learned to walk. He learned to love... He learned to love us and he especially learned to love his heavenly Father.

Because Jesus was man he could experience all our temptations.  Because he was God and never sinned he could die for each one of us, so that we could live forever in heaven with him.  You can personally know Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas... by talking to him through prayer, by listening to him through reading the Bible, and by loving him through actively doing what he says.  He and his Father will make their home within you and you will know “Emmanuel - God with us” who is the true meaning of Christmas.

To learn more about knowing the Christ of Christmas read the Bible (Matthew 1:23, John 3:1-21, 14:15, 23, 31; Hebrews 4:14-16), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches that Jesus is God.

Help is on the way

Rather than stay well away from sin, sometimes we dance as close to the edge as we can without going over. However, before we know it, we find ourselves going over the edge anyway. The climb back is difficult and it sure helps to have someone anchored to the top to come down and help lift us out.

“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual 

should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you may be tempted. 

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” 

(Galatians 6:1-2, NIV).

If you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, and are controlled by His Spirit, and you are following Him as best you can, you can be a lifeline to someone who has fallen. First, be careful to resist the temptation to feel superior or to pass judgement.  Second, remember that at times LOVE can be spelled LISTEN.  Usually sin is an attempt to get God-given needs met without God.  You need to respond with reality and compassion (truth and mercy) just as Jesus did.  Remember the paralyzed man lowered through the roof, whose friends had faith but he didn't, Jesus healed him anyway.  Remember the woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus said, "Does no one condemn you?  Neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more."  Finally, restore that person to fellowship with God and fellow believers with the same care and gentleness of a doctor restoring a broken bone.  You can literally be Jesus to that person, allowing Christ to restore one of His own back to Himself.

“My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth 

and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner 

from the error of his way will save him from death and cover a multitude of sins” 

(James 5:19-20, NIV).

To learn more about God, read the Bible (Galatians 6:1-10, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches that Jesus is God.

His work. Our work.

Work. God started it with creation.  And He worked with excellence.  In Genesis He pronounced His work “very good,” but His work wasn’t finished.

When Adam and Eve sinned against Him, God set into motion a work He had planned since before the world began. This, God’s ultimate work, would bring sinful men back to Himself.  Jesus said, “My food (purpose) is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His Work.”  (John 4:34, NIV).

His finished work was on the cross where “with (His) blood (He) purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9, NIV).

What good work does God require of us?

Jesus said, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” (John 6:29, NIV).  If you believe that Jesus was sent by God to die in our place, if you believe God raised Him from the dead to live forever as our friend and king, then invite Him into your heart and life today and let Him finish His work in you. He’s longing to hear from you right now.

To learn more about Jesus’ work read the Bible (John 4:27-42, 6:25-59, 17:1-26), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches that Jesus is God.

It's nice to know that you measure up...

As we grow older we all want to measure up in the eyes of those we respect and admire. When we do we feel great. When we don’t we feel terrible.  Before the world began God realized that eventually we would not measure up. We would sin against Him.  And because He is holy and just we would not be able to live in His presence. But because God loves us so much He decided that He would measure up for us.

So God sent His Son Jesus to earth. Jesus lived a sinless life and in all ways He measured up to God’s perfect standards. Then, when He died on the cross, Jesus took our sinfulness with Him to the grave. And, three days later, He arose from the dead to offer us the gift of His perfect righteousness, and life both now and forever with Him and His Father. Now to measure up all we need to do is admit our sins to God and ask Him for His forgiveness.  Then ask Jesus to be our Savior and follow Him as our Lord.

Because of Jesus, now we can measure up.  And it’s a great feeling.

To learn more about what Jesus has done for you, read the Bible (Romans 3:23, Romans 5, Romans 8), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches that Jesus is God.

I Thee Wed...

Jesus compared our relationship with Him to a wedding between Himself (the Bridegroom) and us, (the Bride) His church.  Jesus wants to meet our every need.  He wants to encourage us and help us to reach our full potential.  He wants to forgive our every wrong.  And, eventually, wipe away every tear.

But, He can only do this if we allow Him.

Sound like a marriage made in Heaven? It is. And you can experience it right now, here on earth.  Simply ask Jesus to forgive your wrongs. And tell Him you want to spend forever “married” to Him. He will always be faithful and true.

To learn more about a relationship with Jesus, read the Bible (John 3:22-36, Matthew 9:14-17), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches that Jesus is God.

Does Your Spirit Feel Dry?

Without realizing it we can slip far away from the heart of God. We can get on a treadmill of trying to do more and more for Him while feeling less and less fulfilled. But, what God really wants is that we get off the treadmill and come to a quiet place alone with Him. To spend time with Him. To be loved by Him. To love Him.

We can become intimate with God through prayer, reading the Bible, and listening to and singing Christian songs. Put God first in your life each day, and He will fill you with streams of living water.

To learn more about developing your relationship with God, read the Bible (John 4:1-42, John 7:37-41), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches that Jesus is God.

What is a friend?

What is a friend? There are probably as many definitions as there are friendships. What does the Bible have to say about “friends?”

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is

born for adversity”

(Proverbs 17:17, NIV).

True friends don’t run when there’s trouble.  They get under the load with you and share the burden.

“Wounds from a friend can be trusted,

but an enemy multiplies kisses” 

(Proverbs 27:6, NIV). 

True friends don’t tell you what you want to hear, they tell you what you need to hear, even if it risks the relationship.

To have friends a man must show himself friendly.

(Proverbs 18:24a, my paraphrase)

    

True friends treat others as they would like to be treated (Matthew 7:12).

But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. 

(Proverbs 18:24b, NKJV)

Our greatest Friend and our model of friendship is Jesus, the “friend of sinners.” Before Jesus went to the cross to pay for the forgiveness of your sins and mine He said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13, NIV). And He told us how we could be His friend in return. “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14, NIV).  Jesus commanded us to love one another as He has loved us. And the only way to do that is to have Jesus living out His life in us and through us through the power of  the Holy Spirit.  If you don’t know Him already you can know Him now. Simply tell Him you are sorry for your sins and that you believe He paid for them on the cross. Then ask Him to come into your heart and be your Savior and Lord and friend forever.

If you would like to know more about the friend you have in Jesus, read the Bible (Proverbs 18:24, Matthew 11:19, John 13:34-35, Galatians 5:22), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

A good book is hard to put down

A good book is hard to put down.  Sometimes we want to stay up all night just to finish it.
Human history is like that, too. The Story of Mankind is a drama that is being played out before our very eyes. But some of us will not see the ending in our lifetime.

Thank God for the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Even with all this book’s imagery and symbolism, God said we would be blessed by reading it, even if we don’t understand it all.  A story goes that a person who had just recently trusted Christ as his Lord and Savior read the Book of Revelation.  An older Christian, thinking that the symbolism must have been confusing to the young Christian, asked him if he understood what he had read. “Yes,” said the new believer. “You did?” said the older Christian somewhat surprised. “Yes,” said the new believer, “We win!”

Revelation tells how right up to the close of history, Jesus is fighting and overcoming the sin and evil of this world.

But Jesus loves sinners.

If you confess your sins to Him and trust Him to save you He will write your name in The Lamb’s Book of Life and you will spend eternity with God... the one who loves you and gave up His life for you.

You will not experience the horrors that were originally designed for the devil and his demons.

To learn more about Jesus, read the Bible (John3:1-21, 1 John 1:8-9, The Book of Revelation), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

With Jesus there is no waiting in line

With billions of people to watch over, millions of people praying at once, you would think God would get distracted and confused and we would end up having to wait in line to talk to him. But God is more amazing than we could ever imagine. And with Jesus there is no waiting in line.

God has a lot to do.
He gives every creature its next breath.
He knows each star by name and holds every one of them in their place.
He plans the rise and fall of nations and He plans the lives of billions of individuals.

But God has time for us. Whenever we call on Him He gives us His complete and undivided attention. He knows our plans before we make them, yet He wants to hear about them from us in every detail. He knows our secret dreams, yet He listens to them with rapt attention and encourages us as we reveal our heart to Him. He knows everything about us but longs to spend time with us and
treasures what we have to say to Him.

Such a God deserves the love of His children. If you are not His child, or not sure if you are His child, then you can have the greatest listener in the world as your Father.  Simply tell Him you are sorry for all your sins and believe that Jesus paid for them in full when He died on the cross.  Then believe that He rose from the dead so that you can live now and forever with Him and God the Father. You will become His cherished child and He will become your listening Father.

To learn more about God, read the Bible (Jeremiah 29:11, John 11:25, Hebrews 4:12-16, Colossians 1:21-23, 2:13-14, Psalm 147:4), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches that Jesus is God.

Created to Worship

Usually when I think of idols I think of strange figures from far away lands. But we have many idols right here at home: youth, riches, power, prestige, career, homes, anything that we put our hope and trust in. We were created with a need to worship God, but, if we don’t know Him we will naturally worship something else to take His place.  The problem is that nothing else can take His place.  None of these idols can rescue us when we are in trouble.

But God can.

“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, 

fulfill your vows to the Most High, 

and call upon me in the day of trouble; 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” 

(Psalm 50:14-15, NIV).

God alone is powerful enough and caring enough to be worthy of our hope, trust and love. If we are willing to honor Him as God, ask Him for help, and submit to His leadership, He will take responsibility for delivering us out of, or through, our troubles.

Call upon the Lord today, whether you are in trouble or not, and begin a relationship with the One who loves you most and wants to meet your every need.

To learn more about God, read the Bible (Psalm 34), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

God is waiting to listen to you

Jesus prayed.

He prayed in the early morning and in the late of night. He was constantly in touch with His Father and sensitive to His will. Jesus encourages you and me to pray too. Why? Because the Father wants
us to participate with Him in the bringing about of His will on earth. Because the Father wants to change us to be more like His Son.  Because the Father wants to love the world through us. And most of all because the Father wants to listen to us and serve us and meet our needs and to heal us.

If you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior you have a right to come boldly before God’s throne of grace and ask anything according to His will and He will do it.

If you do not know the Father personally but would like to, you can right now. Simply agree with God that you have had wrong attitudes and actions in the past and that with His help you will turn away from these sins. Believe that Jesus died to pay for these sins and that God raised Him
to life again so that you could be raised to life again with Him. Then tell others about what a wonderful thing Jesus has done for you.

If you’ve known Jesus for years or you have just met Him now you can help bring God’s will to your nation, your state, your city and your home.

“If my people, who are called by my name, 

will humble themselves and pray and seek my face 

and turn from their wicked ways, 

then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their

sin and will heal their land” 

(2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV).

Each year the first Thursday in May is designated as the National Day of Prayer.  Join together with thousands of other Christians on that day, in both public and personal settings, to repent and ask God to forgive us and heal us as a nation and as individuals.

To learn more about how much God wants to listen to you, read the Bible (Luke 11:1-13, 18:1-8), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches that Jesus is God.

A Bug’s Light

We can learn from bugs.

Within the lowly ant God has placed wisdom that at times can be even greater than our own.  In the Bible God says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8, NIV).

God points us to the lowly ants as tutors to teach us to make the most of the opportunities we have when we have them.  An ant cannot think on the level that you and I can. God has “wired them up” with His own wisdom.  They don’t have a choice.  But to you and I He has given the glorious privilege and responsibility of a free will and the opportunity to personally know and love Himself, the loving God who made us. God didn’t “wire us up” to love Him. Love cannot be forced. What He did do is give Himself totally to us. By dying on the cross to forgive our sins He made a loving relationship with Him possible. And by rising from the dead He made it possible to live now and forever with Him.

So now is the time to decide. You were created for a life forever with Jesus. And only you can make the choice to join Him. Ask Him to forgive your sins and be the Lord of your life and He will fill you with His love, life and presence both now and forevermore.

To learn more about God’s love for you read, the Bible (Hebrews 2:5-18), talk to a friend who knows Jesus’ love, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

You can rise above it all

Do you have problems? 

How do we rise above them?

Jesus faced problems. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus sweat great drops of blood when facing the anguish of being separated from God his Father. Jesus knew that soon he would take upon himself all the world’s sin, including mine and yours. God would then pour out all of his holy wrath against sin upon Jesus, and God would turn his back on his Son.

How did Jesus handle this problem? Jesus began by asking that God would take away this problem from him, but only if that was God’s will. Jesus asked three times but God did not choose to remove Jesus’ problem.

Instead, as Jesus poured out his troubled heart to his Father, Jesus found the strength and the peace from his Father to do his Father’s will. There in the garden, in fellowship with his Father, Jesus gained victory over what was to come. And, because of Jesus’ faith and obedience even to the point
of death on the cross, God raised him out of the grave on Easter morning to be our Lord and Savior forevermore.

The same strength and peace that Jesus found in his trouble is available to us for ours. And through God’s love and power working in and through us we can have the same victory over our problems that Jesus had over his.

And then we can rise above it all.

If you know Jesus personally you can know His power. If you would like to know Jesus personally simply tell Him you are sorry for the wrong attitudes and actions you have had in the past. Tell him you believe He paid the price for those sins when He died on the cross. Ask Him to come into your heart and be the Lord of your life. And tell Him you believe that when He arose from the dead He arose so that you could live both now and forever with Him.

If you would like to learn more about Jesus, read the Bible (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 14:7-9, Matthew 26:36-28:20), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

All things keep becoming new!

“Forgetting what is behind and straining

toward what is ahead, I press on

toward the goal to win the prize for

which God has called me heavenward

in Christ Jesus.”

- the Apostle Paul

(Philippians 3:13b-14, NIV)

If we were trapped by our past and limited by the finite possibilities of our unchangeable history, we would be truly hopeless creatures indeed. But God, through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, wiped away all the things that could hold us back.

Our sins, and our inclination toward sin, were nailed to the cross with Jesus. And when He died, the problem of our past died with Him. If you and I will admit our sins to God, turn away from them and allow Jesus to save and lead us, then through God’s resurrection power, Jesus can offer us a brand new life.

"For if a man is in Christ he becomes a new

person altogether - the past is finished and gone,

everything has become fresh and new"

(2 Corinthians 5:17, Phillips).

We will still be influenced by the thought patterns and habits of yesterday. But, now we have a choice. We can choose our old way of life again and suffer the painful consequences. Or, we can resist our old patterns and choose to love and obey God.

If we choose to obey Him, our mind will be renewed and we will be transformed to be more and more like Jesus Christ. And then we will know the joy of the Lord.

If you would like to know more about new life in Christ, read the Bible (John 10:10, 14:6, Romans 8:1-17, Philippians 3:7-17), talk to a friend who has found new life in Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

We're not getting older... we're getting better.

On a park bench sits a lady reading.
She retired long ago.
She’s alone but not lonely.
She has a friend you can’t see with your eyes
but must be sensed with your heart.
She listens to him while she reads his love letter to her.
And though outwardly she might be wasting away,
yet inwardly her friend is renewing her day by day.
Her friend is Jesus.
And the love letters are in the Bible.
And while all of us are “outwardly wasting away” (2 Corinthians 4:16),
if we know and follow Jesus then, as the saying goes,
we are not getting older... we’re getting better.
Jesus is changing us on the inside day by day as we follow Him.
And when we eventually die we won’t really die.
Rather, we will be ushered into the presence of our Friend and Savior Jesus Christ.
If you would like Jesus to renew you day by day simply
ask Him to forgive your sins and ask Him to be your Savior.
As you follow Him He will grow you and change
you and you will live forever with Him.
If you would like to know more about Jesus,
read the Bible (2 Corinthians 4:16, John 11:25, 15:13-15),
talk to a friend that knows and loves Jesus,
Visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

___________The truth can hurt... and help ________

Sometimes the truth can hurt.

Often we remain blissfully blind to the

“less-than-perfect” aspects of ourselves.

When our faults are pointed out by someone

we feel doesn’t have our best

interest at heart, it can be a deeply

wounding experience.

But sometimes the truth can

hurt and help. That’s what happens

when a trusted friend tells us what we

need to know about ourselves, for our

own benefit. Some people

fear that Jesus came into

the world to shame us by

pointing out all our faults

and failures. 

Nothing could

be further from the truth. 

Jesus does

tell us in no uncertain terms that we

are sinners. But He also tells us that

we are of infinite worth to Him and

that He came to die to deliver us

from those sins.

“For God so loved the world (you and me)

that he gave his one and only [begotten] Son, that

whoever believes in him

shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the

world to condemn the world, but to

save the world through him”

(John 3:16-17, NIV).

And, “If we confess our sins, he is

faithful and just and will forgive

us our sins and purify us of all

unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NIV).

So call out to Jesus. He is

not ashamed to call

us His brothers and

sisters. Though our

pride may be hurt for

a moment as we

acknowledge and turn away

from our sins, we will be

helped forever by the forgiveness

and life-changing power

of Jesus Christ.

To learn more about God,

read the Bible (Proverbs 27:6,

Hebrews 2:11, John 3:1-21), talk to a

friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church

that teaches that Jesus is God.