Finding
God
There are many people who
are trying to fill a void in their lives with a host of temporal things. Some
have hoped that this gnawing vacuum might be satisfied with the accumulation of
wealth, the acquisition of power or prestige. And yet the sense of fulfillment
remained elusive. Still others have surrendered themselves to the immediate
gratification of their appetites with the hope that contentment would be
realized and yet their emptiness continues. In despair of ever finding “It” some
have given themselves to anesthetizing the pain of this missing part of life
with drugs or alcohol. The truth of the matter is this, nothing but a vital and
growing relationship with the living God can fill this void within. C.S. Lewis
is famous for saying that “we all have a God-shaped vacuum in our lives, which
can only be filled with God. The ultimate pilgrimage in life is in search of a
relationship with God.” So how does someone find such a relationship?
The Search Begins With
You
This important spiritual
pilgrimage begins with recognizing something that is true of you and everybody
else who has ever lived on this planet with the exception Jesus Christ. We are
all sinners and it’s our sinful condition that keeps us separated from God. The
Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans that all of us have sinned and have fallen
short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). King Solomon, the wealthiest and wisest
man who had ever lived stated that there is not a righteous man on earth who
continually does good and who never sins. What is sin? The Apostle John defined
sin as lawlessness (1John 3:4). It is living independent of God’s moral will.
The Lord speaking through the prophet Isaiah stated that its sin that separates
us from Him
Isaiah 59:1-2 1 Surely
the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, Nor his ear too dull to hear. 2
But your iniquities (blatant sins) have separated you from your God; your sins
have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
It is sin that leaves us
spiritually dead and unresponsive to the things of God. Furthermore, it is our
sinful condition that leaves us incapable of providing any saving resources that
God would find acceptable and sufficient to deliver us from this condition and
the ultimate eternal condemnation it brings. No amount of good deeds, no amount
of Christian sacraments received or rituals observed can save you from your
sins. Nor are we saved by attempts at keeping the Ten Commandments. Therefore,
the first step in finding God is acknowledging that you are a sinner, separated
from a holy God, and incapable of fixing the problem of your sin through your
own resources.
The Search Must Take You
To The Cross And The Empty Tomb
The Gospel message (The
glad tidings of God’s salvation) is that Jesus died for our sins and rose from
the grave conquering sin and death.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 3
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Romans 5:8 But God
demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.
1 John 4:10 This is
love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our
sins.
Jesus died in our place in
order to bear the penalty of our sins. He paid a debt he did not owe because we
owed a debt we could not pay.
Finding God Ends In
Faith
The last part of your
journey requires repentance and faith. This is the formula, which was prescribed
by Jesus in the Gospel of Mark.
Mark 1:15 “The time has
come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
This was the challenge
of the Apostle Paul to those to whom he would proclaim that glorious Gospel
message.
Acts 20:21 I have
declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and
have faith in our Lord Jesus.
Repentance refers to a
radical change of mind, which results in a change of one’s lifestyle. What is it
that one must change their minds about in order to come to faith? We must change
our minds about ourselves. We are sinners who can not save ourselves. We must
not measure our sinfulness against the moral failures of others. We must measure
ourselves against the standards of God and we will find that we are sinners.
We need salvation. We must
change our minds about working for our salvation. The good news is that God has
provided salvation to us as a gift to be received by faith not earned through
our own efforts at appeasing Him.
Titus 3:5 he saved us,
not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved
us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For it
is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it
is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Having repented, we are now
ready to come to the final step in our search and that is the step of faith.
Faith is not simply acknowledging that the teachings about Jesus are true. It is
trusting in the person of Christ and the work of Christ on the cross as the only
means of your salvation. It is trusting totally in the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ to rescue from the eternal condemnation of sin. And it is not Jesus
plus something. It is not trusting in Jesus plus receiving the sacraments of
your church. It is not trusting in Jesus plus attempting to obey the Ten
Commandments. Nor is it trusting in Jesus plus baptism or confirmation. It is
faith alone in the death and resurrection of Christ that saves your soul and
brings you into a relationship with the living God.
It is our fondest desire
that you find God. You can do that right now! Just come before the Lord in
prayer and acknowledge to Him that you recognize that you are a sinner incapable
of saving yourself. Then, from the your heart, tell Him that you trust only in
the death and resurrection of Jesus to save you from your sins. The Bible
states,
Romans 10:9-10 9 That if
you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that
you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and
are saved.
If you have trusted in
Christ for the salvation of your soul, your search for God has come to an end.
You now know Him and to know Him is to possess eternal life (John 17:3). Please
drop us a line via e-mail and let us know that you have found God by faith in
Christ. We would like to pray for you and send your some material that will be
helpful for your next spiritual journey. You will need now to grow in your
knowledge of God and your intimacy with God (2Peter 3:18).
May the Lord richly bless
you,
Pastor Jerry Marshall
|
|
|
Home
