Hey all you fellow bloggers (and blog readers) out in Cyberspace! Hope you're all having a fantastic evening (day, whatever time it is right now)! Just got home from working out, and let me tell ya, I needed it tonight! Did some kickboxing, got rid of some stress, yep life is good. (Don't worry, I showered afterward, so I don't stink, lol)
So, I'm reading (or shall I say re-reading) John MacArthur's Hard to Believe, and man am I fired up! Whew! Gots to get some stuff off my chest! For anyone out there who hasn't had the opportunity to read some of MacArthur's work, I highly recommend it. Anyways, back to the point. In a nutshell, the book is about how many churches today water down the Gospel to make it easier to swallow. Many churches nowadays turn Jesus into Santa Claus or the Genie in the bottle (the leprachaun at the end of the rainbow, insert your own sweet and fluffy visual here...). I would like to know: what happened to reading the Bible, and preaching THAT Jesus? Because some people may just get a little miffed, feel a little uncomfortable? Let me tell you something, if you leave church on Sunday and don't feel convicted, don't feel that urge to have a closer relationship with the Jesus of the Bible, then maybe it's time to find a new church.
I'm probably not going to make many friends with this post, but I don't care, I'm up on my soapbox, so I'm going to tell it how I see it...God really doesn't care about your feelings, He cares about your holiness. Now, here's where some of you are going to try to quote John 3:16: "For God so loved the world..." but too many times, that's as far as some people get. If you stop reading right there, you are making an egregious mistake...you miss the message of the gospel. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" For God so loved the world (or better yet, HIS CHOSEN), that he sent his son to: live a sinless life, perform MANY miracles, raise the dead, be betrayed by one of His disciples, be handed over to His enemies, be beaten beyond recognition, die a criminal's death, be hung on a cross, all so that whoever believes in Him (Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God) may have eternal life...if none of this sounds familiar, please look it up, what you read will blow your mind.
Jesus did not come to give you warm fuzzy feelings. As a matter of fact, the Biblical Jesus is the one who called the pharisees and sadducees a "brood of vipers", who overturned tables in the temple, driving out those who were buying and selling. He declared that He was the ONLY way. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through ME" (John14:6, emphasis mine) He even called Peter, one of His own disciples, Satan for rebuking Him. Doesn't sound very warm and fuzzy, does it? He spoke in parables so those who weren't His own wouldn't understand, the stories would sound foolish and strange. Now, if you believe that He came to save EVERYONE, then there would be no need for the parables, right? Jesus Himself explains the purpose of the parables in Matthew (Matthew 13:10-17)
What happens when we water down the Gospel to make it easier to swallow? We lead others to their doom. Imagine a bunch of blind people walking, no running, towards a cliff, and you're standing there cheering them on so they feel good about it! Not very loving...
Whereas the Gospel may be hard to swallow for many, but it's truth. And the truth will set you free...
So, signing off for the night...I hope that this just may piss some of you off enough to pull that Bible off the shelf, wipe off the dust, open it up, and read it. Find out for yourself what the Bible says about Jesus, our depravity (that's for another time), and our need for a Savior. Find out what the Gospel is really about.
Till next time....
God Bless,
Amber
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