Originally posted 12/4/20

I believe there are certain things that all people are looking for. God put a desire in all of us to seek out and know the truth.  We can even see evidence in this in other world religions. Poets, political leaders, and even men who started their own religions are all looking for truth.

“The object of the superior man is truth.” Confucius

“Three things cannot be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” Buddah

“Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.” Walt Whitman

“What is truth?” Pontius Pilate

Finding and knowing what is true and what is a lie is vital to all people, no matter where they live or when they live. 

Today I want to take a look at three perceptions the world has regarding Christianity. Then we will look at what truth the Bible shows us 

Perception: Before I give my life to Jesus, I need to get my life in order. I need to stop doing _____ then Jesus will be able to accept me. 

Truth: Jesus loves me exactly the way I am. I don’t have to change to be loved, accepted, and cherished by Jesus. Salvation is given to me as a free gift from Jesus. He took the punishment I deserve and gave me the gift of cleansing me from all my past, present, and future sins. 

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:23‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:8-9‬ (‭ESV)‬‬

There is nothing I can do to earn salvation. My best effort to be good enough still falls short of perfection. Romans 3:23 (ESV) says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” The moment I sin I fall short of perfection. To think that I need to get my life in order before surrendering my life to Jesus is working for my salvation. I can never be good enough to be saved by God. It is only through being perfected by surrendering my life to Jesus and making him the Lord of my life that I am seen as perfected by God and accepted into Heaven when I die. 

Jesus, who is 100% God, came to earth as a human to live the perfect life that I can never live. He willingly gave his life in exchange for mine. Hebrews 9:22 (ESV) tells us “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Without Jesus living a completely sinless life, and shedding his blood on the cross, I can’t be forgiven of my sins. Even in the Old Testament there had to be the shedding of the lamb’s blood in order for people to be forgiven when they sinned. 

I don’t have to worry about getting rid of all of my bad habits before becoming a Christian. Jesus did the work for me when he lived a perfect life and died for me. I simply have to recognize the work he did, confess him as my savior (God), and surrender my whole life to him. I stop trying to control my life, and allow Jesus to take control. 

Perception: Since Jesus loves and accepts me just the way I am, I never have to change the way I do things.

Truth: Jesus does love and accept me exactly the way I am. I don’t have to change and get rid of all my bad habits to become a Christian. He loves me enough to not allow me to remain the same, broken, and sinful person I was when I met him. 2 Corinthians 5:17says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 

The moment I gave Jesus control of my life, I became a brand new person. The old me is gone forever. I don’t know about you, but I am really glad the old Cherise is dead and gone. I am continually becoming the person I have always been in the sight of God. God sees me as the perfected person he created, not the damaged and sinful person I was before being made new. 

If you haven’t changed since meeting Jesus maybe you didn’t really meet Jesus. We see some dramatic changes in some of the apostles in the Bible. Take Paul for example, he was a religious person set on destroying what he viewed as a dangerous false religion. He actually thought he was helping God by killing and imprisoning people who claimed Jesus was the Messiah. He is actually on a mission to take prisoner Christians when Jesus comes to him on the road to Damascus. See Acts 9 for the full story. After his encounter with Jesus he turns from trying to kill and jail the followers of Jesus to traveling all around and proclaiming Jesus as the only way to be saved. He is responsible for writing a huge amount of the New Testament. Paul was drastically changed after his encounter with Jesus. 

I have heard testimony after testimony of people who have had an encounter with Jesus and are instantly and dramatically changed. My story is a bit different in that I gave my life to Jesus when I was a small child. I don’t have a testimony of being one way and then in an instant being the exact opposite like I hear from former drug addicts and such. I do however, have the testimony of continually being changed slowly from an insecure, people pleaser to a confident Jesus pleaser, and I can look back at who I was just a year or two ago and see a difference. I was a girl who desired to make everyone like her, and was crushed when I failed. Now, I can say that I will do and say what Jesus asks me to do, and I no longer worry about what others think of me. Sure, I still have moments when I allow my past self to scare me into not speaking up, but those are becoming less and less as I ignore those thoughts and fears. I know that God’s grace is sufficient and he will give me a second chance and a third chance to stand firm in who I truly am-a bold and confident daughter of the King of kings. 

Do you see a change in yourself since giving your life to Jesus? If your answer is no, I would question if you ever really had an encounter with Jesus. You see, once you have a personal encounter with Jesus, it is impossible for you to remain the same person. Ask Jeus for an encounter and see what happens! It will rock your world!

Perception: There are many ways to enter into Heaven. 

Truth: The idea there is more than one way to inherit eternal life sounds great, right? What does the Bible have to say? Well, in John Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” Notice Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life, not a way, a truth, and a life. He is clearly stating that it is only through him we can know the truth of the way to salvation and life eternal. You may be thinking this sounds rigid and unfair. Let’s take a practical look at why this is totally fair. 

Imagine you are driving a car. You are starting your journey at point A, and your goal is to get to point B. You have your gps telling you exactly how to get there. The gps tells you to turn right here, left there, and continue straight. As long as you listen to the directions you will get from point A to point B without any problems. What happens if you think you can take any road to get to point B. After all shouldn’t all roads lead to point B? No? Well, that just doesn’t seem fair. It shouldn’t matter what road I turn on, they should all lead to where I want to go. Sounds pretty crazy right? 

The same goes with going to Heaven. Jesus gives us the road map, the Bible, and tells us exactly what the path is to live with him in paradise. Jesus tells us that it is only through belief in him as Savior that will take us on the correct road to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. He is the architect of the road, and thus has the authority to declare which path is the correct street to take in order to get where we want to go. Just as we must listen to the gps when it tells us to turn right on a certain street, we must listen to Jesus when he tells us to trust only in him for salvation. After all, he is the only person to ever defeat death. Mohammad, Buddah, Confucius, and Joseph Smith are all dead. Not one of them had the power to raise themselves back to life. Only Jesus has that power, and proved it. Who are you going to listen to when it comes to the directions of eternal life, a man who died and that’s it, or a man who died and came back to life?