This was my last article of four - Published on 27 June 2008
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Over the last three weeks in this space I have been talking about the love that God has for each of us, about God’s pursuit of our hearts and the empty space that all of us have within that only God has the power to fill.
So what does God’s love, His pursuit of our hearts and our empty space have to do with anything?
Well it has everything to do with Christian faith and hope. God’s pursuit of our hearts went to the extreme of Him sending His Son to die for our brokenness. To pay the penalty that must be paid for the sins of the world. Our empty space was caused by the broken relationship between us and God that we experience because of sin.
Christ’s death on the cross has given us the opportunity to mend that relationship with God but it is a choice that we need to make for ourselves. It is not something that is forced upon us or that we earn by proxy. We need to make a choice to accept God’s pursuit of us through the cross of Christ. It is through Christ that we have access to a friendship with God.
All of what I have talked about over the past 3 weeks means nothing if I am to just leave it there. God’s pursuit of you and the love that he has for you means nothing if this is where I leave it. What all this comes down to is that you have to make a decision to accept the love that God has and then to start pursuing for yourself the life that is available to you through choosing to have Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, looking to God as the head of your life.
This might mean taking a look at this life that those who live in relationship with God and believe that Jesus is their Saviour call the Christian life. For you maybe this designation of being a Christian brings with it so much baggage of what you think that this kind of life might be and the things that other people say this life is. But you need to move past that and discover for yourself what a life with Christ is like.
God wants you to know that a life with Christ is a life lived to the full. Jesus tells us in Scripture that “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
The Christian life is often described as something that is full of restrictions a long list of things that you have to do and many things that you shouldn’t do.
In all reality there is a freedom that comes with the life that is lived with God at its centre, because we live lives that are grounded in the truth and lives that look more and more like what God intended our lives to be. Jesus says that ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Yes you might have to make changes in your life but those changes will be for the better, they will be changes that bring joy and happiness, changes that complete you and teach you and will bring about the restoration of your broken relationship with God.
The reality is that a life with Christ is about becoming a child of God. A much loved child of the creator of the universe. The Christian life is living a life that conforms to the rules of the family, the rules of the Father and these rules are just ways for us to live in better relationship with God and one another. These rules are not really rules but more a way of life.
So what about you? Are you looking for that thing that will fill your empty space inside? I want to tell you that God is the answer to the empty space and to that need for completion that you have in your life. God is drawing you to himself and He wants you to discover that you need Him in your life and He wants you to learn what it means to be a child of God.
It is your choice. Find a church that suits your personality, not all churches are the same and ask the right questions …. You owe it to your empty space and yourself…..
God is waiting for you.
So what does God’s love, His pursuit of our hearts and our empty space have to do with anything?
Well it has everything to do with Christian faith and hope. God’s pursuit of our hearts went to the extreme of Him sending His Son to die for our brokenness. To pay the penalty that must be paid for the sins of the world. Our empty space was caused by the broken relationship between us and God that we experience because of sin.
Christ’s death on the cross has given us the opportunity to mend that relationship with God but it is a choice that we need to make for ourselves. It is not something that is forced upon us or that we earn by proxy. We need to make a choice to accept God’s pursuit of us through the cross of Christ. It is through Christ that we have access to a friendship with God.
All of what I have talked about over the past 3 weeks means nothing if I am to just leave it there. God’s pursuit of you and the love that he has for you means nothing if this is where I leave it. What all this comes down to is that you have to make a decision to accept the love that God has and then to start pursuing for yourself the life that is available to you through choosing to have Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, looking to God as the head of your life.
This might mean taking a look at this life that those who live in relationship with God and believe that Jesus is their Saviour call the Christian life. For you maybe this designation of being a Christian brings with it so much baggage of what you think that this kind of life might be and the things that other people say this life is. But you need to move past that and discover for yourself what a life with Christ is like.
God wants you to know that a life with Christ is a life lived to the full. Jesus tells us in Scripture that “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
The Christian life is often described as something that is full of restrictions a long list of things that you have to do and many things that you shouldn’t do.
In all reality there is a freedom that comes with the life that is lived with God at its centre, because we live lives that are grounded in the truth and lives that look more and more like what God intended our lives to be. Jesus says that ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Yes you might have to make changes in your life but those changes will be for the better, they will be changes that bring joy and happiness, changes that complete you and teach you and will bring about the restoration of your broken relationship with God.
The reality is that a life with Christ is about becoming a child of God. A much loved child of the creator of the universe. The Christian life is living a life that conforms to the rules of the family, the rules of the Father and these rules are just ways for us to live in better relationship with God and one another. These rules are not really rules but more a way of life.
So what about you? Are you looking for that thing that will fill your empty space inside? I want to tell you that God is the answer to the empty space and to that need for completion that you have in your life. God is drawing you to himself and He wants you to discover that you need Him in your life and He wants you to learn what it means to be a child of God.
It is your choice. Find a church that suits your personality, not all churches are the same and ask the right questions …. You owe it to your empty space and yourself…..
God is waiting for you.
