Many of us had hamsters when we were
kids or our kids had hamsters. If you
had a hamster, you have to have had a hamster wheel. That’s half the fun of having a hamster. Just watching the poor hamster hamster was
fun. Does that tell us how old we
are? When we were kids, having fun was
easy and cheap. I remember the first
video game we had, Pong. After Pong all
the video games became to complex for me.
I never did get the hang of Atari asteroids. Some of the things I did as a kid, I now
question. I used to shoot sparrow with
my BB gun that I got for my 8th birthday. No good reason! Just did it.
Same with frogs. Now I realize
God was watching each of His Sparrows fall.
If I had known that then, I would not have done it.
Sometime I think that God looks at us
like that hamster on the wheel or the dog chasing his tale. We run around trying to do good works,
thinking somehow we are making God happy, or are more pleasing to Him, or even some
of us think we if we are good enough, God will save us. There are entire religions that believe
that. Surprise!!!!! Even on our best day we don’t come close to
saving ourselves. If we really think
about it, we realize how stupid that is.
If we could be good enough, it would have been a cruel joke to make His
Son be beaten, hung on a cross to die if we could save ourselves.
Every
week I talk to visitors at the food pantry where Linda and I volunteer. We ask each visitor if we can pray with them,
99 percent say “yes”. Many of them are
crying after I pray a simple prayer with them, expressing God’s unfathomable
love for them. I usually ask them if they
are a Christian or if they died tonight, are they sure they would go to
heaven. The majority say “Yes”. Most confidently tell me they have accepted
Jesus as their personal savior. Most do
not attend a church. Many have abandoned organized religion. Many are suffering
the consequences of poor choices, drugs and/ alcohol. Many are grandpasrent taking care of
grandchildren abandoned by their parents.
Yesterday I had a lady whose daughter was in jail and she was taking
care of 3 children, 8,4 and 7 months. A
few weeks ago I had a man tell me he was “trying to be a Christian”. I explained to him that being a Christian is not
something you try to be. You either are
or are not. You may try to be more
“Christ-like”; but you can not work at being a Christian. If you think you can, then you are trying to
save yourself through good works. It is
sort of like a cow trying to be a cow by giving more milk. Giving milk does not make a cow. Doing good works do not make a
Christian. I asked if he knew he was a
sinner. He said “Yes”. I asked if he believed that Jesus had died
for his sins and that God had raised him from the dead. Again he said “yes” but that he was
struggling with doing the right things.
I told him that so was I; but that based on God’s word that he was
saved.
John 3:16 says:
“For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life.”
Paul told the Romans:
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is
Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved.”
“there is now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life
has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
Paul told the Ephesians:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”
Jesus died and paid for all our sins: past, present and
future. He died once for all. The work has been done! You can’t help
Him! Jesus died for ALL your sins. He paid for ALL your sins. Even the ones you forgot! Don’t kid yourself, our memories are not that
good. As we get older, we have trouble
remembering what we had for lunch. If
our salvation depends on our remembering all of our sins and confessing them,
we are all in for a very hot future that makes global warming look like a walk
in the park! If the law of the Old
Testament could have saved the Jews, Jesus would not have had to die! When we think we need to help God, it is
pride that is telling us this. The thief
on the cross did not confess each sin.
He acknowledged that he was a sinner and asked for God’s grace and God
gave it to him.
Good works flow out of a saved sinner as that sinner is
sanctified through and by the Word of God which is Spirit, Light and Truth.
Remember:
Jesus +
Anything = Nothing
Jesus + Nothing
= Everything
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