Easter Sunday
As I sit down to write, Easter weekend is drawing to a close. In light of recent attacks on the authenticity of the Christian faith I thought I’d throw in my two cents about why I believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
Throughout my life I have taken a casual look at many of the other religions of the world and none of them make any sense to me. None gives the kind of hope of that which I find contained in the pages of the Christian bible.
“Religiously” minded people always tend to complicate things with creating all kinds of obstacles and hoops to jump through to get to heaven. You’re a good person if the good out weighs the bad and if you are faithful at performing all the rituals. Eternity then literally hangs in the balance and you can never really be absolutely certain if you’ve done enough good to make it through the pearly gates.
But, the simplicity of the New Testament scriptures just leap out at me when I read them. It states clearly that God is love. 1John 4:16-17 says, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.” Those are some pretty strait forward words.
Jesus was the perfect example of a life lived in love. In his teachings he explained plainly what Godly love actually looks like. Moses gave the ten commandments. Jesus explained the meaning of what it was to really live them out. He taught to do good to everyone including your enemies. That is a totally revolutionary concept. He taught that if you hated your brother you were guilty of murder. If you looked at another mans wife with lust you were guilty of adultery. He gets to the heart of the matter. The motivating factors behind the sins themselves. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is what it looks like to live in love.
The New Testament teaches that if we want to have eternal life then we must be born again. And we do that by believing and putting our faith and trust in Jesus the one who lived the perfect life of love. Then we receive God’s spirit. In love he laid down his life for our sakes only to take it up again. If he had not been resurrected, he would be no different than any other profit or teacher through out the ages. The resurrection was proof that he was who he said he was. Anyone who ever says they’ve found his bones are wrong or flat out lying. The resurrection is the most crucial point of Christianity. Because he lives we can too.
Hebrews 1:3 says “The Son (Jesus) is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” The “exact representation of his being” it says. If God is love then so was Jesus. Simple!
Jesus stated clearly that all the commandments were summed up in love. To love God and to love your neighbor is the fulfillment of the law. Even a little child can grasp that! When our kids were little they would some times spat and squabble over one thing or another. Many times I wouldn’t know who was at fault so I’d say “ just love each other, can’t you just love each other?” I taught them what love is by following the examples that Jesus gave but really no one can really love like that without having Gods spirit within them. Worldly love might sometimes resemble Godly love but, it is worlds apart. Worldly love is self centered, having to do with possessiveness. Godly love is God centered and selfless.
There’s a lot of religion that masquerades as Christianity these days, but true Christianity is known by it’s love. That’s the kind I believe in. That’s the kind that is way above the rest. Faith is rooted in love. We hear the Fathers words and we believe. We put our faith in God's words. The bible says no one can come to God without faith.
God sent his Son to die on the cross for our sins. John 3:16 “ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that who ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
It’s all about love and it’s so simple even a child can understand it.
I guess I’m the type of person that’s attracted to simplicity. Simple living and simple faith. It doesn’t get any better than that.
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!
Until Next Time
Throughout my life I have taken a casual look at many of the other religions of the world and none of them make any sense to me. None gives the kind of hope of that which I find contained in the pages of the Christian bible.
“Religiously” minded people always tend to complicate things with creating all kinds of obstacles and hoops to jump through to get to heaven. You’re a good person if the good out weighs the bad and if you are faithful at performing all the rituals. Eternity then literally hangs in the balance and you can never really be absolutely certain if you’ve done enough good to make it through the pearly gates.
But, the simplicity of the New Testament scriptures just leap out at me when I read them. It states clearly that God is love. 1John 4:16-17 says, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.” Those are some pretty strait forward words.
Jesus was the perfect example of a life lived in love. In his teachings he explained plainly what Godly love actually looks like. Moses gave the ten commandments. Jesus explained the meaning of what it was to really live them out. He taught to do good to everyone including your enemies. That is a totally revolutionary concept. He taught that if you hated your brother you were guilty of murder. If you looked at another mans wife with lust you were guilty of adultery. He gets to the heart of the matter. The motivating factors behind the sins themselves. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is what it looks like to live in love.
The New Testament teaches that if we want to have eternal life then we must be born again. And we do that by believing and putting our faith and trust in Jesus the one who lived the perfect life of love. Then we receive God’s spirit. In love he laid down his life for our sakes only to take it up again. If he had not been resurrected, he would be no different than any other profit or teacher through out the ages. The resurrection was proof that he was who he said he was. Anyone who ever says they’ve found his bones are wrong or flat out lying. The resurrection is the most crucial point of Christianity. Because he lives we can too.
Hebrews 1:3 says “The Son (Jesus) is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” The “exact representation of his being” it says. If God is love then so was Jesus. Simple!
Jesus stated clearly that all the commandments were summed up in love. To love God and to love your neighbor is the fulfillment of the law. Even a little child can grasp that! When our kids were little they would some times spat and squabble over one thing or another. Many times I wouldn’t know who was at fault so I’d say “ just love each other, can’t you just love each other?” I taught them what love is by following the examples that Jesus gave but really no one can really love like that without having Gods spirit within them. Worldly love might sometimes resemble Godly love but, it is worlds apart. Worldly love is self centered, having to do with possessiveness. Godly love is God centered and selfless.
There’s a lot of religion that masquerades as Christianity these days, but true Christianity is known by it’s love. That’s the kind I believe in. That’s the kind that is way above the rest. Faith is rooted in love. We hear the Fathers words and we believe. We put our faith in God's words. The bible says no one can come to God without faith.
God sent his Son to die on the cross for our sins. John 3:16 “ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that who ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
It’s all about love and it’s so simple even a child can understand it.
I guess I’m the type of person that’s attracted to simplicity. Simple living and simple faith. It doesn’t get any better than that.
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!
Until Next Time
posted by RL at 9:42 PM
2 Comments:
I just read a book on evangelism with a slant on Book of Acts style evangelism. And it's just like your post, simple. Simplicity that changed the world! An explosion of real faith that could not be stopped until religion took over a few hundred years later. The good news is how around the world this simplicity is coming back. Good old first century evangelism. Back to the Word, not man made words!
Anyway, I got all excited reading your post! I just love when the truth is published on some blogs!
Tom
Hey Tom,
Thanks for the comment!
I’ve been thinking how it's kind of ironic how humans tend to complicate religion and yet minimize God. But, yes it is simple faith that changes lives. For me when I read the scriptures the beauty of it just jumps out at me.
Glad you enjoyed the post. I was “simply” speaking from my heart. Pun intended. :)
Russ
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