The Most Important Thing Cont'd (Pg 2)

Step One: God's Purpose

God's purpose in creation was for men and women to enjoy His fellowship and the wonder of creation free from the pain and suffering produced by sin and ignorance of His true character.

Confusion over the Nature of God.  I have discovered that many people are confused about God’s nature (what he is like) and about his will for them. It is very important that we clearly understand something about God’s nature because throughout history he has often been misrepresented with the result that any expectation we might have of him is, at best confused, at worst, just plain wrong! The truth is that the Bible clearly presents God as a loving Father, a powerful being who loves us and cares deeply for us. He is not our enemy waiting to pounce on us when we do wrong, or capricious and out to trap us and cause us hurt for his own amusement. "God is love" (1 John 4: 8) and that love is directed powerfully and inexhaustibly towards each one of us in an individual and personal way. Then, as far as his will and intentions towards us are concerned, the exciting truth is that these are an expression of his loving nature. God’s will for us is that we know and experience deep inner peace and contentment in our heart’s and minds, regardless of the varying circumstances that come our way, and that we enjoy an abundant and meaningful life, both now and throughout all eternity. In other words, his will is an extension of his nature and character. So, we find the Lord Jesus saying these words in the New Testament, I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10: 10) 

The Bible says...

Enemies of God: The reality is most people do not have any relationship with God and are, in fact, enemies of God because of the way they live and the absence of any desire to live to please Him.  As a result there is no sense of peace with God and no opportunity to enjoy the abundant life of fellowship and friendship with God that He planned for us to enjoy. The reason for this is explained next. 

[Step 2. The Problem: Our Separation]

Check out my "Helpful Links"

[Start of The Most Important Thing In the World] [Steps to be sure of eternal life: Step 1 - God's Purpose: Peace & Life] [Step 2. The Problem: Our Separation] [Step 3.  The Bridge To Eternal Life] [Step 4. The Choice That Leads To Eternal Life] [Step 5. How To Go On And Live Your New Life] [Greg's Testimony]

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The Most Important Thing Cont'd (Pg 3)
Step Two
The Problem: Our Separation From God and the Reason for it.

God created us in His own image to choose his presence, His friendship and to live to please Him. He did not programme us to be like robots and to automatically love and obey Him. God gave us a will and freedom of choice. Unfortunately, we, both as a race and individually, have all chosen to go our own willful way with little, and often no regard for God, His Word or His Will. These, rebellious acts and choices, result in separation from God and in "sinful acts" that cause us to "fall short" of his standard of right behaviour in thought, word and action. From this inner nature of rebellion against God and his love and will for us comes all the evil, cruelty and pain that fills our world and has done since the very beginning.

The Ten Commandments: Few people have any clear understanding of the the Ten Commandments which are a summary of His will in regard to the way we live, treat and behave towards Himself and other men and women.  From Exodus 20: 3-17 we have these listed for us.  Briefly we can list them like this:

1. You shall have no other God's before me
2. You shall not make for yourself any idols of anything to be in the place of God
3. You shall not blaspheme or use any of the names of God as a swear word or expletive
4. You shall remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy
5. You shall honour your father and your mother -i.e. be respectful of them in every way
6. You shall not murder -i.e. kill people
7. You shall not commit adultery -physically or in your heart
8. You shall not steal -take what is not yours
9. You shall not lie -tell any form of untruth or false testimony
10. You shall not covet -want to have anything for yourself that someone else has

We have all broken some or all of these commandments: The truth is we have all broken at least some, and often many, of these laws.  This is the reason the world is full of crime, evil behaviour, war, violence, cruelty, pain, suffering and sorrow.  

The Bible says...

Understanding About Sin, Justice and Punishment. 
We have all sinned in various ways, and sin earns wages, (Romans 6: 23) which the Bible reveals to be "death". (Death means eternal separation from God forever and ever in a place where there is no hope, no love, no joy, and no peace, - a totally terrible thing to contemplate.) Now, because God, to be God, must be, and remain, consistent, he must punish sin. If he was lenient and overlooked sin, he would have to overlook the results of sin as well, (sickness, pain, suffering, cruelty, and death) which he cannot and will not do. After all, think about this: if God, who is love, could tolerate sin and its consequences what a terrible inconsistency that would be. He would be utterly without integrity (this means a consistency between what we say and what we do or are). The Bible invites us to consider this reality when it says, "Behold, therefore, both the goodness and the severity of God." Romans 11: 21. Further, if God were tolerant of sin, it would reveal inconsistency in his character and if he were changeable in this way we could not depend upon him to be the good, kind, merciful God who loves us and does not abandon us. He is, thank God, totally dependable and utterly reliable. He will be faithful to his believing children at all times without fail. This is the single most important thing for us to know about God. He himself puts it this way, "I am the Lord, I change not." (Malachi 3: 6) This is why I love and trust him - because I know he is trustworthy. I know he is dependable. I know I can rely on him at all times. He will never, never, forsake me. You can know that to. You can come into a relationship with this totally dependable and faithful God today. What a truly wonderful prospect. Please read on and discover how this has been made possible in spite of this terrible problem of our sin that separates us from the love and goodness of God. But, remember, it is that same love and goodness of God that is "leading you to repentance" (Romans 2: 4) right now as you read this article!

Our Attempts to Reach God
Now, This Question Arises: What About Our Attempts to Reach God?
People have tried in many ways to bridge this gap between themselves and God by engaging in philanthropic works and deeds, by trying harder to live better lives, to stop lying, cheating, stealing, swearing, blaspheming and so on. Perhaps by resolving to attend, or join, a church or do more in a church they may already belong to. All of these demonstrate great sincerity, yet none can earn or gain acceptance with God or bridge the gap that separates us from him and his grace and goodness. 

The Bible says...

Some of these "ways" are found in human philosophies of various kinds, even religion often reflects only our attempts to bridge this great gap between God and man with observances and ceremonies that cannot save us.

The Bible says...

The Truth is: No bridge reaches God...except one.

Step 3. The Bridge to eternal life...