DO YOU KNOW HIM?
(By: Neal Saito)
Maybe you're not sure now that you buy all this "Jesus stuff" but you're also uncomfortable where you are. Let's talk.
I'm not a minister, or some religious person who thinks he's perfect. I still get angry with people and let my cynicism get me in trouble. But I have a friend who is showing me how to live better and how to show love to the people I meet. His name is Jesus and he has made my life better.
When I left college about 15 years ago I was just your average yuppie scum. I had a good job, a nice apartment, I drank too much and I hated myself. Like so many people my age I had tried to kill myself and spent many nights thinking about how to do it right. I made the connection between my addiction to alcohol and my down feeling so I quit drinking.
My life went to hell. All of my friends were still at the bars. And the more horrifying reality was that the only way I could handle the daily rigors of my career was by numbing myself in booze. I quit my job and found myself trying other things. Finally, I became a courier. I thought it was great. I was never in one place long enough to become a disappointment. My job was straightforward: pick up the package, move on down the road, and drop off the package. No office politics and I could play my music as loud as I wanted. I thought things were great, I had told the world 'FU' and didn't really have to answer to anyone.
Or so I thought. One day when I was punching through the radio looking for something to listen to I tuned in a Christian radio station. The DJ was talking about striping away the masks we hide from the world with: pride, humor, APATHY. I was hit. Now mind you I thought knew what life was all about, I grew up going to church, I even was on a statewide committee of my denomination when I was in high school. I just found it was more interesting to read the Sunday papers than go to church. In all the years in the pew I never really heard anything interesting. But this DJ was laying my life out in front of me. I could run from my problems, I could play my music loud and think I was tuning out the world but in the end I still had to live with myself. And there was something wrong with me.
Sin, darkness, sorrow. These were what were really happening in my life. I could stop drinking, I could give up the suit and tie rat race but I still carried a dark place deep inside of me. I could pretend I didn't care, I could try to deflect it with snide, cynicism but I couldn't make it go away. And I was sick of it. The DJ's answer seemed too simple, "believe Jesus can take it away." But I realized nothing else was going to work. I prayed to Jesus to take my life and use it as he saw fit.
Was the world different? No, but I was. I've struggled as I have followed Jesus since that evening. But He has let me grow.
What about you? What are you addicted to? Drugs, money, sex, success? Death, horror, magic? Jesus is ready to lift your trouble. Not churches, ministers or televangelists. JESUS! He is the Holy and Wise God who became like us, vulnerable, suffering, able to touch and be touched. Why? To overcome the darkness in our lives, to defeat sin with his blood. And to release us to be able to love others as he loved us, wholly, without fear of rejection, without a mask.
Maybe you still aren't sure. Let me urge you to find a follower of Jesus in your community to talk with. Someone who has been there, done that and grown from the experience. Be honest, share your doubts, your fears. A real follower of Jesus won't condemn you for what you have done or what you think but will love you for who you are, another of God's lost children looking for a way home.
My name's Neal and if you want to e-mail me, my address is: neal@reviveus.org
Dear Reader - are you at peace with God? If not, you can be. Do you know what awaits you when you die? You can have the assurance from God that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain. You can even have that assurance RIGHT NOW! Either Jesus Christ died for your sins, or He didn't (He did!). Are you prepared to stand before God on the Judgment Day and tell Him that you didn't need the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to have your sins forgiven and get in right-standing with God? We plead with you...please don't make such a tragic mistake.
To get to know God, to be at peace with God, to have your sins forgiven, to make certain heaven will be your home for eternity, to make certain that you are in right-standing with God right now ... please click here to help you understand the importance of being reconciled to God. What you do about being reconciled to God will determine where you will spend eternity, precious one. Your decision to be reconciled to God is the most important decision you'll ever make in this life, because in Christ, it is impossible to put a value on the worth of your soul in light of eternity.
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Remember: All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-21 is our assurance)