Dear Friends,
The art gallery owner said to an artist. "I have some good
news and some bad news." The artist asked what's the good news? The
gallery owner said. "The good news is that a man came in here today asking
if the price of your paintings would go up after you die. When I told him they
would, he bought every one of your paintings.
The artist responded, "That's great news, but what’s the bad
news?" The gallery owner replied. "The bad news is that the man was
your doctor."
The Bible is a bad news, good news story, and we see a clear
picture of this in Ephesians 2. In the first few verses of chapter 2, Paul
provides us with some bad news. He writes, “As for you, you were
dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you
followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the Kingdom of the air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived
among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and
following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of
wrath” (Ephesians 2:1-3).
We were born spiritually dead, without a spiritual heartbeat-all
because of our inherited sinful nature which dates back to
Adam. Spiritually speaking we were like those zombies in Haiti and other
islands of the Caribbean who walk around in an almost corpse like stupor, due
to voodoo, demons, and drug induced states. Spiritually dead and without any
spiritual sensitivity toward the things of God, we too were among the 'walking
dead,' doomed to live in death and darkness. The bible says we were by nature
children of wrath doomed, and dominated by sin, and without anything inherently
good that might commend us to God. That’s the bad news.
However, there is some "Good News," and two three letter
words commence a radically change in our condition, and they are, “But God.”
Paul writes, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with
which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together
with Christ, (by grace you are saved) and has raised us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (v.6).
God didn’t decide to love you when we decided to go to church,
read our bible, pray, and become spiritual. No, He loved us at our worst,
when we had done nothing to deserve His love, and while we were still stinking
of sin. The bible says, He made us alive. The bible talks about being born
again, of being redeemed, restored, and recreated. Paul describes it this way:
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away, the new
has come" (2 Cor. 5:17).
That is not only good news, but it is the greatest good news
anyone could ever receive. Dead and now alive, lost and now found, rejected,
and now received by our Heavenly Father, we are new creations, transported from
death unto life.
In 1962 when I personally decided to follow Christ at a Fellowship
of Christian Athlete’s Conference, my life forever changed. And just like
God raised me up from among the spiritually dead, He wants to do the same for
you and for all who are His creation. He desires that no one should perish
apart from Him, and He has provided a way, and it has nothing to do with you,
but it has everything to do with Him. It is His grace and not your goodness
that saves you, for “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith-
and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no
one can boast" ( Eph. 2:8-9).
The ABC’s of salvation are very simple and very clear. Accept
Jesus as your Savior, Believe that He died for your sins and was raised
for your salvation, and Confess that He is Lord of your life. If you
have not yet made this decision, I hope you will do so today. If you want
to know more about this decision, please drop me an e-mail, and I will be happy
to send you some information that will help you get started on your new path to
life.
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
No comments:
Post a Comment