In our society, people are always looking for something better.
Lots of people are looking for a better job. And some are looking for a
better house, a better neighborhood, better schools. I know people who are
wanting a better car or a better truck, and kids who want a better bicycle.
Many people want a better computer, better software, or a better sound
system. I know women who are shopping for a better dishwasher, and men who
are always after better shop tools. Some friends of mine are working to
have a better lawn. And a nearby church is wanting a better roof. Lots of
girls want better clothes while the guys are usually into better toys.
The list just goes on and on. And in our society, whenever we do get
something better, the happiness with it wears off pretty fast. Before long
we're pushing to get something better yet.
Believe it or not, God is also interested in something better. But not for
Himself. I mean, how do you give the One who has it all something better?
God wants to give you and me a better life. Jesus, the eternal Son of God,
is all about improving people's lives. Even though He had been trained,
while growing up in Nazareth, to be a carpenter, His entire adult career was
devoted to helping other people. In fact, Jesus once said about His life's
work, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John
10:10)
Jesus Christ lived and died to give you and me -- and everyone else on
earth -- a better life. And millions of people, all over the world, have
already discovered that new life in Jesus Christ. They went from trying to
get by on marginal life (regardless of how wealthy or how poor they may have
been) to experiencing and enjoying the abundant life of Jesus Christ.
But God will nor force anyone to have the spiritual and eternal life that He
offers. Each person must choose for themselves.
In some ways, life today is like it was when Jesus went around preaching in
the cities, towns and villages of Palestine, many centuries ago. Huge
crowds often gathered wherever Jesus was, just to see the wonderful things
He would do. And lots and lots of people went to Jesus to get their own
lives fixed. And He gave a new life to all who came to Him. He gave sight
to blinded eyes. He gave voices to silenced tongues. He opened the ears of
the deaf, and He restored strength and control to ruined limbs. He even
broke up funerals by restoring the dead to life again -- talk about a better
situation!
But not everyone trusted Jesus. Not everyone wanted a new life. Lots of
people never went to Jesus to get a better life. They just remained as they
had been before.
Every worthwhile thing costs something.
God's Son, Jesus Christ, died on a cross nearly two thousand years ago. He
suffered and died there to give a better life -- a whole new and improved
life -- to everyone who would pay attention to God's call. (The Bible says
that God calls us all -- everyone on this planet -- to stop trying to live
the old life we have, and to get a new life in Jesus Christ.) Jesus died to
open the way, to remove every obstacle, to make it all possible for every
human being to have a new life.
Jesus died, but He did not remain dead. He who has in Himself the very
power of life, and who holds all things together by His own Word, cannot be
held captive in death against His will. On the third day after Jesus died
on the cross, Jesus walked out of the grave, alive forever. Jesus is alive
today. Not just spiritually, and not just in the hearts and thoughts of
those who love Him, but really, fully, and physically alive. And He's
seated, the Bible says, at God the Father's own right hand.
Think about what that means for you. The same Jesus that gave so many
people new beginnings back in the first century can also give a new and
better life to anyone who asks Him for one. He will give you a new life if
you will ask Him for one.
How about you? Have you figured out yet that all the "better things" you
can gather up in this world will never make your life any better? (Did you
know, for example, that many people who are wealthy and famous still commit
suicide? They get all the "better" stuff, but they never find the better
life we all need and want, down deep inside.)
God is calling everyone to lay aside the old life, and to turn to Jesus
Christ for a new one, a better one.
The new life we can have in Jesus Christ is an eternal one. It begins the
day that we first believe, and it never ends -- never. Even though our
physical bodies will continue age on this planet, and finally wear out and
die, our new life with Jesus Christ will never wear out or become old. And
the day is coming, at the end of this age, when Jesus will return as King
and Lord of all.
At that time, all who have died will be raised up from the dead. Those
without the new life of Jesus Christ will be judged and sentenced to eternal
darkness -- away from the light and life and joy of God's presence. But
those who have received God's gift of eternal life will have their old
bodies changed into heavenly bodies, made completely new. And those new
bodies will last forever.
Everyone needs a new life.
We need a new inner, spiritual life. We need the kind of life that comes
directly from God's own Holy Spirit, flowing out from Him every day and into
our innermost being. It's a life centered in God's peace, instead of hate
and war. It's a life centered in God's joy instead of anger and rebellion.
It's a life rooted in God's love instead of purely self-centered thinking,
attitudes, and actions. We need the life of God's Spirit in us. It's real
and everlasting life. Abundant life.
That experience only comes to those who accept the new life Jesus offers.
We all need that kind of life. Stop and think of how different this world
would be if everyone had the new life of Jesus Christ -- His life in us.
How do I get this new and better life?
Jesus will give a new and better life to everyone who trusts Him to do so.
It's free for the asking. Believe what God says about Jesus Christ. Trust
in Him for a whole new way of living, thinking, and doing -- a whole new and
better existence on planet earth, and beyond.
Jesus said this about those who come to Him for a better life, "I give them
eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my
hand." (John 10:28)
The Bible also says:
"If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is
what God has said about his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have
the testimony of God in their hearts. Those who do not believe God have made
him out to be a liar by not believing in the testimony he has given
concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not
have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who
believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have
eternal life." (1 John 5:9-13)
All who know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior have eternal life.
You can be sure today that you have the life that God offers us in His Son,
Jesus Christ. Turn to Jesus in prayer, and admit that you need a new life.
Talk to God about the things in your life that you know need to change.
Admit your need for His help, for His power, and for the better life He
wants you to have. Ask Jesus to rescue you from your old life. Ask Him for
the new and eternal life that He died and rose again to give you. Accept
the gift of life that is in Jesus Christ.
Read about the new life that Jesus gives us. The best source for that
information is the Holy Bible, beginning with the Gospel of John, in the New
Testament. Find an edition of the Bible that you can read and understand.
It will not really matter how old or new the style of language is, so long
as you pray and ask for God's help each time you read. God will help you to
read and to understand His message if you will look to Him each day.
You can read this message online at the website below. If you need more
help, you can visit the web pages listed.
Don't ignore the greatest gift, the greatest offer you'll ever receive in
this world. Turn to God and receive His gift of a new and better life.
Jim
To Read This Message Online:
For More Help --
Accepting God's gift in Jesus Christ:
http://www.goodwordusa.org/word/peace4.htm
See how your life can really change:
http://www.goodwordusa.org/power/change1.htm
---------------------------------------------------
© 2005 by Jim Sutton
.
|
