Leaps and love

Every single day is precious, and I often take them for granted. I complain about small petty things when I should be thankful for the opportunities I have been given and the ability to express my beliefs freely. But do I? Do I really and truly shine Christ everywhere I go, no matter what people say about me or to me? The honest to goodness truth is, no. I don't.

I am mean, say things I shouldn't, do things I shouldn't...and yet God still loves me and forgives me. Why?

Well, He said that because of His blood sacrifice, we were purified and forgiven for all we will ever do if we accept His gift.
One of my favorite examples of forgiveness is when Jesus was being crucified on the cross.

"When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves." -Luke 23:33-34

Even as He was dying a most painful death, He was still able to ask God to forgive them. How many of us would forgive something so awful done against us? I know it certainly takes God's strength for me to even forgive small things sometimes. Yet I take freely and willingly the forgiveness of my Father. It's just plain selfish. It's exactly like the story of the men who owed another money. The one man owed another a great deal of money, and he begged to not be sent to prison. The man forgave him all of the debt. That same forgiven man went out to a man who owed him a very small amount of money, and when the man told him he couldn't pay and begged him for more time, he sent him to prison...after he had been forgiven his huge amount of debt.

Should I not forgive everyone, now matter what has been done, because I have been forgiven? Yes.

God loved us so much that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins. His only Son. Now, I don't know about you...but if it were me and my child...I honestly can't say I would give their life to save people who hated me. I can't be that loving and forgiving; but Jesus was. He gave all He had to wash away our sinful lives. He endured pain beyond pain. He went through countless rejections and ridicules...He had people mock Him, spit on Him, down grade Him, call Him a liar and a fake. He had people use His name as a curse word and was forsaken by many. Yet He still loved every single one of them; died for every single one of them.


"Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.” And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not answer. Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted. At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over.

While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.” But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. But the governor said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Crucify Him!” And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Crucify Him!”

When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.” And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.

And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.

And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

At that time two robbers *were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.

Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, “This man is calling for Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. But the rest of them said, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

He went through everything that day for us. For me and my sins. And because of my sin, He was crucified. *I* crucified Him, yet He still loves me, listens to me, forgives me and guides me. He listens whenever I need Him and gives me the peace I need when times are hard.

The bile is very clear on salvation. It is through Christ alone, and anyone who does not come to Him will be cast into the lake of fire (hell). It is not a made up place by some crazies. It is a real place. It is hot hot hot...and you won't just burn to death quickly like people do here on earth...you will keep burning and burning for eternity. You think 110 degrees in the Texas weather is hot? Hell will be like nothing anyone has ever felt. It is a place for Satan and all of his demons, all of those who curse the name of God and turn their back on His gift.

People think that because God is a God of love they will be let free and able to enter heavens gates, but this is where they are terribly wrong. God is a God of love, but He is also a God of judgement and righteousness.
If a man went and killed someone or stole from somebody, breaking the law, and he went to the judge and said "I know I've done wrong, but...I'm sorry for doing it." Would a good and righteous judge let him go free? No. He would send him to jail as punishment for breaking the law. Just as Jesus will do to those who have broken His law. He loves us all and wishes that all would accept His love sacrifice, but those who don't take that gift will be punished fiercely.

"This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and
separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." -Matthew 13:49-50

Hell is not a place you want to be. This life here on earth is not all there is despite how often people try to convince themselves of that. People think they were made by accident and therefore are simply here to have fun and enjoy life. Yes, we can have fun, yes we can enjoy life...but if that's all you're living for then I must say it is quite an empty life. We were put here in the first place to glorify God, not ourselves. Since sin entered into the world, our job is now to spread the gospel, to save the lives of those who would otherwise have perished in hell.

God is real. God is the One who created all things. God is the One you will have to answer to one day. Just because people think there is no God doesn't mean He is any less there. They cover their eyes to the fact that He is real, because they don't want to give anything in their life up, when in reality they're losing their own lives by doing that. God didn't make this the only way to heaven to ruin anyone's fun. He did it because He wanted us to live forever with Him. He did it so we would live, and live for eternity! The fact that He IS the only way into heaven should be enough to cause us to praise Him! We have no list of choices, there is only one way and it's Jesus Christ.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” -John 3:16-21

It is not an empty belief, nor one to use as a safety net thinking "I'll become a Christian in case there really is a hell." It is having faith in the Creator of everything. Believing that Jesus IS the Son of God, and putting all of your trust in Him, and Him alone.

You will never find worth in life until you have Jesus. You will never know the true meaning of love, forgiveness and peace until He is in your heart. Today is the day. Take a leap of faith. God gave you His life because He loved you SO much that He cared less for Himself. He loved YOU enough to give up everything. That gift is there for anyone to take...