Do We believe?
John 3:16-3:18
Romans 3:10-12 says:
“There is none righteous, no, not even one;
There is no one who understands;
There is no one who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have all together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not even one.”
Every last one of us lacks the ability to do the things that God is calling us to do and be the person that God is calling us to be. The only one who ever lived up to God’s standard and fully committed His life to God was Jesus Christ.
As we come to know God personally through a relationship with Jesus Christ, God’s grace will effectively work in us to:
- Conform our desires into the desires of Christ
- Transform our minds into the mind of Christ
- And make us committed followers of Jesus Christ
God is not interested in our religiosity. He is not making a list and checking it twice. He has no interest in reading our essays of why we think we are good people.
When we stand before God on the Day of Judgment, He is not going to ask us if we ever came to a point in our life where we intellectually asserted ourselves and thereby came to the conclusion that Jesus was in fact His Son.
Ultimately, God has only one thing that He has called to be in place when we stand before Him in the Judgment, and that is whether we knew Him; whether we have a relationship with His Son.
Maybe you are saying to yourself, “What exactly does it mean to have a relationship with God?”
One of the things that have been pounded into our heads in our schooling is that one of the most important factors within a relationship is communication. If you are not communicating, there is no relationship. And furthermore, communication is a two way street. Communication is not just talking, it’s also listening.
God has made a way through faith in Jesus Christ for us to communicate with Him. We can stand boldly before God in the righteousness that Jesus Christ has provided for those that believe and have confidence that He hears us.
Also we have the Word of God in which God speaks directly to us. If there is no communication happening, there is no relationship taking place.
I want to close by challenging us to find a quiet place to go and stand in a place of self-examination and ask two questions:
1. Do I have a relationship with God?
2. If believing in God through Jesus Christ is to fully commit ourselves to, then ‘Do I believe?’”
Many times I come to the conclusion that my relationship with God is not nearly as good as I would like to think that it is, and that I am not nearly committed as I know that I am being called to be. Even on my best day, I am a far greater sinner than I understand, but God’s grace is infinitely greater than I could possible imagine.
God has given us the Greatest Love, the Greatest Gift, the Greatest Faith, and the Greatest Life. All we have to do is accept it. The Love is free. The Gift is free. The Faith is free. The Life is free. Won’t you stop and have fellowship with Him?
Amen!