IS CHRISTIANITY A BIG DEAL—OR NOT?

     My question for today's video post is, “Is Christianity A Big Deal—Or Not?”
     In the past, I was told by a family member, alluding to their opinion that I had a somewhat unstable nature, “You get excited”. I inferred that the family member thought that I get too excited about my Christian faith. After all, I was the only family member who openly discussed my faith, and my desire for family members to experience that same joy that I felt. Of course, I defensively retorted that I had just completed a 29-year tenure in the mental health field, during which I served as the program coordinator of an employment program.
     That family member was telling me, perhaps not directly, that they didn’t feel the Christianity in my life was a ‘big deal’. That it made me become, in a way, eccentric, and not something that person wanted to follow, at least for now.
     I think there’s a dense fog surrounding Christianity that makes it difficult to navigate. Christians from different backgrounds and denominations have so many ways of thinking about their faith that differ from others that unbelievers may sense a lack of clarity in us. Let’s face it, many of us, including myself, have had a lack of clarity for a long time about our faith. We struggle with finding the best way to live it out, and we certainly struggle, at least I do, with the best way to share it.
     I love what Paul said in Ephesians 1:18-19. I think it, as well as many other scripture verses, can help us gain clarity to navigate through the dense fog we feel. Here it is:

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.”

     I think these verses hold step-by-step answers to our dilemma, and I pray for the Holy Spirit to help them to become more and more real to us. From the words of Paul, here’s what I think we need to gain clarity in our faith:

1. For our hearts to be “enlightened”.
2. To “know the hope of his calling.”
3. To understand the “wealth of his glorious inheritance” for us.
4. To grasp “the immeasurable greatness of his power” toward us.
5. To fathom “the mighty working of his strength” in us.

     I think these are some first steps we need to take to bolster our own faith. Then, and only then, can we show others that Christianity is in fact—A BIG DEAL.

RICHLY PROVIDED ENTRY INTO THE ETERNAL KINGDOM

 

     The title of my post today is “Richly Provided Entry Into the Eternal Kingdom”.
     About 40 years ago, I was fascinated and longed to listen to and read the Bible. I heard that the Bible publishers hired professional readers to produce audio versions of every book of the Bible. So, after Mom died in 1988, I received a small inheritance. I was still in college, but I decided to invest about $80, a very high cost at the time, into a 48-cassette tape audio version of the NIV Bible. I loved my audio Bible.
     But one of the drawbacks of cassette tapes, as many of you Baby Boomers like me have found out, is that cassette tapes are prone to wearing out fairly quickly. And, they were very, very, very inefficient at finding specific passages. I did much winding and rewinding to find particular passages, and that led to them wearing out. I still have all those old cassettes, if you can believe it, in four nice binders on my office bookshelf, collecting dust. They may be worth some money someday, if someone can get them to work correctly.
     So I think one of the greatest advantages of modern technology in today’s world, in my opinion, is the ability to listen to the Bible on the web, in addition to reading the Bible. I love that I can click and point to specific passages of the audio Bible to listen to. No more clunky cassette tapes that require winding and rewinding.
     Oftentimes, there’s a particular passage that makes my ears perk up. That happened to me the other night when listening to 2 Peter 1:11. It goes like this:

“For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.”

     So, entry into heaven won't be just a little bit provided, not just marginally provided, but RICHLY PROVIDED! Sometimes I feel like I’m going to enter heaven by the skin of my teeth because of all my failures and flaws. But Peter confirms in verse 10 that if I “make every effort to confirm” my “calling and election”, in other words, follow Jesus as closely and intimately as I can, that I “will never stumble”—and I will have not just a little bit provided, but a “richly provided entry into the eternal kingdom”.

WHY BECOME A SOULWINNER?

 

Dear Readers:

I’m so glad you stopped by. We’re going to be exploring the topic Why Become a Soulwinner? I want to discuss reasons in the coming weeks.

Reason 1: Jesus was a soulwinner.

• This is the most obvious answer there is. Jesus’ whole purpose was to win souls to an eternal kingdom.
• Jesus said, “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” John 10:10.
• Jesus made it clear, however, that the abundance he was talking about was not one of riches and favor. Jesus quelled this notion many times. After all, he said, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Luke 9:58. Jesus also said that when we follow him we will experience persecution and hatred (Matthew 10:22).
• The abundance Jesus was talking about was clearly abundance of the heart -- a heart filled with love, gratitude, purpose, and hope of eternal life. Paul wrote to Titus, “He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:6.
• Jesus pleaded with poor people and rich people, people from all ethnic and religious backgrounds, and people with various political ideologies. Jesus pleaded, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. Notice the word all.
• Jesus made it clear that a main purpose of God sending him to earth was “to seek and save the lost.” Luke 19:10.

There you have it. Jesus was and is the ultimate soulwinner. If this were the only reason why we should become a soulwinner, we should take it and run with it.

See you next time,

Arlen