"NEED TO GET CLEAN ON THE 'INSIDE' TOO?"
Supplying the finest in fun and healthful bath products and soaps is my hobby, and I work at it as much for my own satisfaction as for the value I am able to offer you. It’s a good feeling when folks report how they have been helped by the use of them.
More important to me though, than the help I can be through my work, is the care I have for the lives of those I meet..
Some years ago I was confronted by the life force of a man who had been only months before diagnosed with a tumor in his brain. On New Year’s Eve 1975, he underwent an operation to remove the mass. The operation proved ineffective. The following October, after a few very short months, he died. His name was Greg. He was the oldest of my two brothers.
I was twenty at the time, and though not trying to sound overly dramatic, I believe God used Greg’s death and especially his testimony throughout his suffering to turn my life around.
Greg became a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ, early in his youth but had let his “religious“ inclinations slip through his teens.
Eager to get out of the house Greg signed on as a Marine near the end of the Vietnam conflict. The sobering influence of the Marine Corp. led him to rededicate his life to faith in Christ. In a letter to me sent from California in 1971, he wrote, “...I still wanted to play around, but the Marine Corp. got that out of me fast!:”
Finishing his tour in 1971, Greg came back home to Miami. His eager growth as a Christian was impressive and garnered the admiration of the young woman that would soon become his bride. They were married a scant four years before the headaches began.
I visited Greg in the hospital many times during his stay and was struck by my brother’s apparent contentment with what he called God’s plan for his life. His response to his approaching death deeply moved me.
Our parents had raised us in a conservative home and regularly took us to church. I placed faith in Christ early on, but by my mid-teen years I had mingled it with some unwholesome friendships and compromises. Greg’s “close-to-home” example of how quickly things can change and his testimony of devotion to the Lord challenged me to rededicate my life as a Christian. There is nothing I hold more dear today than my faith in Jesus Christ and His gracious gift to me. What about you?
Here is a short diagnostic in just two questions that thousands have found helpful...
Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you know for certain, that if you were to die today you would go to heaven? and…
Supposing you were to die today, and God was to ask you, “Why should I let you into my heaven,” What would you say?
There are a few of us that might give an emboldened yes to the first question, but stumble to find a suitable reply to the second.
The reason most of us stumble at being certain is that we think that God is viewing our performance and will weigh out our good against our bad. However, the Bible is clear on this, that eternal life is a gift that is not deserved and cannot be earned. The Bible says, “For it is by grace (the favor of God to you) that we are saved through faith, and not of works (performance) lest any of us should boast, for we are God’s workmanship...” (Ephesians 2:8-10a)
Jesus said, “Come to me…I have come to give you rest.” Hardly the feeling most religion gives us. The Bible says that Jesus did the “works” (performance) that God is pleased with when He bled and died for us. “For we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7) Imagine that, God looks on Jesus’ life and death and accepts Him for us, and proves His pleasure with the arrangement by raising Christ from the dead and “...seating us with Him in heaven” (Ephesians 2:5-6). There, we have a secured, “for certain” place, if we are willing to believe it!
In Romans 10:9-10 it reads, “ If you will confess (agree with) with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.” Does this make sense to you?
Questions ?
Q. “Isn’t Heaven what you make of your life here and now?”
A. It ‘s true that we can make ‘a’ heaven or hell out of our lives, or feel as if our life is one or the other. However, the Bible, if it is to be believed at all, is clear that Heaven is a place to look forward to. Jesus said, “ I’m going to make a place for you ...I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also.”
Q. “Does it really matter what religion as long as you are sincere?”
A. Quoting what the Bible says is the best answer. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)
Peter, Jesus’ spokesman said, “There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
And Paul, the author of most of the theology of Christians said, “There is one God and one mediator between God and man; the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5)
Q. “Many people of other religions say they have the same experiences as Christians, doesn’t that mean they are just as good?”
A. Feelings and experiences are important to life but aren’t good for confirming truth. We are often asking the famous question, “What is truth”, but find it difficult to except evidence for it. It is also hard to let ourselves become responsible to God for fear of having to behave differently . The reason the Bible and it’s message is the most critically reviewed is because the evidence continues to frustrate it’s critics.
Q. “If I want to believe how do I tell Him?”
A. Many have been helped by a prayer like this one: “O God, I know I am unable to be what I need to be to be accepted. Thank you for Jesus, that He died for me and for accepting me in Him. I want you to take over my life and forgive me. Thank you for your gift and promise, amen.”
For more information you may email to:
The Greenes
judsson1@aol.com
John 3:16
More important to me though, than the help I can be through my work, is the care I have for the lives of those I meet..
Some years ago I was confronted by the life force of a man who had been only months before diagnosed with a tumor in his brain. On New Year’s Eve 1975, he underwent an operation to remove the mass. The operation proved ineffective. The following October, after a few very short months, he died. His name was Greg. He was the oldest of my two brothers.
I was twenty at the time, and though not trying to sound overly dramatic, I believe God used Greg’s death and especially his testimony throughout his suffering to turn my life around.
Greg became a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ, early in his youth but had let his “religious“ inclinations slip through his teens.
Eager to get out of the house Greg signed on as a Marine near the end of the Vietnam conflict. The sobering influence of the Marine Corp. led him to rededicate his life to faith in Christ. In a letter to me sent from California in 1971, he wrote, “...I still wanted to play around, but the Marine Corp. got that out of me fast!:”
Finishing his tour in 1971, Greg came back home to Miami. His eager growth as a Christian was impressive and garnered the admiration of the young woman that would soon become his bride. They were married a scant four years before the headaches began.
I visited Greg in the hospital many times during his stay and was struck by my brother’s apparent contentment with what he called God’s plan for his life. His response to his approaching death deeply moved me.
Our parents had raised us in a conservative home and regularly took us to church. I placed faith in Christ early on, but by my mid-teen years I had mingled it with some unwholesome friendships and compromises. Greg’s “close-to-home” example of how quickly things can change and his testimony of devotion to the Lord challenged me to rededicate my life as a Christian. There is nothing I hold more dear today than my faith in Jesus Christ and His gracious gift to me. What about you?
Here is a short diagnostic in just two questions that thousands have found helpful...
Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you know for certain, that if you were to die today you would go to heaven? and…
Supposing you were to die today, and God was to ask you, “Why should I let you into my heaven,” What would you say?
There are a few of us that might give an emboldened yes to the first question, but stumble to find a suitable reply to the second.
The reason most of us stumble at being certain is that we think that God is viewing our performance and will weigh out our good against our bad. However, the Bible is clear on this, that eternal life is a gift that is not deserved and cannot be earned. The Bible says, “For it is by grace (the favor of God to you) that we are saved through faith, and not of works (performance) lest any of us should boast, for we are God’s workmanship...” (Ephesians 2:8-10a)
Jesus said, “Come to me…I have come to give you rest.” Hardly the feeling most religion gives us. The Bible says that Jesus did the “works” (performance) that God is pleased with when He bled and died for us. “For we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7) Imagine that, God looks on Jesus’ life and death and accepts Him for us, and proves His pleasure with the arrangement by raising Christ from the dead and “...seating us with Him in heaven” (Ephesians 2:5-6). There, we have a secured, “for certain” place, if we are willing to believe it!
In Romans 10:9-10 it reads, “ If you will confess (agree with) with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.” Does this make sense to you?
Questions ?
Q. “Isn’t Heaven what you make of your life here and now?”
A. It ‘s true that we can make ‘a’ heaven or hell out of our lives, or feel as if our life is one or the other. However, the Bible, if it is to be believed at all, is clear that Heaven is a place to look forward to. Jesus said, “ I’m going to make a place for you ...I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also.”
Q. “Does it really matter what religion as long as you are sincere?”
A. Quoting what the Bible says is the best answer. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)
Peter, Jesus’ spokesman said, “There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
And Paul, the author of most of the theology of Christians said, “There is one God and one mediator between God and man; the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5)
Q. “Many people of other religions say they have the same experiences as Christians, doesn’t that mean they are just as good?”
A. Feelings and experiences are important to life but aren’t good for confirming truth. We are often asking the famous question, “What is truth”, but find it difficult to except evidence for it. It is also hard to let ourselves become responsible to God for fear of having to behave differently . The reason the Bible and it’s message is the most critically reviewed is because the evidence continues to frustrate it’s critics.
Q. “If I want to believe how do I tell Him?”
A. Many have been helped by a prayer like this one: “O God, I know I am unable to be what I need to be to be accepted. Thank you for Jesus, that He died for me and for accepting me in Him. I want you to take over my life and forgive me. Thank you for your gift and promise, amen.”
For more information you may email to:
The Greenes
judsson1@aol.com
John 3:16
