Ephesians 2:1-9 TPT
Now I don’t know how you came to read this blog as we enter one of the most amazing times in our church, which is WAVE CONFERENCE 2019, but somehow your path in life led you here. For this moment! And I may not know your background, maybe you grew up in church, maybe you have no church background whatsoever, maybe you’re an agnostic and you want to keep your options open, or maybe you are convinced that there is no God and someone shared this blog on Facebook and out of curiosity you began to read it; but I believe that your journey in life led you to these written words for a reason. So just as much as you are open to science, or SPACE FORCE, be open to God. It could very well change everything just like it did for this guy Paul (who wrote the words above).
Now if you didn’t know, Christianity teaches that we have a problem, it’s this issue of the human condition that plagues us all and it’s what the Bible calls sin. Sin is a churchy word for missing the mark. It actually comes from a Greek word used in archery. When they would aim for a target and miss they would say, “I sinned.” Sinning is separating our desires with the desire of God. And I think we could all agree that somewhere in our lives we have missed the mark. We have done something that we regret. Now even if you believe in this Biblical diagnosis of the human condition… why then look to Christianity as the only solution? Why does the solution have to be Jesus? Why can’t it be some other religion? Why can’t it be some other faith, or just my faith in God? Or my sheer will? Why Jesus?
The answer is that there is this profound and fundamental difference between the way that other religions tell us to seek salvation and the way described in the gospel of Jesus. All other major faiths have founders & teachers that show the way to salvation… But only Jesus claimed to actually be the WAY of salvation. The Founders of every other major religion essentially came as teachers, but they did not come as saviors. They came to say, “Do this, and you will find the divine.” But Jesus came as a savior (the ultimate teacher) saying “I am the divine that has come to you…to do what you couldn’t do for yourself.” Which is overcoming this human condition of sin. The Christian message is that we are saved not by our own record or works… but by the record and the sacrifice of Jesus. This is the difference between religion that LIMITS the understanding of God and God’s grace, which is LIMITLESS. Does it mean we can abuse God’s grace? Absolutely not, but it is comforting as well as challenging, to know that I am in need of the same LIMITLESS grace as every other person on earth.
Just a thought to meditate on as we lead into Wave Conference 2019. We are called to live with LIMITLESS Faith, LIMITLESS love, & LIMITLESS expectation.