Some of us had a scare today. Some of us had a wake up call. Some of us just had another day. Whatever kind of day you had today, people of God, we’re still here! Now, of course, I’m not writing this because I believed all the craziness about Jesus returning today. However, I could not waste an opportunity to share the good news!
There was a lot of joking going on this week and probably before then. I have to admit that I had my share of jokes too. However, my jokes had everything to do with the fact that the crazies over at wecanknow.com actually thought they could predict the second coming of Jesus. Hogwash! If God said–in the book that HE wrote–that none of us can know the day or the hour, then why would you even attempt to figure it out? Do we have a secret desire to make God a liar?? Do not be deceived into believing their are secret codes in the Bible that unveil secret truths about the end times. God will not be mocked.
If you were someone who was afraid of what might have happened today, then I’d like to offer you a sweet deal that you should not refuse. So like, God is crazy in love with you. I know you don’t believe it–I sometimes have issues believing myself–but it’s true! Let me tell you how it goes. God, you know Him: the totally awesome One who created EVERYTHING, knows EVERYTHING, and hears EVERYONE. He had this great idea to create some beings that were like Him. I guess you could think of it as having pets, but on a deeper level lol. Hey…everyone wants someone/something to love! Anyway, so He created Adam & Eve. However, God made them with free will and they chose to do something that God told them not to. So God punished them, and because of that punishment the devil–God’s arch-nemesis–brought sin into the world and is still trying to overtake us every single day! Not only did God punish Adam & Eve, but He set up a punishment for the devil too that hasn’t happened yet. However, when the devil finally “gets his,” there will be a lot of people who will join him in that punishment if they did not chose to acknowledge God’s awesomeness. So, God wanted to save His people–the ones who believe in and follow Him–from this punishment, so He had quite a few of His favorite dudes step up and try. However, men who are lousy, faulty, and a straight up hot mess compared to God kept ruining the plan. So, He slapped down the card He had been waiting to play for the last round. God sent His Son, Jesus, to the earth (as a human, but still the Son of God) to tell of His love and His plan to save all of us from this final punishment. How was He going to do that? Well, that’s where it gets interesting! See, back in the day when God was still using men to carry out this plan, there were a looooot of very strict rules people had to follow. The penalty for a lot of those rules was death! God knew that none of us would come close to making it to Heaven if we all died when we did something wrong. So, the new plan was to have His Son live here among us and NEVER sin so that He would be eligible to become a sacrifice for everyone. See, back in the days with all the rules, YOU didn’t necessarily have to die when you broke the rules, but something did. The “less serious” sins required you to kill a lamb (or some animal) and bring it to God as the sacrifice for what you did. How? You killed the lamb, put it on something called an altar, and set it on fire. If God thought you were sorry, then the sacrifice would burn up. 
Anyway, so back to Jesus. He made Himself eligible to become the sacrifice for all people EVER (even us who weren’t around then!) by living according to what God said exactly and never doing anything wrong. He allowed the people to accuse Him of all kind of crazy stuff, and that is how He ended up on the cross. Jesus was falsely accused and executed all because God wanted a chance for YOU to spend the rest of eternity with Him! So, while Jesus was on the cross dying, God allowed Him to take the blame for ALL sin past, present, and future (that’s ours!). What does that mean? Those rules from back in the day are still in place, and the penalty for sin is still death. That means you still deserve to die for the wrong stuff you do. However, Jesus decided to take care of that FOR you when He died! Isn’t that cool?!
The story isn’t quite done yet. God has points He still needs to make with us because we’re bone headed and do not get it. That’s why we’re still here! After Jesus died, he stayed dead for three days, and then He came back to life–true story!! He had to go talk to some folks and prove a few points. He had a few buddies that were still around, and He gave them some instructions because He wanted to make sure that EVERYONE in the world would have an opportunity to meet Him and get in on this plan. After that, He went back to Heaven with His Father–God. However, He promised to come back one day to get everyone who accepts the plan and take them home to meet His Father. Sweet! So, that’s where we are now: waiting for Jesus to come back to take us to His home to meet and live with God.
Now, I know that everyone thinks that THEIR sin is too great and what THEY did is too big and ugly for God to forgive, but they’re wrong! You know how it is when there’s serial killer on the news who gets caught, and they interview his mom to get her opinion and she says that she loves him and thinks he’s innocent? We all think she’s crazy and blind, but that is still her son and she still loves and believes that he’s a good boy. God’s love is like that, but 1000 times better! We all think that God is crazy to love us the way we are, but we are His children and there is nothing we can do that can make Him stop loving us. It doesn’t matter if you’ve stolen something, killed somebody, attempted to kill somebody, raped somebody, beat somebody, lied to somebody, hated somebody, molested somebody (or yourself!), thought ill of somebody, cussed out somebody, cheated on somebody, or what! GOD DOES NOT CARE WHAT YOU DID! He will forgive you for everything you did just as quick as He forgives the person whom we all deem as “good.” The fact is that no one is good. We are ALL rotten to the core with sin. So, what do we do? Accept God’s escape plan! Spend the rest of time with Him, and don’t stick around to see what the final punishment is. Don’t think twice about it! Forget about what you’ve done and think about How much God loves you and wants you with Him. The LEAST you can do to show Him how grateful you are is to accept the plan and live life the way He intended it to be lived–in constant gratitude to Him. Why? NO ONE can top what Jesus did, and He’s already proven that God is one bad (meaning awesomely good) dude and does not play around.
Maybe you don’t know how to accept God’s plan. Maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “ok….this is all great, and I’d love to get on the roster…but how??” I’m really glad you asked! It’s very simple. You just have to have a little conversation with God and it will all be taken care of. I know you’re gonna feel funny and feel like you’re talking to yourself. That’s something you’ll get over really soon. However, if you believe that God loves you and you want to accept His plan, then believe me when I say that He is all ears right now!! Just tell Him that you know that He loves you, you know that He desires to be friends with you, you know that you haven’t lived like you should, ask Him to forgive you (and if you REALLY mean it, He will!), and tell Him that you accept Jesus as your savior. That’s all! If you meant everything you said, and truly desire to live life God’s way, then congrats! You have just added your name to the escape plan roster, and you will not be part of the final punishment! WOO HOO!!!
Maybe you’re not good with words like I am and you don’t know what to say. Here’s something you can say to God:
Dear God,
I know that you love me, and I am so glad that you do! I also know that you went through great lengths to show that love to me, and I am so grateful for that. However, Lord, I haven’t exactly lived my life in a way that shows my gratefulness. I have done a lot of things wrong, and I know that I have broken your heart. Please forgive me! I don’t want to continue living in sin. I want to do things Your way. I believe that Jesus died and rose from the grave so I can have this opportunity to accept your plan. Thank You, Jesus, for taking my place! I accept You as my savior. I want You to be the Lord of my life so I can make You proud. I love You, Lord, and I believe that I am now saved.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
If you prayed that prayer, or something like it, I would love to know because you are now my brother or sister! We have the same Father, and are in the same family now. PLEASE write me and tell me if you did that!! Just click on the contact link and shoot me a message. I would love to personally congratulate you and stay in contact. Take care! God bless! Don’t forget that He is STILL coming back!!
Jess the Way It Is 