When you're ready to take your first step toward God...
This little article is for those, who for one reason or another, feel
ready to take their first step toward God, and its simple purpose is to
give you some "fellow traveler's advice" about this step and this journey...There
are no arguments here for the existence of God or for the basic reliability
of the Bible or for the uniqueness of this message--these can be found
at www.Christianthinktank.com.
This is rather for those who have somehow arrived at an overall sense that
there is a God who is worth approaching...
People come to this "I think I am ready" step for many, many different
reasons...
-
Some are hurting inside, from fear, anxiety, loneliness, alienation,
betrayal, and this suffering has somehow convinced them that life is 'deeper'
than first appears, and that the spiritual dimension is very, very real.
They have become convinced that God is somehow 'out there' and can therefore
be approached for help.
-
Some are facing difficult crises in their lives--illness, family
troubles, difficult choices, bereavement--and have somehow sensed their
deep need to ask for help, inner strength, and insight. This awareness
has somehow brought them to a conviction that the spiritual dimension of
life, although often only faintly recognized and more often generally downplayed,
is in fact deep and significant. And this awareness has led them to a belief
that God is also real, and somehow has resources and wisdom that might
be of immense value to them in their crisis.
-
Some are struggling with guilt or shame, over some act or pattern
of moral failure. They have a deep sense of psychological guilt, eating
them alive from the inside. This internal urgency has drove them to seek
out the spiritual side of life, and has awoken in them an attitude of honesty
over both the problem/act itself, and their need for personal acceptance
and forgiveness from God and from others.
-
Some face challenges of addiction to destructive patterns, habits,
lifestyles. They have discovered that their "innocent" habit has destructively
disturbed their minds, their families, their careers, and
their lives. But, they have also discovered that their attempts to break
this slavery have been failures, due to inadequate personal resources.
They simply do not have the personal strength, adequate focus/motivation,
or perseverance of will to overcome this. The habit has already damaged
their abilities to recover, to the point of despair. The depths of the
human soul and condition has led them to believe in a deeper reality, and
thus they are now open to the reality of God, and the hope of approaching
God for help.
-
Some have been pondering the 'tough' questions of life and history that
we explore on the Thinktank (www.Christianthinktank.com). They have reviewed
the arguments, looked at the data, heard both sides of the interpretation,
and have decided that the Christian understanding of the life of
Jesus, the reality of the spiritual, and the basic historical trustworthiness
of the message of the Bible is (at least slightly) better
supported by the evidence. They don't have all the answers to
all
the questions, but the answers they DO have are adequate enough for them
to feel justified in believing in the God who revealed himself in the historical
person of Jesus of Nazareth. Given this, they feel that they can take this
step in personal and intellectual integrity (not requiring the certitude
of basic mathematics, but only the practical peace of mind about decisions
in personal relationships), and in fact, anticipate getting to know the
God who "stooped to earth" to establish a warm and robust relationship
with us.
-
Some have seen and known those extraordinary people who are true followers
of Jesus Christ. They have been up close to lives that exude the qualities
that Jesus seems to grow in His more humble followers throughout the ages--selfless
love, gentleness, vibrancy, peace and stability in the midst of life's
challenges, enduring commitments to others, patience in dealing with people,
honest work habits, warmth and joy. They now want those qualities in THEIR
lives. That want what those others 'have'--and the others all point them
to Jesus, and to taking this first step...
-
Some were raised in other religious traditions, and have finally made
an independent study of the person of Jesus Christ. They have looked
at his life and words, and have come away with a sense of his uniqueness
in history. They have seen the blend of strong personal integrity and forgiveness
of others, the mix of compassion for the needy and rebuke for the self-righteous,
the combination of human humility and divine authority--all in this one
Person. They have come to believe that he was truly one of us, yet that
he also claimed to be uniquely the very presence of God in human form.
They
have sensed his 'Other-ness' and come seeking a relationship with the
One who embraced suffering and yet promised freedom of spirit to others--through
the very act of His suffering.
-
Some come with a sense of danger about what might happen to them
after death. Through circumstances, reading, or simply some inner warning
sense, they perceive that the nature of life after death may indeed have
elements of moral justice in it. They are honest enough about the details
and motivations of their past choices (and non-choices) to have some anxiety
about their particular future, and seek to respectfully approach God for
a 'pardon'--a hope for a clean slate in the moral universe.
-
And some have heard about Jesus all their lives (maybe even raised
in a Christian home or school), but only recently have decided to approach
him as an individual, and as a personal relationship--regardless
of environment or situation. They have sensed His reality all their lives,
but only now has the issue of starting a heart-to-heart relationship with
Him become urgent in their thinking.
Many of us, of course, come with more than one of the above, and
often these various elements have come in and out of our lives like the
strains in a tapestry, bringing us to this point.
...But so much of our mind-set is similar among us at this point:
-
We all (that is, those of us who think we are ready for this step) somehow
sense that God is "there", and even "close", and that He is open to our
approaching Him;
-
We all sense that God has enough resources to somehow "change things" in
our lives and in our futures, all toward good goals of wellness, renewal,
significance, freedom of spirit, peace of mind, growth, love, and joy;
-
We all sense that our lives are a mixture of good and bad choices, habits,
and attitudes, and that even though God is much more morally aware than
we humans are, this somehow doesn't stop God from letting us approach;
-
We all seem to understand that somehow Jesus' coming to earth, living among
us, and dying as a criminal is central and focal to our approach
to God--indeed, it seems that God insists that we approach Him through
Jesus. [But we are a little confused about why this is important, and the
details of it may escape us entirely];
-
We all are generally somewhat confused about what God 'requires of us'.
We have likely been somehow conditioned to believe that He would make excessive
demands on our lives, relative to behavior, associations, habits, religious
activities, and the like, but we are altogether unsure of our preconceptions
in this area.
-
We all have some level of confidence that the basic message about God's
view of Jesus' life and death in the Bible is a reliable enough guide to
follow, as we try to clearly understand what God would have us do.
So, what does this message in the Bible tell us about how God sees
this?
Probably the clearest expression comes from the lips of Jesus
himself:
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10.45)
And this was an allusion to something said by a prophet in the Bible centuries
earlier, who foretold of Jesus:
"All we, like sheep, have wandered away from our Good Shepherd;
we have each acted selfishly on the basis of 'convenient morals' of our
own choosing at times, and the Lord God has transferred to Him (the foretold
One) these moral failures and these destructive acts...He (the Foretold
One) deliberately accepted responsibility and the just consequences for
our moral crimes, both large and small, and He appealed to God on our behalf."
(Isaiah 53.6,12b expanded paraphrase)
Purely and simply, what this means for you at this point is that Jesus
became a 'substitute' for you, standing in your place before God for the
moral wrong you have done in your life (and bearing the spiritual consequences
of that for you), and then clearing the way to God for you. This removes
the obstacles to approaching God. The judicial issues were resolved by
Christ's self-sacrifice to God on the Cross. His moral integrity ensured
that it was acceptable to God, and his incredible love ensured that you
were included its scope. [Jesus' body did not stay in the grave, but was
transformed into a more advanced one, and He lives today in the spiritual
dimension called 'heaven', and interacts with us from there.]
One very practical (and for many of us, comforting) implication of this
is that our past is no longer an issue with Him...The issue now
is whether you will agree with Him about this act of love by His Son Jesus...
So, where do you go from here?
If our past is no longer an issue, then what is?
Nothing.
Literally nothing stands between you and Jesus Christ.
Access to the Father is through Him:
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me. (John 14.6)
And welcoming Him into your life as the answer for your past, and as a
kind mentor, intimate friend, and wise director concerning your future,
creates a permanent and intimate relationship with the God of the universe:
Yet to all who welcomed Him for who He was, to those who trusted
His credentials, character, and achievements, He gave the right to become
children of God (John 1.12)
The Father wants us to simply trust His Son...to depend on Him for our
ultimate well-being in the future, to trust in His work on the Cross
for
our past, to be open to His good-hearted and wise input in our present...to
respect His authority, to count on His forgiveness, and to relax in His
warm-hearted acceptance of us...
The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.
Whoever trusts in the Son enters into a relationship with God that lasts
forever and is characterized by wellness, growth, love, and loyalty, but
whoever rejects the Son will not experience this at all..." (John 3.35f)
And so, the "First step" is simply a heart-to-heart with Jesus...
The simple beauty of the awesome work of Jesus on the Cross
is that
your step toward God can be so "un-awesome"...a simple opening
your life up to Jesus in confidence of His goodness and His efforts on
your behalf...
A simple admission to Him (heart-to-heart) of welcome and confidence
is all it takes:
"Jesus, I don't understand all of the depths of this now, but it IS
clear to me that you love me, that you were my substitute on the Cross,
that you cleared the way to spiritual life for me, and that you are willing
to take an active, intimate, and gentle role in my life going forward.
In recognition of your proven love for me, and of your authority and power
evidenced in your words, in your life, and in your resurrection, I welcome you
into my life. I trust your abilities and your love for me to help me with
my future. Thank you for what you have done and for Who you are. And guide
me to realize what I can do now to begin seeing progress in the areas of
dysfunction, insensitivity, or difficulty in my life."
That's it. That's the first (and only) step to God...You can't skip that
one, for every exploration of this new relationship with Christ is based
on this simple act of trust and this simple recognition of His smiling
and warm love for you...Look at the paragraph above a couple of times,
and then simply read it to Him aloud...or say it in your own words to Him
in quietness...but go ahead and take that step, friend...[I'll wait for
you here...(smile)]
Did you hear the explosion or see the fireworks when you took that
step?!
Probably not.
[If you didn't take the step, go back to the previous topic... (smile).]
Some people do, though. Some have emotional sensations of guilt-release.
Some feel a sense of un-burdening. Some sense a loss of appetite for an
addiction. A few get the giggles. Some get a new sense of internal strength
for a challenge they are facing. Quite a number feel nothing, but sense
somehow that something has changed...They cannot put their finger on that
intuition, but they sense something is different.
But most 'feel' nothing, to the extent that many think "It didn't take hold",
like it was a vaccination or something! Some doubt that they were 'sincere
enough' and they repeat the paragraph out loud over and over (never realizing
that their sincerity was probably obvious to God from their repeated attempts!).
But this first step is not an emotional transaction--it is the
establishment
of a personal relationship with the living God. [We normally don't
want to just "feel better"--we want to actually "GET better"!]
And, as with many personal relationships, it takes time and interaction
and shared experiences to grow the emotional consequences of a relationship.
So don't let a "I didn't feel anything" lead you to make the illogical
jump to "therefore, nothing happened" or "therefore, God did not pay attention"
or "therefore, God did not accept me"...Believe me, the God who went to
the painful lengths of the Cross will not let your step toward Him be ineffective...
Hey, I did feel something, but it was negative!
That's pretty normal.
As soon as you take this step, your whole person gets involved--and
I do mean your "whole" person! Part of our human condition is that we have
conflicting tendencies within us. For example, when you make a tough moral
choice, part of you says 'good job', part of you says 'you idiot', part
of you says 'you could have done better', part of you says 'you should
have waited', etc.
It's no different with this choice...You can expect the "you finally
became insane", the "you just became a brainless religious fanatic", the
"this story simply cannot be true", and the "you need to think this over
a bit more carefully"...etc., etc., etc. Don't take the mixed responses
of the "peanut gallery" too seriously. If you came to this personal decision
with a sense that you were doing the right thing, leave it at that. The
reasons you arrived at the "I think I am ready" step (above) are still
just as valid as they were when you began this process....
So, now that I have taken that step, what's next?
I might suggest four things:
1. Relax in the freedom of knowing you are welcome with God
and can draw upon His resources and wisdom as His child;
2. Reflect upon the fact that the step you just took will have
deep and positive consequences for the rest of your life...
3. And obviously, read the "What's Next?"
article (www.Christianthinktank.com/whatnext.html).
4. Start looking for small changes in attitudes, situations,
insights, relationships, perspectives, values...they will come.
And, friend, I will see you There someday...because I myself took
this same step myself some 30 years ago...
Glenn Miller, August 1999.
From: The
Christian ThinkTank...[https://www.Christianthinktank.com]
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