Why Christianity Part III

Why Christianity Part III – So here I am in the beginning of a journey that has truly changed my life. All my life I had been around God, going to church here and there, being a Sunday Christian. My choices always seemed to lead to pain, and my heart was only focused on me. I knew something had to change and I knew I had to give this God thing a chance.

Instead of looking for a new religion, or a new doctrine that catered to what I was looking for, I decided to start this new adventure at the source by reading the bible. One thing that has always bothered me is how people only base their faith on what they hear from family, friends, or from the pulpit, never looking into the bible to make sure what they were learning was correct. I was guilty of this all my life. I wanted to start from the source and work my way out.

I asked my pastor for any suggestions on a good study bible and he pointed me to the “Life in the Spirit Study Bible”, edited by Donald C Stamps and Wesly Adams, and published by Zondervan. I started with the Book of Mathew since the New Testament relates most to our day today. I would hear sermons from Jerry Brooks Pastor of Oak Creek Assembly of God, as he would always encourage people to do their own personal study of the bible and how God tends to speak to us through his scripture.

As I started to begin my studies I could see this happening in my life. In the beginning my readings seemed boring to me, then they turned into interesting stories, and morphed into poetic words starting to grab a hold of my heart in a way I still can’t put into words today. The story of Jesus started to cause a battle with in my heart, a battle that was starting to consume me on a daily basis. The first battle was over true repentance.

Repentance – The act of a person seeking forgiveness from God because of a sin committed against the word of God. Act’s 17:30 lays this out nicely, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” Many religions teach that all you have to do is confess you sins to someone, do some prayers and bam a person is forgiven. That is not the case, true repentance is followed by a sincere desire to never repeat the sin you are seeking forgiveness for.

That’s what I was battling, some of the actions I knew I need forgiveness for were actions I was having a hard time giving up. But I had a desire in my heart not to repeat this actions again so at night I got on my hands and knees and confessed everything I had done against him and asked him to forgive me and help me to never repeat the actions that were causing me to sin against him. I tell you after I was done I felt like I had 1,000 lbs lifted off of my shoulders.

The problem I was facing as I continued with my readings is I was really starting to feel this new love for God in a way I never had before. It was a feeling that I don’t think anyone can really put in words or appreciate until you feel it for yourself. I would read how God was a loving God whose only desire was to have an Earth full of his children who he could love, and in term love him back. I would read that satan had ruined that for mankind and God had a plan to get us back to where he had us. I would read how God wasn’t this all terrible being who desired to cause destruction upon the world but was in fact quiet the opposite. I began to see God through a different set of eye’s and understand why this world was turning into what it is. I started to understand why there is so much pain, suffering, hatred, poverty, and plain out chaos in this world today. The bible addressed this all.

I knew I had come to a cross roads in my new adventure. At this point I was still one foot in church and one foot in the world. I knew that if I was going to continue reading on that I had a choice to make, a choice…the biggest choice I would ever make.

Some people call this choice the prayer of salvation, or the choice to dedicate your life to God. It’s a serious choice because when you choose this route you are telling God that from this point onward you are going to live life according to his word, your life will be dedicated to him. It almost like asking your girlfriend to marry you. There’s a difference between dating and marriage and a huge difference in the comment level of the two.

I struggled with this because there were some things about this world that I was still attracted to and I didn’t think I could live a life in which I wouldn’t make mistakes, and I….well I didn’t want to fail God. Then I read the book of Romans, my favorite book of the bible, a book that helped me to understand where I stood with God a lot better. Why you may ask, because Paul goes on to show how every person in this world both past, present, and future has and will fall short of the Glory of God. He also went on to show that it is not through our actions that allows us our relationship with God, because in reality we all sin against God everyday most times without even knowing it.

Jesus died for our sins which covered all mankind, and it is through Christ that all mankind is redeemed. What does that mean? First read Romans 5:1-10. That means that we will always mess up in life because were not perfect, and that’s what repentance is for. Because Christ died for you, God now openly forgives those that earnestly seek him in true repentance. Go on to read Romans 6:1-23 compliments this discussion perfectly..

After I realized that my relationship with God was far less stressful then I was torturing myself with I new I had to do the next step. On December 3, 2008 at 7:00pm at church I privately prayed out to God first asking him to forgive me for all the things I have done against him, second I told him I believed Jesus lived and died for our sins, and thirdly I told him that my life was his and from this day onward I would do my best to live according to his scriptures and asked him for the strength to represent him in the best manner I could.

That was a year ago and this last year of my life has been the best ever. I haven’t touched an alcoholic drink since then, God helped me quit smoking, my marriage is the best it ever has been, I was blessed with a baby boy, I was promoted to wonderful job, we bought a house, I watch my mother’s life change dramatically as she not only starting coming to church but three months ago she gave her life to God, I watched my little sister follow in her foot steps, and my other sister go on to get baptized as well.

For all those reading this that are not sure about my testimony, by a good study bible and give God a try. It will be a life altering experience. God bless.