|
My God Story
by James Barringer I have been a part of a church for as long as I can remember. From an early age it was explained to me who God was, who Jesus was, and what they wanted from me and I will tell you these things in a minute. For now this is just my story. I was eight when I decided that I wanted to accept God's free gift of salvation. Shortly after that, though, my family moved to Indiana, and I didn't fit in well at the church we went to there or the next one, or the next one. By the time I graduated from high school, I began to feel like perhaps this whole God thing wasn't for me after all. In college I struggled with depression and began to wonder whether I was worth anything to anybody. I felt like I didn't mean very much to my friends, like I wasn't making much of a difference in the world, and like most people wouldn't really mind if I wasn't even around. Most people seem to face these questions sooner or later. Here is what I learned during those long months. Value is not self-existent. A diamond does not have inherent value simply because it is a shiny rock. People assign it value because they want it and are willing to give up a lot for it. Similarly, humans do not have inherent value simply because they are human! We require something to assign us value, or else we have none. Fortunately, that something is God He assigns us value! You see, God made the world. That means He gets to be in charge of it. He also made humans, and He considers us His most valuable creation. Because He made us, that means He gets to be in charge of us. His plan for us, when He put us here, was for us to obey Him and have a good relationship with Him. But there is a problem. Humans have a very hard time obeying anything. I bet you disobeyed the speed limit on the way to wherever you are reading this. All humans who have ever lived have disobeyed God, and this separates us from Him. Imagine a spouse cheating on you and the harm that would do to your relationship. That is basically what we have done to God. You may have never known He existed, or that He wanted you to obey Him, but you have still disobeyed Him. If you doubt me, do a Google search for the Ten Commandments and see how many of those you have disobeyed. I bet it is at least half. And it gets worse. God says that the punishment for disobeying even once is death, both in this life and the next! Remember, though God assigns us value. He loves and cherishes us, and He was not content to let us all live in separation from Him. He fixed that problem by sending His Son Jesus part of Himself to earth to be put to death as punishment for our disobedience. He has already paid the death you deserve! Because of that, God offers you an opportunity. If you repent (turn away from your disobedience) and believe in what God has done for you, you can exchange your death for life abundant life here and eternal life to come! God desires to have a good relationship with you, but your own disobedience has put a rift between the two of you. Please, right now, make a move to bring yourself back to Him. Repent and believe. Ask me questions if you need to; I will gladly answer them. But God is waiting for you. Make the move today. Jim Barringer is a 38-year-old writer, musician, and teacher. More of his work can be found at facebook.com/jmbarringer. This work may be reprinted for any purpose so long as this bio and statement of copyright is included. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |