Equal =

Seems like today there is a lot of talk about "equality." And yes, we are all equal. What do I mean by this? My sin, is not greater than yours, and yours in not greater than mine. Do you believe this?
It's a hard concept to grasp, and most of us don't take the time to really do the heart work to figure out what this even means to us.
But I'll tell you one thing my friend, the Lord has been asking me to dig deep within my thinking and pull out some junk that has taken root fairly deep. The thinking of judgments.
It's is so easy to look at someone and think, "Surely, I am not as bad as that person over there am I?" Why is it that when we point fingers at others, we think by doing this we diminish our own sin? I think many a believer or non-believer has been sucked into this false thinking.
We are not worse, nor are we better than anyone else.
There is only ONE who is perfect, and that is of course Jesus.
When I fall into the thinking that either I am worse, or better than another person in my sin, I either magnify my "righteousness" Or I diminish my sin.Or I magnify my sin and diminish Christ's finished work on the cross that extended me grace fully.  Either way, I'm wrong when I think this way. When I diminish my sin, I say essentially that I, am better than all the other "sinners" throughout history. I dare not make this claim. OR if I  magnify my righteousness, I say that God's grace is needed, but perhaps not needed in such great proportions as "that person" over there. I dare not think this.
Either way, I'm flawed.
Jesus tells me I'm steeped in sin, Psalm 51 depicts deeply how we are born sinners from our mother's womb. Our mother Eve sinned, and as long as we are born of her and Adam's "seed," we need a remedy for our sin. We do not think, act or live righteousness on our own. Any good that is in a man is because God has empowered that man in that moment to respond as HE would have him respond. God is the one who covers us with His grace and mercy and makes us righteous before the Father, not by anything we have done, so that no one can boast in his or her own abilities.
So yes my friend, we are all equal, apart from Christ, we all deserve death. But thanks be to God, that He sent Jesus to be a pardon for our sin.
It is hard to imagine what this life would be like without all the judgments of our thinking...the way life was before in the garden, before the sin happened. Before the mess began. But God in His infinite wisdom knew man and for-knew man, that man would chose his and her own way. So He made a way out for us, and the way out is Jesus. We need however to recognize our desperate need for His saving.
Until we see our sin for what it is, the normal tendencies and organic condition of man, we will never understand the destitute life we live.
Sin makes us destitute, and my sin, is not cleaner than your sin.
Your anger is no worse than my lie. Your stealing is no different than my covetous thoughts. Your lust is no different than my lust. We all have sin, and it's all equal.
God does not look down from heaven and point to you or I and say, this one is better, or this one is worse. No, all He sees is this, "saved by grace," Or not saved by grace. There is no middle. There is no lesser, or greater. It's either covered by His grace by the recognition of sin and confession of need for the Savior, or it's not there because of not recognizing sin and not confessing the need for the Savior. There is no middle ground.  And our sin without Him? It's all =.
It's all the same.
Shall I say it again? We are all equal in our need. We are all equal in our sin. We are all equal in how we have the opportunity to receive grace.
Grace. Chosen. Adopted as God's children.
If this is a foreign concept for you, then dig deeper into the Bible, into the concept of grace, sin and your need for the Savior.

"Father, forgive me for all the times I look at my sin as less than others, or the way I so quickly judge a person who's outward sin's seem darker than mine. We are all the same in the eyes of the Father. SINNERS IN NEED OF A SAVIOR.
Thank you Father for your saving grace and thank you for you love, patience and deep kindness.
Thank you for equally saving us all. "
Amen.

"For It is by grace you have been saved, through faith--this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8

"It does not therefore, depend on human effort OR desire, but on God's mercy." Romans 9:16

Being a Mom is anything but easy.

If I've said it once, I've said a thousand times, being a mom is hard work! And just in case you feel your the only mom in the world who has LITERALLY hit her head on the wall, know this: you are not alone. I'm with you. The frustrations, the sleepless nights, the fatigue and oh yes, all the millions of little moments you treasure in your heart.
It's hard work isn't it? Doing this job well? Authentically showing Jesus to your children, loving them and being God's administer of love, and discipline, all wrapped up in one cute little "mom" package. (with make up on, if it's a good day.)
How do we do all this? By no strength of our own!!!! We can not in any sense of the word do the job God gave us to do in our own strength.
It takes work. It takes self discipline, but what it does not take is self reliance. God does not want us to rely upon our own ability to raise our children. He wants us to rely on Him. When we model Christ to our children in a way that shows them that first of all we are FOR them, and their succeeding, but also that we are WITH them when they fail. We remind them that in Christ they WILL get back up again, and that at times EVERYONE messes up. This is why we have GRACE. So we instinctively MODEL grace to them.

We remind them that MOMMY is NOT perfect and that MOMMY has to ask for forgiveness when MOMMY loses her cool. We tell them that even mommies make mistakes but that mommies are thankful for God's grace as well. We are REAL in front of our kids, but we do not use our kids as our own personal punching bags. We don't take our frustrations out on our kids. We bring our frustrations to the foot of the cross and let Jesus take care of Mommy, so Mommy can effectively take care of the kids.

The other thing we do is we remind our kids that Jesus does not keep a record of wrongs, so when the kids have a bad day, they are forgiven when they ask, and their sins are GONE. I mean, GONE. Dead. No longer on any sort of record. And then, Mommy reminds HERSELF of this truth as well.

There is a lot of praying going on here too. Mommy prays for herself, and Mommy prays for her kids. Mommy prays for constant recollection of what Jesus did, so that she walk in the freedom that Jesus died to give her. Mommy does this so she can MODEL it to her children.
Did I mention we can't do this in our own strength? Just in case I forgot, let me say it again, NONE of this can be done in our own strength.

So lets see, we've successfully made in through the day. Your whole body literally hurts. YOU. ARE. TIRED. Dishes are done. Kids are tucked in. You fall into bed. What do you do Mommy? You pray. And you let Jesus wipe that loose strand of hair out of your eyes. You allow yourself to see YOU as Jesus sees you. Beautiful Daughter of Christ, walking her faith out in a very real way in front of her children. If you feel worn out Mommy, it's OK! This job is not easy, but God will walk with us in and through our all our days.
SO when your TIRED of being CONSISTENT and your tired of being CREATIVE and your tired of being NICE, take a heart check, are you doing this day in YOUR strength, or are you clothed in HIS? It's not that the hard dissipates completely when we have Jesus, but instead we realize our work is not in vain, and Jesus is with us in the good times, and when the going gets tough.

This job we have is anything but easy, but what we learn, how we grow and who God shapes us into along the "battle grounds of Mommy-hood" is priceless. Don't run away to dream world. Live in today. Right here, right now is where God has you.

Heaven is near, earth is now, God's in both, so rest Mommy. Rest. Rest in His ability to carry you through, pick you up when you fall, and equip you as you stand. Rise Mommy Rise. You are born to be apart of something holy. Raise your children with authenticity. Be JESUS to your children. Let HIS name always be on your lips. At the end of the day, hand your regrets to Jesus, and let HIM turn ashes into beauty as the sun rises with the new day awaiting.

You were born to do this.

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

The Heartache With Family

For you, the word "family" may stir up all kind of negative emotion. You may feel rejected completely by your family. OR you may not have any family at all. Perhaps you were an only child, and now your parents are dead, or maybe your family has disowned you because of their own personal issues.

Every family has struggles. Why is this? We were all made unique by God. Different, and with our own set of interests and things that we gravitate towards. But why do these interests cause division? Do we think and want all people to be "just like us?" Do you think, "how perfect would the world be if everyone just thought like me?"
I do think there are times we are all prone to think like this. The world however would not be perfect if we all thought exactly the same way...unless, we all thought exactly like Jesus did. Jesus was the only perfect "human" who walked the face of the earth. And for one pray to be more like Him every day.

Regardless of the circumstances that which surround your current state of being without good relationships with your family, I promise you, there is ONE who will never say, "you are not my family..."
You guessed it..Jesus.
I assure you there is one who never leave you, nor forsake you. ( Hebrews 13:5)

I think there were points in my life where I felt that no one understood me, and no one could feel the way I felt. Have you ever felt this way? Like no one "gets" you?

When I discovered Christ for real, (or rather He grabbed my heart) I realized for the first time that there was someone who got me a whole different level. There was someone who spoke words to me that my heart longed to hear. Words of security. Words that of reassurance that I was NOT a failure. That I was not a screw up. Words that told me that there was HOPE for my life, and the someone wanted to do BIG things with my life!

Joy came into my being and I realized in a very big way, that I was not alone. I think that there are a lot of very lonely people in this world. Sometimes we are lonely because we chose to separate ourselves. Being around "family" can just be too painful. They don't get us, and they don't seem to want to get us. Our pain is so unique and deep we feel they will never get us.
The biggest question I ask is this...Does your family know Jesus? I mean really KNOW Jesus. Not do they "go to church" and not, "do they know about Christian rules..." Not, "do they pray at dinner..." and not, "DO they know about RELIGION."  I cannot say it enough, RELIGION IS NOT JESUS. Jesus is a person. Jesus is a someone we get to know, and then by knowing Him , He begins to change us to look and be more like Him.
Everything Jesus stood for was good. He loved all people. He dined with those who were cast out of many social groups. He did hang with the "unpopular" or "unorthodox" He stood for respect, He stood for protection of the "little guy." He stood for everything moral and good.

Why do people stray away from calling Him their "family." Jesus tells us that whoever does the will of His Father in heaven is His mother, sister and brother. (Matthew 12:50)
Isn't that an amazing reassuring truth?
Jesus does not play into our emotions to get things from us. He does not want you to perform, and then applaud you when you do well. He speaks love to you and then takes you into His family. He loves you unconditionally. His love is not based on performance. His love is not based how what you accomplish for Him. His love is not based on how well you behave. He loves you because HE loves you, because He loves you. He loves because HE chose to. He loves you because. Isn't that amazing?
SO what's the catch you say?
That was the issue the Jews had back in the time when Jesus walked the world in human form. They could not believe that someone would come to them with life giving truth and ask for nothing in return. They could not believe that Jesus would give His life up for the cost of their sin. We simply did not want to recognize that we had sin.
I think sin is something that is impossible to miss. I feel it in me all the time. I see it in my behavior, and in my attitude, it pops up in my thinking and tries to set up residence in my heart. Sin us apart of life because man loves to live for himself. That is why I know Jesus is my only hope.
Jesus is my best friend. My perfect Father. My devoted helper. The only One who truly gets me, and the only one who ever tells me what I REALLY need to hear.
We all have that "friend" we go to that tells us what we want to hear, but what about the friend who tells you the hard truth but loves you anyway? If you are blessed enough to have one of those on earth, thank Jesus for that. I do have that, I have it in my husband, but Jesus is the one who gave me my husband. And for that I thank Him on the daily!
But my husband will die someday, hopefully my husband and I will go together so I don't have to be without my wonderful man, but I if he goes first, I will still have Jesus. Jesus is the only one I can never lose, and who will never run out on me. Jesus is there is the dark times and He is there is the joyful times. HE is there when I'm all alone in my room at night, and I feel the cold darkness of night creep in. He is there when I feel weak. He is there when I'm sad, and when tears stain my face. Jesus is the only one who loves, and never fails.
Do you know THIS Jesus I speak of? Not the Jesus that was painted to you in a picture of religious finger pointing.
Once you meet the Jesus I speak of, you will not want anything else! Once you see His beauty and feel His touch the empty abandonment you once felt by every human who ever "let you down.." WILL melt away. He heals in way no doctor or therapist or self help person every could. Jesus is the answer. Jesus is my family in the truest form. and He can be yours to.
"How?" You ask?
Ask for Him. This is by far the most amazing part about Jesus that is true...He is where you are. Ask for Him wherever you are. This may feel childish to you at first, but ask for His presence to overwhelm you. Ask for Him to show himself to you. Ask for Him to speak to you. I'm pretty excited for you my friend. That if this is a person you have never met before, you are in the for the best moments of you life.
Jesus RECREATES life in a way that you never even thought possible!!!! He is my very best thought every day.
If you are alone, if you are not alone, if you have family or if you don't, Jesus fills voids you didn't even know you had, so how much more will He feel the huge vacant spots you feel every day. If there is pain you cannot rid yourself of, and emptiness that will not go away no matter what you try, perhaps you should try Jesus.

The Truth About Freedom

You've heard it said before, "I've never felt so free!" But what is true freedom? What does it really mean to be free? A few thoughts are: nothing holding you back, ability to be and go, move about freely, room to run, ability to act and be. No regrets. Nothing hanging over your head. No guilt.
I used to think this: "being  a follower of Christ is like being in a cage. You can't do anything, you can't have fun. Nothing could be more boring."
Have you ever felt that way? I wish I could come through the computer screen right now and let you see the passion in my eyes as I say these things that I am about to say, because what I now know about being free is so different than what I ever thought it was.
Freedom to me now is not getting to do whatever I want, anyone can do that, but there are always consequences.
I will tell you how I see freedom now and why "freedom in Christ" is the freedom I seek.
The reality that we have to accept as believers is that we need a Savior. If this concept is difficult for you, your not alone, people all throughout the Bible and history struggled with accepting that they could not save themselves. That they needed help. How dreadful to be helpless. To not have a leg to stand on. How weak.
But in my weakness, Christ reveals His strength. IN my helpless estate He rescues. And He alone can give me the strength to stand.
You were brainwashed. (someone might think)
Brainwashed may have been a term I used some years ago, when I felt people wanted me to fit into a box of the "perfect christian life" and their lists, and rules of not-to-do's. Again, I could not have been more wrong.
The way I used to view Christianity was simply by what I could not do. I never even looked at Jesus. I never even glanced at the cross. I knew the verse, "God sent His one and only son to die so that I can have eternal life.." but what good was eternal life if the life I would eternally live was not in the slightest bit appealing to me? Who wanted to live a life eternally trying to be perfect, and never being able to truly live out their "dreams and desires?"
The best thing about Jesus is this: He meets us where we are at. If we are feeling skeptical, He wants to hear about it, and for a while I just defiantly poured out my anger to Him. Then after I felt I had spoke my peace, He opened my eyes.
It was if He said this to me..."You think you can do this, save yourself, and be pretty good all on your own don't you? You think I'm a big meanie who doesn't really care about how you feel? Then child, you don't really know me. You see your son, your only son over there, I had one of those too. I sent mine to die on a cross. My sweet son, I gave to you as a ransom for the sin's and insufficiency you won't acknowledge. You need me so bad you can't even see how bad you need me child. "
I was very defiant. I was very angry. God had done some things in my life that had made me come to a fork in the road, a place I had to chose.
I never read my Bible all that in-depth. I didn't actually know how to hear His voice, or see His fingerprints, I didn't have the slightest idea about what the real christian life looked like.
The abundant life. The free life.
Until I surrendered. I walked out of the cage I had been sitting in for 20 some years. The door was open the whole time, but I defiantly told the Lord I would find my own way out.
The reality of how fragile life was had hit me a few different times in my life, but I never understood what it felt like to walk through life without fear, because I trusted One bigger than myself. I never even wanted to face the fact that there was someone bigger than myself. I was just fine, thank you.
And if you had asked me how I felt about my wayward ways I probably would have said, "I'm fine!"
I was blind.
The funny thing about being blind is that you think you know what your talking about. But you can't really see, so how could I know?
Jesus is the ONLY one who can give sight to the blind. (spiritually speaking) and the day He took my blinders off I saw things as they really were. At first, I felt the strangest feeling. Godly sorrow. I was sorrowful for all of the things I had done to others, my selfishness, and my vain conceit, however, after I realized that He came here to take my sin away, and that is what that John 3:16 verse was talking about all alone, I realized the magnitude of that reality. As it pertained to me. I had done so much wrong, so many people I had hurt with my selfish ways, but I realized THAT was WHY He came to die. SO He could take that junk from me, and I could live FREE.
Thankfulness like I had never experienced washed over me. I never knew what it felt like before that moment to have real, authentic, God given JOY. What once felt like a cage to me, now felt like a great open space to run.  That is real freedom.
Free to live in His joy, knowing He took all my junk away from me.
I never could have experienced this joy until I recognized the magnitude of my junk. You see God saw my heart. Even if my actions were kinda OK, my heart was black. I was constantly feeding the things of the flesh, anger, bitterness, resentment, the right to hold a grudge, lust, greed, discontentment. Not a pretty list. But as long I believed the lie that I was pretty good, and that if I did enough good stuff, and that if God really was for real, I'd probably make it to heaven....I'd never be able to accept His grace.
It's His grace, His gift of life that gives us freedom.
As long as we think we are "not that bad off" we will always miss the mark of joy and freedom. And if you miss freedom by an inch, you might as well have missed it by a century.
A little sin, is like a little death. A little sin, is like a little rape. There is no part of sin that is little. And when we focus on the fact that Jesus's shadow of Him on the cross completely covers our sin shadow, this is where our freedom lies. Freedom, and thankfulness. For now we are free, and now we are eternally thankful for His ability to rescue. What we once tripped over, we now hold high.
And that my friends is why you then desire to fallow His example and live a Godly life, the rules however you will find, are not rules, but rather a recipe for even more joy, for you will find, the more you give, the more you receive. This my friends, is the abundant life. This my friends, is real freedom.
I hope these words cast light on a somewhat distorted topic, and I pray that you will be encouraged by them. Don't focus so much on all the wrong you have done, but after confessing your deep deep need, recognize you can never plumb the depths of His grace. If you go deep, He'll go deeper. You can never out do God.
Ever.
Enjoy that glorious truth. This glorious freedom.

That's Mommy's Job

It seems these days there is a lot of controversy over issues of what happens inside the walls of homes.
That is why I am so thankful that I get to do my job as a mom in a Spirit led way. He is my boss. He is my direction giver. He is the one I look to for all my answers.
I do want to grow in all area's of my life in terms of how I parent, and mother. I want to be all that God can make me to be. This requires me to continually lay down my pride. To continually admit that I do not have this thing all figured out. It continually helps me to strive towards Godly excellence because I know in His hands are wisdom, knowledge and understanding. All things I truly want more of.
At the core I just want kids who learn to love their Maker, exemplify their Creator and who speak His love to all who they come into contact with. It's all about dealing with heart motives. It's not about fixing their bad behavior.
SO in light of what I just listed as things that are on a need to know basis for me, (His will) it seems that I need to get more focused on one thing: Having undivided attention. I need to not be checking my phone, calling friends or wondering when I will accomplish my own selfish to do list. God knows when the things that haven't gotten done yet ought to get done. As I wake up each day, and before my feet hit the floor I can say this: "Lord, take my feet and let them move, at the impulse of thy love." All I do, everywhere I go with my heart, hands and feet can be motivated by His loving direction. His Holy Spirit is there to lead me and orchestrates my days as a composer writes a symphony, the wrong notes are obvious and so it's clear also when the music is played as it ought be. My life is a song, and my existence is His paper. He can write my days, attitudes and thoughts as I let Him have the wand!
I love analogies because they paint a picture that connects the dots.
Anything can be done, but in order to do it WELL, we must be focused on giving Him glory. I can pick my kids up from kindergarten any old day, or I can march in with purpose and a smile on my face and be genuine with my kids. Intentional. Leaving my phone in the car and sitting with them in an undivided state of mind and heart.
God does this with me.
Every time I open His word, and come with an open heart, He speaks. Just to me! And I have His full attention. I need to learn from Him.
No one mother will ever be perfect all the time, but God has given us as mom's all we need to do the job we need to and to do it well. It's just about taking the time, and it's about letting God change our hearts.
Most of my mothering has been about finding those moments for myself so I can relax. Not that I am saying we do not need these moments to relax but God will help us even in finding those as we place our time schedules in His hands and say, "Go." Giving Him permission to run the show frees something up in our minds. It helps us to let go of what we are doing on our own time table, and telling God He has full reign over what happens in and through our days. It isn't just this way with mothering, it's this way in all walks of life, but for me, mothering is where I am at, so that is where I focus.
My children are gifts. Every one of them. They are unique, the are small and innocent, and they need to be encouraged, taught, and most of all they need to be built up and rooted in Christ. This will only happen when the parent is teaching in an authentic, "sold out for Christ" sort of way.
I don't want to teach them to go through the motions. I don't want to tell them (with my actions) that other things are more important then chasing hard after God.
My first concern is that they see Jesus in me. In my attitude, (even when I'm tired) and that they see the love of Christ, (even on the hard days) and joy, (even when it's dark and cloudy) and thankfulness (even when the roof is caving in.) These little eyes that watch me every day can read between the lines, and I want them to be reading Spirit led things. I want them to see the things of God even when I am not trying so hard to teach them.
Does this sound like a lot of work? I used to crawl in a hole and cry because I felt like such a failure as a mother. I yell to much, I'm crabby when I'm tired and I don't want to talk to them until I have had at least 2 cups of coffee. Anyone else feel this way?
I am here to encourage you sweet mommy friends. Listen to this joyful noise that only God can make spring up in us!
He sent His Holy Spirit to guide us as believers in a new way, so that we can be that mom we long to be! We will be all He wants us to be as we simply wake up each day, slip into the mind of Christ, (hang out in His word) and put our hands in His and let Him guide us through the day.
Sometimes it's fun for me to visualize Jesus. I hold out my hands, I smile, I place my hands mid-air and reach for His grasp. It's not fairy-tail, friends, It's reality. Jesus is the most real thing you will ever experience. He is my air.
So each day, when I again feel as though I didn't measure up to the way I wanted to walk through my day, I come before the throne of my heavenly Father, and I kneel. I ask Him for forgiveness for the times I chose my own selfish path in the way I mothered, (whether I yelled in a moment of frustration of shushed them when they were sharing their hearts)  And I accept the forgiveness only He can offer, and then I refresh myself with His word. And I learn. And I pray. And I seek His council.
He is my lifeline. He is my light. He is my map. HE IS EVERYTHING I NEED. He leads me to the best parenting books for this phase of my life, He leads me to the right scripture I need for the source of encouragement I need for that moment. He is it for me.
I can be a joyful, God chasing, God fearing, delight to my children each day, when I rest in Him as my everything.
I am not perfect, and I stumble. Often.
But, God and His grace is where I camp. Join me here? You will never go back to the place you came from once you realize who sweet the water is here.  Mother in the Spirit. You will never look back once you do.

Dear Skeptic,

Doesn't it sort of feel good when you know you have "justifiable" anger? I mean, it's undeniable, someone wronged you and you did nothing to deserve it? Doesn't that sort of put us in the upper hand corner? Don't we sort of enjoy the fact that we have been wronged and now it's up to that other person to prove to us why we should let them continue to be apart of our lives?
It's human nature.
It's our default when we rely on the flesh. We like to be right, and in order to be "right," technically that means someone else has to be "wrong."
There is much talk about different opinions in this life. We are all so creative, and we all are bent towards liking different things. This is good isn't it? Yes, but it becomes conflict when we decide that our way is best, and the other one's opinion? Not only does it not matter, I will tell them how wrong they are.
Of course what I"m discussing are things that are disputable matters. I'm not talking about whether or not Christ is real, or whether or not the gospel is still relevant. Being saved from sin and death will be relevant as long as we are breathing. It may matter to us after we take our last breath, but at that point not much can be changed.
There are probably two sets of thinking after I make such a statement as I did above...One set of thinking is this: Why must there always be a choice of heaven and hell? Why does God condemn me to hell just because I won't say "save me LORD?"
And the other set of thinking is in total agreement with me.
Difference of opinion but their is nothing disputable about the gospel. However, it is good to ask those questions, without the fingers pointing.
What is it that makes us point those fingers? What is it that makes the heat rise in our faces, and the lump appear in our throats? Frustration, feeling as though someone has told us that we were wrong.
But getting angry about the fact that we may be told we're wrong is not a reason to get angry. Instead, it's a reason to dig. It's a reason to explore. It's a reason to question, and even, pray.
If you are reading this as a skeptic of the gospel, I'm really glad your hear reading this. I've for so long wanted to have a moment of your time and make a suggestion. Your really smart. No one can argue with that. You know your stuff but friend, listen for a moment to what I say. All walls down, all frustrations aside, all preconceived notions set to the wayside, and ask, do you think it would be even possible for you skeptic to read the Bible for 10 minutes a day, and yes, pray and ask God (whether or not you agree with me that He exists  or even cares for you) to reveal to you something from the Bible.
The Bible is a big book of secretes. That's what I love about it. It's full of mystery just waiting to be discovered. The Lord is it's writer, and the Holy Spirit is your tour guide. Tour guide you ask? Yes. The Holy Spirit the third person of the God trinity takes you where you need to be and shows you what you need to learn. I love that about Him.  He doesn't just hand me a giant, ancient book and tell me "good luck," instead He makes His word known to me.

" But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." John 14:26

Perhaps you feel like you could never read a book you completely disagree with? Do you know everything that is in it so that you know you do in fact disagree with all of it?
You may be surprised by what you read, and that most of your preconceived ideas about what's in the Bible is something man has relayed to you, but very poorly.
There are countless things that man says about the Bible that are wrong. Man is full of sin, and a man who is not walking closely with the Lord can easily take a belief that is man's thinking, and do a little gospel add on and relay that to you, and so contaminating the truth of Christ. What was given to you may have been the gospel according to that person, not the gospel according to Jesus. Which is why it's so important even as a skeptic to read it for yourself. Have you done that my friend? Have you dug in for yourself, as hard as it can be at times to read something that all your life you were told would condemn you to hell...call you a heathen and punish you forever.... (all things are said, but said out of context could gravely change the gospel.)
 We all want to show it to whomever it was that hurt us. There are a lot of hurtful things said, and in turn, there are a lot of hurt-filled people in this world.
And most of those people won't ever turn to the Jesus because the hurt that was caused them was done in the name of Jesus. (wrongly) So now the only real source of abundant healing and life is now considered out of the question for most people.
Dear skeptic, if you are this person I speak of, would you take a challenge? Could you read the Bible with a (prayed for) fresh set of eyes? Could you ask the God you probably wonder about from time to time to reveal Himself to you?
Could you dare to believe for a moment that there is a whole different world out there that is available to you in the person of Jesus?
Think about it. Saying a prayer will not hurt you, and no one but your goldfish will know you did it.

I can give you a little something you could pray if you can't think of anything, this is what I prayed one day when I realized there might be something more...
"Lord, I don't know you, but will you speak to me. Make the Bible come alive and be more than a book to me. " Amen.

Just try it, what do you have to lose.....