The key to life

April 12, 2009

A few thoughts from our church service this morning & from my brain this afternoon:

Stay with me…

God set up the world in an amazing way.  He simply spoke and galaxies were created.  Angels were awed.  But then one of those angels (Lucifer) decided he wanted some awe for himself and he got a little cocky.  So God flicked him to a little dusty ball in space called Earth.  On his way down, Satan swept his gnarly tail across the heavens bringing 1/3 of the other angels with him.  Earth wasn’t exactly the kind of kingdom he had in mind for himself, but quite frankly, he had to take what he could get.

But then God did something else.  He created man and woman in His own image.  And He made them to rule over every living thing on Earth.  Guess what?  That would include Satan…and suddenly Satan’s idea of ruling his own world was turned upside down.  So he had to get a little crafty.  He knew if he could get the man and the woman to sin (that is, to turn their backs on God) he’d be able to control them instead of the other way around.  Enter the temptation in the Garden of Eden.  And Adam and Eve totally fell for it.  The result?  Now Satan rules this little planet of ours.

Sidenote: Now you know why bad things happen on this Earth — it’s because we’re living in Satan’s territory and he likes to surround himself with bad things.  Although, he’s gotta run all his evil ideas by God first (because God is in charge of THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE) and sometimes God gives a big, fat NO! to Satan’s wicked schemes.  Could you imagine how many more bad things would happen on this earth if God wasn’t restraining Satan?  It’s scary to think about.

Anyway, back to my story…

So man and woman are created to rule Satan but Satan does the whole doesn’t-this-fruit-look-nice-to-eat thing in the Garden, the man and the woman fall for it and now Satan’s got the upper hand.  But not for long.

Because God’s got another plan.  It involves sending a Deliverer — someone who will rip the power right back out of Satan’s hands.  God proceeds to exclaim that a Deliverer is on the way (through the prophets).  And so Satan starts watching for this Deliverer too.

So, Christ appears on the scene and Satan tries his darndest to derail Him via means like mass murdering baby boys, trying to pull the same fast one on Christ that he did on the man and the woman in the Garden and finally, by killing Christ through the hands of the very people who were supposed to know who He was.

Christ was dead and Satan thought he scored big time.

Too bad for him though, it just sealed his writhing fate.

Because Christ reappeared, this time eluding the worst bad thing ever (i.e. death) and then proceeded to jetpack (OK, not exactly but I think it sounds a lot cooler than “ascend”) to Heaven where not one single bad thing, let alone death, is even a blip on the radar screen.

So what’s Christ doing up there?  Waiting.

What’s He waiting for?  He’s waiting for as many people as possible down here on Earth to see that His team is the winning one.  He’s no bully and won’t force people to choose to be on His team but oh how He would love that.  He wants everyone on Earth to see that if they don’t choose to be on His team, they’re choosing to be on the losing team.  And I don’t say that lightly.  Because the reality is, every person on Earth who doesn’t choose Christ’s team, by definition, chooses Satan’s team and the future of Satan’s team is eternity in Hell.  And in Hell, God won’t be around to hold back any of the mind-boggling evil Satan has planned.

So, what to do?  Repent and believe.  What does that mean?  First, consciously decide to quit pursuing your own course in life, following your own dreams and making your own plans.  Instead, let Christ choose your course, lead your dreams and make your plans.  Easy?  No.  Scary?  Yes.  But unfathomably more exciting, interesting and fulfilling than you could ever, ever imagine.  I totally, 100% guarantee that.  And if you don’t think following Christ “works” then you don’t get it.

Next, you have to believe that God is The Only God, and that what He did through Christ on The Cross is The Only Path, and that the way He has set things up to achieve true peace, hope, love, happiness and fulfillment — and to get to Heaven — is The Only Way.

And then live accordingly.

Think I’m full of it?

OK.

But what if I’m not?

Related posts:

1. trying new things
2. taking action
3. My life right now. In bullets.
4. Are you wasting your life?
5. Life update

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