In or Out?

“Although that was the hardest time in my life, it made me a stronger person. I found the Lord in that time…the pain and words still haunt me, but I just do what I have been doing for the past three years – I just grab ahold of God’s hand.”

- Me, 9th grade

Did I really mean it? Had I really “found the Lord”?

One of my friends Kevin Anderson gave an excellent lesson on Psalm 14 this evening at Aletheia.
The Psalm itself is pretty short so I’ll go ahead and copy paste it and save you the trouble:

“The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God “
They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds;
There is no one who does good.
2The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there are any who understand,
Who seek after God.
3They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt;
There is no one who does good, not even one.
4Do all the workers of wickedness not know,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And do not call upon the Lord?
5There they are in great dread,
For God is with the righteous generation.
6You would put to shame the counsel of the afflicted,
But the LORD is his refuge.
7Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When the LORD restores His captive people,
Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.”

I found my personal narrative from freshman year of high school last night and read through it for the first time in a long time. What surprised me the most was how often I mentioned “the Lord.”

In fact, all of the chapters of my book were titled around the theme of “finding… (insert ‘religious’ word here).”

i.e. “Grace,” “Faith,” “Hope,” etc…

You would have thought I had it down. Had made it right with God. Was going to heaven.
If that were the case then I probably would have titled my narrative “Finding Jesus” instead of “Finding Me.” Ha. Yep. There’s your sign.

Part of me was laughing under my breath because of my foolish attempts at sounding godly, then part of me was touched by this little girl’s heart to know God, and then the larger part of me felt sick. I wish I could go back and help my ninth-grade self understand. I wish I could go back and help her connect the dots. She basically had it down, but as Kevin said tonight: there is no realm of nutrality when it comes to God.

He’s very staightforward. He’s a just God. It’s either black or it’s white.

We’re either guilty or innocent.
We’re either in or we’re out.
We’re either going forwards, or we’re going backwards.
We’re either right or we’re wrong.
We’re either saved, or we’re not.
We’re either going to heaven, or we’re not.

There is no “in-between” or “gray” area.
There is no “Oh, I’m a pretty good person and I do some good things.”
There is no “Oh, I believe there’s a God and I sometimes pray to Him, so I’m ‘okay.’”

To be honest, if back in 2005 when my car slid off a bridge and I had either drowned when I got sucked into the culvert or died from hypothermia that day – I can’t say with certainty that I would have gone to heaven.

In fact, I could probably say with certainty that I wouldn’t have.

I believed there was a God, but that’s as far as it went. I claimed to “love” this God, and yet I knew nothing about Him at all and refused His Word and refused to be a part of His body, the church; the one for whom He loved so much that He died.

I can’t say I blamed myself much for being repulsed by the church or at least from what I had seen of the church personally, but that is what I want to address with you: there’s much more to it than that, and yet ironically, it’s so simple.

I want to help you connect the dots.
I want to help you out of realms of gray, and into God’s realm of black and white.
More than anything, I want you to make it to white.

Maybe you believe there is a God, and maybe you even pray, and even go as far as pick up your Bible occasionally and attend church on Sunday’s. But have you died to yourself, given up, and surrendered your life to Jesus Christ and accepted Him as Your overseer, your Lord, your manager, the “CEO” of your life? Is He the One with whom You consult with and strive to know and please and honor and glorify?

Do you know Him, know what’s He’s done, and love Him for who He is and what He’s done?

There is a lot of hype into simply believing in God, but isn’t there also some truth in that fact that we promote the things we believe in?

When was the last time you told a friend about a new band or a new album or song? What about a movie you just saw in theaters that was just super awesome – so awesome in fact that it was even worth the $10 to see and you’d pay another $10 or at least catch a matinee to go see it again?

….When was the last time you told someone about Jesus?

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:21

Listen, I needed to hear that myself. I’m just as guilty of it too from time to time and more often than not.

The point I’m trying to make however, is that if we really believe in something, and we’re passionate about it: we tell people about it. We promote it.

In the seventh and eighth grade I was abused in school. Broken, I turned to the Lord for help. I wasn’t interested in Him though, only interested in the love and company He provided because I had no one else. Simply, I had hit rock bottom and had no where else to go. He was simply my last resort.

Once I made it through that hard time however, I never gave God the light of day again.

Have you ever been in a relationship like that with someone? Only in it for yourself? For what you could get out of it? Or how about the other way around? Have you ever thought that you were loved only to find out that you were just being used for gain?

So I guess what I’m really asking you right now, is to consider the above, search your way out of the gray and ask yourself, are you in darkness or in light?

Do you really believe in Jesus Christ? Have you given your life over to Him and turned your hearts towards Him and away from the things that hurt Him and you? Do you know what those things are?

I want to ask you to try something really quick without googling.

Take a minute and try to name ten brands of beer off the top of your head
(or ten kinds of soda – but if you really want to get punched in the face, try to name ten brands of beer.)

Seriously, do it.

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How many did you get?

My guess is you did pretty well, and I’m saying that not because I’m calling you an alcoholic, but because of how well our culture has infiltrated our minds.

Here’s the kicker:
Now I want you to try and name as many of the Ten Commandments as you can….

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Much harder, isn’t it?

If that didn’t kick you in the face enough, try going through the ten commandments and see if you’ve kept them all.

1st – Polytheism – having more than one god
2nd – Idols – worshiping anything or anyone other than God. Could include a boyfriend, girlfriend, sports team, singer, actor, etc…
3rd – Taking the Lord’s name in vain
4th – Keeping the Sabbath – taking a day of rest and remembering and being thankful for all the Lord has done for you.
5th – Obedience to parents – honoring them, infront of them and also when they turn their backs.
6th – Murder – Jesus said that anger is the equivalent of murder (Mt. 5:21-22)
7th – Adultery – Jesus said that whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his own heart (Mt. 5:27-28)
8th – Theft – Yes, even something small. Even “borrowing” something and never giving it back counts.
9th – Bearing false witness - this means lying and yes – white lies are still lies.
10th – Coveting - a strong longing to have what someone else has.

And that,
that is why we need a Savior.

“The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there are any who understand,
Who seek after God.
3They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt;
There is no one who does good, not even one.”

Even just committing one, solitary sin is enough to disconnect us from God because again,
there’s no realm of nutrality. We’re either perfect, or we’re imperfect; the two cannot coincide with one another. That’s why a disconnection exists between us: between an imperfect people and the perfect God. We cannot coincide with Him or be in a relationship with Him until all of our sin has been wiped away clean. Only a perfect sacrifice would do the job. That’s why God had to send His Son – you got it, to “atone” or “pay” for our sins.

Christ is the only One to ever live and keep every single one of the Commandments with every breath He took. He is the only One without sin, the only One who can save us, the only One who can cleanse us.

“And he [Abram] believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” - Genesis 15:6.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? How does your life testify to your beilef?

“I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” - Acts 20:21

Have you turned towards God with a desire to change what brings yourself glory and satisfaction and do what brings Him glory and satisfaction? Ever even thought about it?

He will be satisfied if your heart holds onto that desire to change, because Christ – Christ has already done all the hard work. All you have to do is believe. Believe in it enough to step outside of yourself in order to promote it. Even if it means staying up until 4 in the morning because you can’t sleep until you do.

I’m sorry if it sounds like I’m ranting or preaching even; truth is, i’ve been having awful dreams lately about people that I know passing away without knowing Christ. People that I could have told.

It doesn’t get much worse than that.

I respect your beliefs and/or lack of beliefs and the last thing I want to do is start a big debate here. Just know that if you’re doubting, or thinking this is all nonsense, trust me – I’ve been there.

But as C.S. Lewis has said,

“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

Just consider it. Contemplate it. Look into it. Ask questions. Ask me. Even if we haven’t spoken in years, shoot me a message. You’ve nothing to lose, but you could very well have everything to gain. It’s at least worth looking into.

I do believe, with all of my being, that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life and I believe that there is a bigger purpose for your life than you even know. Take it for what it’s worth, even if it’s not worth much to you now. Just know that I wrote this for you because I love you.