If you answered yes to any of these questions, then my friend, I would like to invite
you to spend some time here with me. But there’s one thing I want you do. I want
you to listen not to me, I am merely human, but have the Word open. We must “test the spirits”
for ourselves 1Jn 4:1. Let us be like those noble Bereans of Acts 17:11.
You need to get out your Bible (a literal translation is best, not the modern “versions”).
I recommend King James, but you can use NKJ if the thees and thous are too much for you. Don’t
have a bible? No problem. You’ll find it all online at www.biblegateway.com .
I would like to share with all who will hear what I have learned (and am continuing to learn – you never stop learning)
since becoming a child of God. I came from a denominational background and never questioned anything I
had been taught. In fact, I was quite proud and pleased to have been one of the lucky ones “born
into the true church”. I will not say what denomination – the important thing is that I turned
to God’s word one day, and what I read in the New Testament made me really think about what I’d accepted as truth
for so long.
My adventure into
reading the New Testament (good place to start) came about as simple curiosity (I didn’t think it would harm nor help
my salvation status). I’d said many times, “I should read through the Bible one day”,
but I never seemed to get very far. I’d come to a boring or difficult part (and they are there!)
and lose interest. Or I’d start in an obscure section and be lost because I didn’t know the
stories that led up to that part. But I found the New Testament on CD in the bookstore one day, and thought
that might be the way to go for me. Amazingly, it takes only 16 hours to listen to the entire New Testament
– “that’s not much at all,” I convinced myself. And as I listened, I was transfixed.
I knew the story in the most general way, but many, many verses caused me to open my eyes and ask myself, “did
I just hear what I thought I heard?” I wondered why I had not been taught some of the things I was
hearing. All my life I thought the church I belonged to practiced what the Bible taught. Sadly,
now I knew it did not. Oh sure, we professed profound love for and belief in God and Jesus.
I knew Jesus died on the cross for our sins. (I didn’t know exactly how that worked though
- here's the answer - , I guess I thought that just because He died, we could all go to heaven now, because He loves us so and His grace
is so good. We who said we believed and followed Him (our way, of course, I didn’t know He had His own ideas!) would
go to heaven. To be sure, we couldn’t be too bad, just normal do your best kind of thing.
Be good to your neighbours, don’t lie, swear, cheat or steal, show up at church, do nice things for people, give
to the poor, pray, don’t be an axe murderer, drunkard, immoral… you know the drill!
They say that curiosity killed the cat…
But I’m going to tell you something different…
Curiosity about God’s Word, for a person willing to obey the truth when
he finds it, will lead to eternal life and happiness in heaven above.
Are you ready to
satisfy your curiosity?
