by Neal Banks

Created on: May 13, 2008   Last Updated: September 06, 2008

Deep at the core of every human being there is a nagging, persistent belief that there is something more than what we can simply see and feel with our five senses. A deep internal "knowing" that all of creation didn't happen by some cataclysmic coincidence and that we all didn't simply crawl out of some primordial ocean of slime.

Some of us deny it with the anti-theistic statement that there simply can be no heavenly creator, that the Big Bang and Evolution resulted in such a miraculously ordered and complex universe and that human beings are one of the primary achievements of this happy cosmic accident. Others choose to believe that we are all gods in the making, and that all of the supreme possibility of altruistic goodness and diabolical evil are within us and virtually untapped. Many feel that there is a heavenly realm and that through a series of rules, rituals and disciplines we can all somehow prove ourselves worthy enough to stake a claim within it. Yet others deny a single creator, believing that all of creation is the thing to be worshiped and hope to one day be lucky enough to join with it.

Sadly all of these beliefs fall short of the fundamental and simple truth: that every single one of us has a supreme creator. He did in fact make all of creation in its vast complexity and divine order, and knows each intimate detail of His creation right down to the number of every hair on your head. He also made us to have fellowship and intimate relationship with Him, and desired this so much that He sent His one and only precious Son to die for us all on a cross. Jesus Christ told us the He was "the way, the truth and the life: no man comes to the Father but through me." While many have a hard time accepting this truth, it has to do with our fallen nature. While we were made in our Father's image, He also gave us the free will to choose whether or not to obey Him. And to disobey His perfect law for our lives was to "sin and fall short of the Glory of God": He is so perfect and good that he can't even permit sin in His presence. He knew that no set of rules or disciplines would ever get us there, so our Father sent His Son to atone and pay for our sins on a cross, which He did by dying and rising again three days later. He lived a perfect life and then shed His precious blood to defeat Death, Hell and the Grave so we could be seated at our Heavenly Father's table one fine day.

All we need to do is to repent of our sins (turn from our disobedience to God), ask Him to forgive us, acknowledge Jesus died for our sins, accept him as the Son of God and ask Him to become Lord of our life.

Amazing that something so simple can be so difficult to believe and to do. So many of us rather fill our lives with religion rather than simply put our faith in the One who made us. We will follow all sorts and rules and regulations, or will occupy ourselves with all manner of distractions, or fill our minds with lists of justifications, rather than simply acknowledge that deep "knowing" that's in each and every one of us. Jesus told us that while the road to Hell is wide, the path to righteousness is narrow: He was telling us that there are not many paths to heaven, there is only one. This was not a legalistic or tyrannical statement, simply a nod to our nature: we will tell ourselves a million lies rather than accept a single truth. His truth.

I pray that every one of us embrace that truth. The truth that our Heavenly Father wants each and every one of to accept the gift of His mercy and grace and come back to Him: the gift of His Son and our savior Jesus Christ.

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