"You know, if you read Matthew's Gospel, Jesus reserves his harshest criticism and condemnation for the 'religious people', the rulers of the religious establishment. Speaking of the Pharisee's, Scribes, and religious leaders of the Jewish people he publicly said these words:
'Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'" (From Matthew’s Gospel, the 23 chapter, verses 1-7)
Sadly, Jesus could just as well be speaking to some Christians today! At one point in the story Jesus even calls these people the 'sons of the devil'! I guess he wasn't afraid to call it as he saw it. And he wasn’t afraid to call out people who claimed to be religious but didn’t prove it by their actions. My point is this: people are always going to fall short of what they may profess to believe in. People who call themselves Christians may act terribly. Even with good intentions they are still fallible and have a proclivity to do bad things. I know that over the past five years as I've followed Christ I've done things that don't line up with what Jesus teaches. I know I haven't always loved my wife and children the way I should. I haven't always put others before myself. I haven't always given up comfort and security to help the poor and the orphaned. I haven't loved God with all of my heart and all of my life. I struggle on the path for sure, yet I hope that my life accurately reflects the God that I love and serve, bringing him glory. God forbid that my Christianity would turn people away from the the truth and eternal life found only in Jesus!
Can I share a couple of thoughts with you?
Before you and I first met and during the years we were dating, I lived my life for my own gain, for my own self-promotion, always trying to accomplish my agenda.
Honestly, I didn't have the capacity to truly love anyone else because my heart was corrupted by sin, the sin that all people have subsequently inherited from our first parents who disregarded God's plan in the garden of Eden. You know the story: instead of choosing God's plan for their lives, Adam and Eve chose to disregard it and pursued their own plan.
In doing this they died that day. They would now experience physical death (which we all do). And- what’s worse- they died spiritually as well. Their choice that day created a relational chasm between them and God far to wide for them to ever overcome on their own: they were forever separated from the God who had made them and loved them!
Just like Adam and Eve I was separated from God by my sin. I was incapable of loving God and incapable of loving his Son Jesus. My life was ruled by my love for myself and this selfishness caused great pain in the lives of my family, my friends, and even you.
As much as I thought I ever loved and cared for you, my love and affection always fell short because I was ultimately incapable of loving you, anyone, or thing more than me. I'm sorry for not having the capacity to love you then in a way that Jesus calls his followers to love. Please forgive me.
In spite of how some Christians may act or how ugly the church can be, truth is always truth. Will you bear with me and allow me to share some truth with you? I want to do this because this is the greatest way that I can love you and show kindness to someone who was once very close to me:
All people, whether they admit or not, know that something is missing in their lives. They know that something is wrong.
You see, that longing in our hearts and aching for something more than what this world has to offer is the memory of what humanity once enjoyed with the God who created us. It’s the intimate and perfect relationship that Adam and Eve once enjoyed with their Creator before they chose to disobey him.
Our fractured relationship with God is what’s wrong.
So people carry around guilt and self-loathing for choices they’ve made. These are the fruits of our sinful hearts: we do things contrary to how God intends for us to live and we suffer the consequences of our actions, living without hope or answers to the world around us. (This was me for so many years!)
Since we don’t like living in this reality we do all kinds of things to try and fix our problem. We turn to education, pour ourselves into our jobs, our kids, diet, buy the next ‘self-help’ book, try and amass wealth, consume the next great product from Apple, look for comfort and meaning through relationships and intimacy, drug and drink ourselves to oblivion, pursue spiritual paths, and on and on, all in the hopes of fixing the core issue which is our sinful hearts.
The truth is this: none of these pursuits, no matter how hard we try, will ever bridge that wide chasm between our sinful hearts and God’s perfection. They may provide temporary happiness and fulfillment, but they will ultimately disappoint and fade away.
Because God loves you and me, he sent Jesus to bear the punishment we deserve for the sin in our hearts: the sin of disregarding God, rejecting him and his plan for our lives.
Jesus took my place and yours that day when he was hung on the cross. He paid the price for our sin that we never could.
He died a shameful death even though he did nothing wrong and was buried.
He was raised from the dead 3 days later conquering the grip of death which holds us all, proving that he was God’s son, confirming that God was pleased with the sacrifice he made just 3 days earlier on the cross.
When we believe that Jesus died in our place, paying the price for our sinful hearts, thereby bridging the chasm between us and God, then we are forgiven of our sins, instantly restored into the beautiful Father-child relationship with God and given the gift of eternal life!
I share this with you because Jesus changed my life several years ago. He saved me from myself and my sin. I abandoned all of my striving and effort to fix my heart and placed my trust solely in Him and what he did for me. Because of his sacrifice I am now adopted into God’s family and try and live my life to glorify him (although I often miss the mark). I also share this with you because i honestly desire the best for you, your marriage and the children God is entrusting you with. I long for you to believe in Jesus and experience the joy of knowing the true God. I know this is a lot and may take time to digest. It will probably surface even more questions. Or maybe something is stirring in your life to make you take one step closer to finding truth and fulfillment: one step closer to Jesus.
I am thankful that we are once again in contact and I want you to know that I share all of this with a sincerity of heart and with great humility. Please know that I am always available to talk more if you ever desire to."
'Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'" (From Matthew’s Gospel, the 23 chapter, verses 1-7)
Sadly, Jesus could just as well be speaking to some Christians today! At one point in the story Jesus even calls these people the 'sons of the devil'! I guess he wasn't afraid to call it as he saw it. And he wasn’t afraid to call out people who claimed to be religious but didn’t prove it by their actions. My point is this: people are always going to fall short of what they may profess to believe in. People who call themselves Christians may act terribly. Even with good intentions they are still fallible and have a proclivity to do bad things. I know that over the past five years as I've followed Christ I've done things that don't line up with what Jesus teaches. I know I haven't always loved my wife and children the way I should. I haven't always put others before myself. I haven't always given up comfort and security to help the poor and the orphaned. I haven't loved God with all of my heart and all of my life. I struggle on the path for sure, yet I hope that my life accurately reflects the God that I love and serve, bringing him glory. God forbid that my Christianity would turn people away from the the truth and eternal life found only in Jesus!
Can I share a couple of thoughts with you?
Before you and I first met and during the years we were dating, I lived my life for my own gain, for my own self-promotion, always trying to accomplish my agenda.
Honestly, I didn't have the capacity to truly love anyone else because my heart was corrupted by sin, the sin that all people have subsequently inherited from our first parents who disregarded God's plan in the garden of Eden. You know the story: instead of choosing God's plan for their lives, Adam and Eve chose to disregard it and pursued their own plan.
In doing this they died that day. They would now experience physical death (which we all do). And- what’s worse- they died spiritually as well. Their choice that day created a relational chasm between them and God far to wide for them to ever overcome on their own: they were forever separated from the God who had made them and loved them!
Just like Adam and Eve I was separated from God by my sin. I was incapable of loving God and incapable of loving his Son Jesus. My life was ruled by my love for myself and this selfishness caused great pain in the lives of my family, my friends, and even you.
As much as I thought I ever loved and cared for you, my love and affection always fell short because I was ultimately incapable of loving you, anyone, or thing more than me. I'm sorry for not having the capacity to love you then in a way that Jesus calls his followers to love. Please forgive me.
In spite of how some Christians may act or how ugly the church can be, truth is always truth. Will you bear with me and allow me to share some truth with you? I want to do this because this is the greatest way that I can love you and show kindness to someone who was once very close to me:
All people, whether they admit or not, know that something is missing in their lives. They know that something is wrong.
You see, that longing in our hearts and aching for something more than what this world has to offer is the memory of what humanity once enjoyed with the God who created us. It’s the intimate and perfect relationship that Adam and Eve once enjoyed with their Creator before they chose to disobey him.
Our fractured relationship with God is what’s wrong.
So people carry around guilt and self-loathing for choices they’ve made. These are the fruits of our sinful hearts: we do things contrary to how God intends for us to live and we suffer the consequences of our actions, living without hope or answers to the world around us. (This was me for so many years!)
Since we don’t like living in this reality we do all kinds of things to try and fix our problem. We turn to education, pour ourselves into our jobs, our kids, diet, buy the next ‘self-help’ book, try and amass wealth, consume the next great product from Apple, look for comfort and meaning through relationships and intimacy, drug and drink ourselves to oblivion, pursue spiritual paths, and on and on, all in the hopes of fixing the core issue which is our sinful hearts.
The truth is this: none of these pursuits, no matter how hard we try, will ever bridge that wide chasm between our sinful hearts and God’s perfection. They may provide temporary happiness and fulfillment, but they will ultimately disappoint and fade away.
Because God loves you and me, he sent Jesus to bear the punishment we deserve for the sin in our hearts: the sin of disregarding God, rejecting him and his plan for our lives.
Jesus took my place and yours that day when he was hung on the cross. He paid the price for our sin that we never could.
He died a shameful death even though he did nothing wrong and was buried.
He was raised from the dead 3 days later conquering the grip of death which holds us all, proving that he was God’s son, confirming that God was pleased with the sacrifice he made just 3 days earlier on the cross.
When we believe that Jesus died in our place, paying the price for our sinful hearts, thereby bridging the chasm between us and God, then we are forgiven of our sins, instantly restored into the beautiful Father-child relationship with God and given the gift of eternal life!
I share this with you because Jesus changed my life several years ago. He saved me from myself and my sin. I abandoned all of my striving and effort to fix my heart and placed my trust solely in Him and what he did for me. Because of his sacrifice I am now adopted into God’s family and try and live my life to glorify him (although I often miss the mark). I also share this with you because i honestly desire the best for you, your marriage and the children God is entrusting you with. I long for you to believe in Jesus and experience the joy of knowing the true God. I know this is a lot and may take time to digest. It will probably surface even more questions. Or maybe something is stirring in your life to make you take one step closer to finding truth and fulfillment: one step closer to Jesus.
I am thankful that we are once again in contact and I want you to know that I share all of this with a sincerity of heart and with great humility. Please know that I am always available to talk more if you ever desire to."
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