Who Cares?

The things I think about when I am out running sound so right in my head, but trying to remember them and get them down in writing can be a challenge.  The other day while I was running, and praying, and contemplating, I was thinking about a friend who recently denied the existence of God. While I find it hard to comprehend that someone could stop believing in God, without saving faith in Christ they are lost whether they believe God exists or not.  James 2:19 says, "You believe that there is one God.  Good!  Even the demons believe that - and shudder."   James is making a case that true faith manifests itself in action, believing there is a God is not enough. Trusting in Christ as the one who paid the penalty for your sin and asking Him to clean your heart opens the door to the Holy Spirit in your life, and the Holy Spirit teaches you to act on your faith.  Jesus won't barge into your life, instead He waits for you to welcome Him in.  I would rather have an honest discussion with someone who is having doubts than to assume that they have trusted in Christ just because they say they believe God exists. 

So, what does it matter if you believe in God or not?  Who cares?  If you believe that there is a God who  created everything but then just left it all to self destruct, it doesn't make much difference.  However, if you believe in the God of forgiveness and love who sent His own Son to die in your place, then it makes ALL the difference.  Jesus endured being beaten nearly to death, having nails driven into His hands, wearing a crown of thorns, and suffocation on the cross because we deserved it.  It was painful and he suffered like we cannot imagine, but I don't think the physical pain was His greatest agony.  He is God the Son.  Sin is against the very nature of God, and God is immortal.  The reason He could die is that He clothed Himself in a human body for our sake and accepted the guilt for all of our sin.  It was sin that killed Him.  It was the sin that you and I and every other human being possess in our nature and have willfully committed.  He gave up His life for each one of those wrongs to save us. 

So, who cares?  God does!  God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit care.  Jesus cares enough to bear our sin.  The awesome news is that because He wasn't the one who committed sin, death couldn't contain Him.  He overcame death.  Those who truly believe on Him as their Savior from sin are pardoned.  That pardon comes with a guarantee which is the Holy Spirit coming to live within them.  The Holy Spirit guides and guards a person marking them for eternal life with God in heaven.  Once a person has received the Holy Spirit they cannot turn back, and it will be evident by the way they live.  Too many people are tricked into thinking that believing in God's existence is enough, but they must receive forgiveness through His Son Jesus to be saved.  Remember, even the demons believe in the existence of God.  The first step to receiving forgiveness is coming to terms with your status as a sinner.  The second is believing that Jesus paid the price and admitting that only He can save you. 

If you believe He exists, why not ask for forgiveness from your sin because Jesus acted as your substitute and endured your punishment though He Himself never disobeyed God or rebelled in any way?  If you don't believe in God, you can't believe in His Son, but maybe you are denying His existence because you don't understand how much He loves you.  Maybe you have experienced hurt in your life, and you would rather ignore God because you don't understand how He could have let it happen.  Remember that the hurt was caused by a person's sin. God gave people the freedom to chose His way or their own.  The hurt comes when people choose to do things their own way instead of God's.  He doesn't desire us to chose that course, but He does allow it.  He didn't make us to be puppets with no choice, and since people chose to go their own way they can hurt themselves and others.  Even illness, which is often is NOT a direct result of an individual's specific sin, came into the world due to the presence of sin and we are now susceptible to it. That is the way of things here on earth.  Because God cares, though, He provided a way for us to be forgiven for choices that cause pain, to grow to be more like Jesus, and to be eternally healed. 

Someday those who have received forgiveness through Jesus will live where "He will wipe every tear from their eyes," and "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain."  (Revelation 21:4)  How can those things be absent in heaven?  Sin causes those things.  There is no sin there because only the forgiven may enter, and God promises to make them perfect before they do.  "Listen, I tell you a mystery:  We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."  (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)  "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  Then we will be with the Lord forever."  (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)  God wants us to be with Him forever.  He made a way for us.  He cares!

*Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica US, Inc.®. Used by permission.