Life’s most important question doesn't
have anything to do with photography (literally "light
writing") but it does have everything to do
with The Light.
If you're not interested in what the person who claimed to be The
Light has to say & to offer you, now is a good time
to click the "go back" button on your web browser. No
one here (Especialy not the person who claimed to be The Light)
is going to be pushy.
But Hey! Stick around, What's it
gonna cost you? You've got nothing to lose, and......
You're probably on a flat rate by now anyway. :)
In addition to answering life's most important question, we'll
share some encouragement and some interesting links where you can
check out for yourself what we say. We may even have some fun
while we're at it.
But before we ask life's most important question, we should
mention that we will be including some hyperlinks along the way.
You don't have to go to all the links. We'll just put them
in so you can check up on us & see if we're telling it like
it is, or if we're some of those "right wing wackos"
saying things that just aren't so. (By the way those underlined -
blue lettered hyperlinks work more quickly at non-peak Internet
times.)
So who is this person who claimed to be The
Light anyway? (You can click
here to read his claim for yourself.)
Not only did Jesus (yes, the one in the Bible) claim to be The
Light of the world, he also claimed to be the only
way to God. (Really??? Check
it out.) Now in a “politically
correct” and politely “inclusive” world, it can be
a bit surprising that the answer that Jesus gives to life’s
most important question is so “narrow minded”.
WAIT A MINUTE.
I’ve seen bumper stickers that say “Jesus is the
Answer”.
But what is the question?
The most important question each of us will ever hear, could
be phrased several ways, one of which takes the form of a
situation like this:
Let’s suppose you were standing just outside the gates of
Heaven, and instead of meeting St. Peter, God Himself
is standing right there at the gates. As you approach, God asks
you matter of factly, “Why should I let you into My Heaven
?”
Life’s Most Important Question --- What Would You
Say?
Wow!!! This ain’t no cyber trivia game!!!
And we only get one chance at the right answer.
To know the answer to a question like that, it helps to know
something about the one doing the asking. God is not some big
tyrant, just waiting to say “Ha, ha, you can’t come
in.” On the other hand, He’s no wimp, who’ll say
“It’s OK. Your answer doesn’t really matter. Just
come on in.”
God loves us & wants to spend eternity with us,
but He is also Holy and He has a standard for admission. (He doesn’t mince words about what that standard
is.) Some people see God only as a god
of vengeance; others as only a god of love. Actually His primary
characteristic is that He is Holy. Within that Holiness we can
see perfect love, perfect vengeance, perfect righteousness and
perfect “everything else” that God can be. But since
God is Holy, He expects us to be holy too. (Me too?) That’s the
standard for admission.
Well...I guess that leaves me out.
Yeah, it does. It leaves me out. It leaves you out. It leaves
everybody out. (Everybody?) We’ve all missed the mark. If you’re an
archery fan, especially one who likes history, you might already
know that the word the ancient Greeks used for missing the mark,
or missing the bulls-eye in archery, is the same word they used
for sin. They understood the simple concept of what sin is.
It’s anything that isn’t perfect. That covers a lot of
territory, and the righteous part of God’s Holiness
won’t allow any bit of sin to enter Heaven. Sin must be paid
for, and what we’ve earned for our sin is eternal separation
from God. (Earned
for sin?)
The "vengeance part" of God’s Holiness demands
that there be punishment for sin, and that the punishment fit the
crime. God knows that for us, punishment for sin means Absolute
Separation from Himself, forever. (That’s
what sin does.) Now that’s
Hell.
Don’t panic yet.
Here’s the Good News
(“good news” is actually what the word
“gospel” means!!!)
The "love part" of God’s Holiness still wants us
to spend eternity with Him in Heaven. God loves us so much that
He sent his only son, Jesus to take the punishment for our sin so
that we could spend eternity with Him in Heaven. (He
loves us how much?)
“I don’t think so. There’s no way God could love
me. I’m still a sinner. Right?”
You’re partially right, you are a sinner - we all are. But
even though we are sinners God still loves us. (No
way? - Yes Way!!!) Since God’s
Holiness demands payment for sin, and since we can’t pay for
it ourselves, even with our good deeds (really?), God sent Jesus to live a perfect sinless life, which
qualified Him to pay for the sin of all of the rest of us.
That’s exactly what He did by offering himself as a
sacrifice in our place, when he was crucified.
It’s not a pretty picture, the Holy One dying in the place
of sinners, but it’s what Jesus was willing to do for us
because of love. (Now
that’s love!!!)
So everything is cool right? Jesus died for
everybody, so we’re all going to make it to Heaven. Right?
Well, no. I’m afraid not. I know there is nothing I can do
in the way of good deeds to earn my way into heaven. But there is
one thing that God requires me to “do” in order for Him
to apply Jesus' payment for sin to my life - to my sin.
He requires that we believe.
Believe what? What do we have to
believe for God to allow us into Heaven?
And how can just “believing” be all there is to it?
Whoa!!! One question at a time. What do we have to believe? I
seems only right that we would have to believe that God exists. (That’s
His idea not mine.) He also expects us
to believe that we really are sinners & that we can’t
pay for the sin ourselves. We need to believe that Jesus lived a
sinless live & chose to die on the cross as the means of
paying for our sin. And finally, we need to believe that God
wants to give us this forgiveness as a free gift because of our
belief in Him. (A gift?) This gift of
salvation (forgiveness & entrance into Heaven), like any
other gift, that may be available to us, isn’t ours until we
take it. (Take
it?) It is only the people who believe
what God says, and choose to receive by faith - by belief- the
free gift of forgiveness, who will be allowed into Heaven.
Can “believing” be enough to be
forgiven by God? While the English language has a lot of words,
it sometimes comes up a little short when you need it.
“Believing” has so many levels that to just say,
“Believe and everything will be OK” is really quite
dangerous. Most people “believe in God” or at least
believe that there is some kind of god somewhere. However that
“belief” has no effect on their day-to-day life or on
their hope for forgiveness. That’s not the kind of belief
that is acceptable to God.
To believe God, is to believe what He says about you & your
sin - to trust it - to count on it to the extent that you’re
willing to bet your life on it. In fact
you’re willing to bet your eternal life in Heaven on it.
That means no safety net! It means that we don’t say,
“I’m going to trust God plus my good works.” It
means that we don’t say, “I’m going to trust God
plus going to church. It means that we don’t say,
“I’m going to trust God plus being baptized. It means
we don’t trust God plus "anything."
True belief -true faith- means trusting God at His word, plus
nothing.
That’s the way God is. He loves us and wants to spend
eternity with us in Heaven. Our sins have separated us from Him.
Those sins must be paid for. He knows that we can’t pay for
them ourselves, and that we’re headed for Hell. He provided
for the payment of those sins through the death of Jesus on the
cross. He wants to give us forgiveness & eternal life with
Himself, as a gift.
There it is.
Will you accept that free gift of eternal life? Will you trust God, regarding all that He has said about you and done for you? If God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into My Heaven ?”, would you be able to say:
“Because while I was alive I believed You , and trusted that You provided for my forgiveness through the death of Jesus”
There are no magic words or prayers, but sometimes it helps to
know where you’re going if you want to tell God that you
believe Him and want to receive the gift of eternal life.
1. Tell God you believe He exists.
2. Tell Him you know you are a sinner.
3. Tell Him you know there is nothing you can do on your own to
pay for your sins.
4. Tell Him you believe that Jesus paid the penalty for your
sins.
5. Ask Him to give you forgiveness & eternal life based on
what Jesus did for you.
6. Couldn’t hurt to say “Thanks”. :)
We’re not going to tell you that making a
decision like this is going to make everything go smoothly in
your life. Of course, not many of us who are trusting God in this
way have been eaten by lions, or burned at the stake lately, at
least not here in the U.S.. But we’re going to tell you
right up front that, while making this decision is the most
important thing you could do in this life, things may actually
seem to get tougher for you when you do. “Friends” may
ridicule you; co-workers may think you’ve become a fanatic.
That’s especially true if you tell someone else about this
“Good News”. Regardless of what some may say about you,
sharing the good news with others is precisely what you will
probably want to do. That’s a pretty sure sign that you
meant it when you asked God to forgive you & give you eternal
life. (In fact it’s a really good sign.)
If you’ve made the decision to trust God & receive His
gift of forgiveness & eternal life, you’re more than
welcome to let us know. We’d be happy to send you some links
to internet resources that can help and encourage you in your
faith.
In fact we could be the first people you tell about your
decision. We aren't going to ridicule you, we’re going to be
happy for you.
Click here to e-mail us or
feel free to call our business 800 # if you have questions about
God’s gift, or if you just need someone to talk with. (The
answering machine is often on even when we’re here,
especially at certain times of the year, or if we’re here
after normal business hours. Go ahead and talk. Mention what
you’re calling about, and if we are here & there is ANY
way we can pick up the phone, we will. Otherwise we'll call back
as soon as posible.) Let us know how we can help.
Keep Trusting In God. He Is Faithful.
Yours,
Deborah & Mark Bohland