Last week as I was writing in this blog I asked if I could introduce you to the Savior of my messy life. Do you ever have that messy life feeling? I don't have it all together. Harmful words come out of my mouth sometimes that I just can't erase. Sometimes as I flip through the channels on TV there is the temptation to watch something that just has no place in my life. Some people annoy me and it seems just a little too hard to love my neighbor. You know the term the month is a little too long and the paycheck too short? When that happens I get anxious instead of turning it over to my Savior and allowing him to provide for me. And anger, bitterness, hanging onto something that I should have forgiven, yes that sometimes takes place in my heart and it should never be allowed to be there. Is your life ever making you weary? Is anxiety attacking at night as you sit and watch the news? Do you ever have that empty yearning feeling in your gut and you just can't figure out what it will take to make you feel whole? Believe me I know messy! Asking Jesus Christ into your life as your Savior does not keep life from giving you a few bumps as you journey through it, but he does give you a reason to get up in the morning, a true 24/7, 365 days a year guarantee for a lifetime plus the hereafter promise to cling to.
"Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant-I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. Those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you. But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do." Psalm 73: 21-28
Yes, I know messy. But I also know and love a Savior that has promised never to leave me or forsake me. A Savior that loved me enough to suffer agonizing brutality and die hanging on a cross because he loved you and me enough to take our sins to that cross. If you feel the need for a Savior who will walk with you through this journey of a messy life, who will hold you close if anxiety tries to attack you late at night, who will give you a brand new start like jumping into the shower filthy and stepping out of it freshly clean. Then these are the steps that you can take to receive this. All you need to do is ask. Jesus will never force his way in.
1. Acknowledge that your life has an empty yearning inside and that you have sinned.
2. Ask Jesus into your life. Ask him to forgive your sins.
3. Believe that Jesus is true and trustworthy and that through his death on the cross and then
his resurrection he has given you a new life.
4. Thank him! It is time to celebrate!
