Be honest about who you are. Author James Bryan Smith writes, “in order for us to begin the process of self-acceptance we will have to acknowledge our true selves….we have to realistic and accept that we are imperfect” He further writes, ” Pretending that we are righteous simply keeps God at bay and delays our healing”. I don’t know about you but this rings true in my life. In my early years I was not very honest about who I was. I did a lot of pretending and still do at times. Today I am different. I know I am a sinner and fall way short of the illusion of perfection. I try to remind myself daily of God’s unconditional love and endless grace. I feel God’s love and acceptance. I remind myself that God is the vine and I am the brach and apart from God I will wither and die. Still, the world we live in is very hard on me. I would rather be in God’s Kingdom. In the meantime, I will try to follow the words of Jesus, ” Be still and know that I am God”.

Psalm 46:10 – ‘Be Still and know that I Am God’.

Does this sound familiar? In Romans 1:22-32 the Bible talks about mankind’s fall into their foolish ways. It talks about mankind’s hearts being darkened. God says, “…although they claimed to be wise, they became fools…” The Bible talks about degrading their bodies and sexual impurity and exchanging the truth of God for a lie. It talks about mankind being full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, God-haters, arrogance, faithless, heartless, ruthless and inventing ways of doing evil. ( sound familiar) What makes all this crazier is that we oppose Jesus and the truth even though we know that the truth will set us free. God Help us!

Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Truth will set you free…..

In everyone’s life I believe we all come to a fork in the road of life. One road leads to truth and a life of purpose, meaning, and eternal joy and happiness. The other road leads to death and destruction. The choice as to what road to take seems obvious, but it is both a simple and hard choice. We are broken people and are quite prone to stumbling often. But in the end we need to choose life, no matter how often we fail or stumble when we come to that fork. We need to choose truth. And if you feel that you are on the wrong road get off it and on to the road to truth. Its called redemption and Jesus’s arms are always wide open to those who truly believe in him.

John 14:6 – I am the Way, the Truth and the Life……..

Deuteronomy 30:19 – ” Today I (God) have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.

Christian writer Max Lucado put the importance of Christmas in perspective when he wrote the following words….

When it comes to goodies and candy, rosy cheeks and red noses, go to the North Pole. But when it comes to ETERNITY…FORGIVENESS…PURPOSE…AND TRUTH…go to the manger, kneel with the shepherds and worship the God who dared to do what man dared not dream. Heaven opened itself and placed its most precious one in a human womb….GOD BECAME MAN…THE CREATOR OF LIFE WAS CREATED.

God Bless You and Merry Christmas.

Author N.T. Wright says the following, “God’s new world of justice and joy, of hope for the whole earth, was launched when Jesus came out of the tomb on Easter Morning, and I know that He calls His followers to live in him and by the power of the Spirit and so to be new-creation people here and now…”

So what does all of the above mean? Well obviously things changed for us as part of God’s Creation. We, as sinners, have been redeemed by Jesus’s death on the cross and offered eternal life thru His Resurrection. Many of us shy away from this because we don’t believe it is possible or real. Basically we just don’t believe in God. 

Well the good news is that IF God created the universe (and He did) then everything is possible. Amen and God Bless You.

James Bryan Smith

Jesus loves me with all my imperfections. He loves me just as I am, not as I should be. I know there is a lot of things that I do (sin) that are wrong. There are things in my life that I need to change. There are things I don’t like about myself. Jesus is teaching me to re-think my life, look forward, and let him help me stay on the road to redemptio;n. I know that he is not finished with me yet. I know that I am loved. The road is broken, But I thank Jesus for the broken road that leads me to him.

Philippians 1:6 – being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus

I have always been a fan of the KISS Theory. KISS stands for “Keep It Simple Stupid”. So I will attempt to keep the following words as simple as possible. I believe in God and I believe Jesus is God. I believe He loves us unconditionally and gives us amazing grace and forgiveness throughout our lives…..no strings attached. He basically says “here it is, I am the Way and the Truth”. Now we have a choice to make. Do we believe him or not. So if this seems confusing, try to follow this idea. If you have a instruction manual for your washing machine it would not provide information on how your car works and vice versa. If I am trying to figure out why my car won’t run then I need to go to my car instruction manual. Well, guess what. Jesus provides us with an instruction manual on how to mange our lives. How to point our lives in the direction of purpose and meaning. Its called the Holy Bible. It contains all the answers on how to manage our lives. Lots and lots of answers to problems and otherwise that plague us throughout our lives. The washing machine manual and car manual and all the self help books in the world will not provide the answers to our questions about life like the Bible will. You turn to Bible and start re-thinking your life and its pretty much a guarantee that you will like what you hear and learn. Its up to you and nobody else.

What is God’s instruction? God gave us a path of righteousness to live by, and He showed us the right path to live and gave us the instructions to pass down to our children and the society that we live in . The instructions that God gave teaches mankind how to live right, treat others, how to love, forgive and what to do and not to do.

Following I will paraphrase a reading by author James Bryan Smith on acceptance. God’s acceptance of us is not based on any qualities that we have. Its a promise and therefore received by faith. We need to trust God’s promise that he accepts us not based on performance but just as we are…..no conditions attached. We are urged to make peace with our brokenness and flawed existence. Furthermore, may we have courage not to run when the voice of our condemning heart would tear us away from God. God’s acceptance of us as we are allows us to accept ourselves just as we are. I believe this and trusting God will help me to ‘accept that acceptance”.

Romans 8:34 – Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died— more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.