Project Resurrected

Project Resurrected

How many times do we hear about a building project that is full of potential only to learn later that it is dead in its tracks, a shell of what it could be? Then a new owner comes along who resurrects the project; who injects new life into it. All of the beauty and magnificence originally hoped for is realized. Many lives are positively impacted as a result.

I attend a Sunday School class called Finding our Place in God’s Story. This past Sunday we examined Jesus’ death and resurrection and were asked by our instructor, Pastor Beau Stanley, to write a one paragraph summary of what this means to us. As I reflected on the lesson and what Jesus’ death and resurrection mean to me, I thought of the illustration above.

You see, before I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I was like that building project, full of potential but dead in my tracks, a shell of what I could be. There was nothing I could do pay the debt of my sin. Jesus came along and took upon himself on the cross the punishment that was meant for me (Rom 3:23, Rom 6:23, John 3:16.) Through Jesus’ death & resurrection, I too was resurrected.  I have been injected with new life (John 10:10.) I have been redeemed and restored to the beauty and magnificence that God originally intended for me.

 

Jesus Christ can do the same for you!!

 

Blessings

 BDE  

Opposites Attract

Our society has become fixated on name calling, labels, and political correctness. The very things people accuse others of, they often are themselves. For example, if someone calls another homophobic, could it be that that someone is heterophobic ? What about the person who labels another intolerant.  Isn’t it highly likely that they themselves are being intolerant? The same goes for being a hate monger! What about the folks who play the race card at every opportunity? Aren’t they actually the ones who are being racist?

 In the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), Jesus challenges us to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Our neighbor isn’t just the guy next door or the family down the street. Our “neighbor” could be anybody that we come across that needs our assistance even if that person is our enemy. Yes, Jesus commands us to love our enemy’s (Matthew 5:44.). It could be the person who calls you homophobic; who labels you as intolerant or a hate monger; who accuses you of being a racist.

 How do we do this? The Samaritans were looked down upon, even scorned by the Jewish people. The Samaritan had every reason to keep right on walking. Why would he want to help someone who was intolerant and a racist? Yet that is exactly what he did. What moved him to give of his time & resources? He extended his grace & mercy on the Jew. God has extended His grace (giving us something we don’t deserve or not giving us something we do deserve) and mercy (showing forgiveness and compassion) to us through his son Jesus Christ.  In Jesus’ death on the cross, he took our place. What was meant for us, Jesus paid our punishment in full. This was God’s ultimate expression of love and sacrifice.

Opposites attract when we look at our neighbor and our enemy through the lens of God’s grace and mercy towards us. We look to the cross and recognize that as Jesus unselfishly gave of himself, we are called to unselfishly give of ourselves.

 Let us be about the business of attracting opposites!!

 Blessings,

 BDE

WHY I DO NOT BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION

 

As human beings, we are blessed with the ability to not only appreciate the beauty of a well constructed home, building, car, watch etc., but to also admire the creator of such fine work.

When it comes to considering arguments for and against evolution, I think at times we try to overcomplicate things. We get bogged down and easily intimidated by the rhetoric, spin and intellectual presentation made by folks with DR and PHD after their names.

 We often hear that if science cannot prove it, it’s not truth. Is that actually true though? Science deals in the natural realm only. It doesn’t allow room for the supernatural.  Science is limited by man’s ability to interpret what can only be observed, tested and repeated. Science cannot prove that science is the only way to know truth.

 If I use science’s own standards of measuring truth then the process of evolution cannot explain nor prove the following questions:

 1). How did life begin?

2). Where did our ability to experience emotions come from?

3). Where did our sense of right and wrong (morality) come from?

4). How come there is no fossil record showing one specie evolving into another specie?

5). Why do unnatural phenomenon’s still occur.

 Unless these questions can be “scientifically” proven, then evolution is nothing more than a theory.  It’s a theory that I find takes far more faith to believe than it does for me to admire the creator of such fine work.

 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Blessings

BDE