Faith... It's an interesting word. How do you define it? People say we are "Saved by GRACE through FAITH." What does that mean? What is faith? Is it believing there is a God? Believing that his one and only son died on a cross for all of mankind's sins (including yours)? Does it mean we believe he defeated not only sin but death and rose again on the third day? Does it mean we believe that his holy spirit dwells within us? Or does it mean we proclaim the gospel? Does it mean we LIVE the gospel? The short answer: yes. Faith includes all of this.
Through faith we get closer to God, we truly learn what it's like to live a life with God, the way things were meant to me. Although people fall into the misconception that your actions save you. If you're a "good person" you'll be saved and live with god forever in heaven. Kinda...
Sin separates us from God. Every time we sin we get a little further away. Eventually without God at all, we cannot live, it's how he designed us. Picture this. Creation, God just created the heavens, earth, all things in it, then the culmination, the pinnacle of all creation!--Humanity. And what did he have to say about it... "It was good." This means things were perfect, everything was in order just as he intended it to be. But what happens? We screw it up... We sinned. It's like taking a perfectly good sheet of paper and tearing it in half. You can't put it back together! Try it. lol tell me how that works out for you. Tape does not fix it.
The point is, there is never ANYTHING we can do to get back to where we were before the first sin. No action will put the paper back the way it was before we tore it. So how then, do we get back to God? There must be something God does to get us back with him... This is his biggest desire! We are the pinnacle of his creation, the pride of God, his crowning jewel!
He let his son die for us... A perfect, blameless man; died for us. Took all of our sins and washed them away... That statement now has more weight to it huh? God put the paper back together...
But don't forget about the thing that caused man to fall, the thing that ruined all of creation. Ultimately it was our choice, but we were tempted by evil... Nothing has changed guys. The closer you get to God the further you get from Satan and the more he wants you to fall.
Think about it like this: Get a piece of paper out. Draw two dots on either end of the paper. Label one God the other Satan. Get a rubber band, put it around the dot that says Satan. Put one finger on the dot that is labeled Satan (inside the rubber band). Take the other finger and put it also in the rubber band (this is you). Try to pull the other finger closer to God. There is resistance isn't there? The harder you pull the more resistance from satan there is... This is exactly how it works... The cool thing about a rubber band is the longer you hold out, the longer you have your finger closer to god the weaker that rubber band gets... It eventually loses it's elasticity.
Hold out.... Keep seeking out God, keep serving him--Keep the FAITH. The rubber band of temptation gets weaker the longer you hold it.
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