Setting the bar infinitely high

Traditional religion has set an impossible standard for us to achieve, and then bases God's love on that standard. That screws everyone up, because on the inside, even the guys who are preaching it are dying of guilt and fear. Let's face it, people are not robots that can be programmed to be perfect Christians. We're all sinners. We all have shameful moments that we don't want people to know about, and whether or not we confess those actions or thoughts, Jesus knows full well that none of us are perfect. Indeed why would we need Him if we were?

--Jay Bakker, son of Jim Bakker

An open letter to sinners

Dear sinner,
If you're reading this, you are a sinner, whether you realize it or not.
Do you find that offensive? We are easily offended when we feel
someone is making judgements against us. "You don't even know
me", "I know that I'm just as good a person as religious people
are", or "don't force your morality/beliefs on me" might be
responses that are triggered. I think those are all valid points.
Yet, because I believe that the Bible is true, I beg you to hear
me out.

I know there are a million different religions in the world,
and even among Christians the differences in beliefs seem to
be endless. I think that to find some kind of meaningful answers,
one has to look at the very basic questions:
1. How did we get here?
Evolution doesn't address the origin of life. The big bang
theory doesn't explain the existence of the universe. The
Bible explains both, as well as the meaning and purpose of
life.
2. What happens after we die?
To the naturalist, this brief existence is all there is. I know
many philosophers and atheists try to put a very brave face
on that, but I think that "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow
we die" makes life look so empty and meaningless that despair would
be the only conclusion. If we are more than merely physical
creatures, and part of us, the real us, lives on, then we have
more to consider.

Let me, in a very pathetic way, try to sum up the message of the
Bible in a few paragraphs:

God created man, woman, and everything else. The first man
and woman sinned. Their sin separated them from God, and
they became cursed to die.

Fast forward in time, God makes a covenant (a promise or contract)
with Abraham and promises that the world will be blessed through
him. Fast forward some more, God makes a covenant at Mt. Sinai
with Moses and the Israelites, in which he gives them His Law
and promises to bless them if they obey it, which they fail to do.
The sacrificial system, animal sacrifice, is brought in as atonement
(paying the price) for the sins of the people.

Fast forward again, the culmination of everything. God's eternal
plan of salvation fully revealed, His one and only son, Jesus, comes
to the earth, born of a virgin. He lives the life that we cannot live,
a life without sin. He gives his life willingly for a sinful world, so
they can be reconciled to God. He endures torture and a horrible
death on a cross. He became the true sacrifice that the old
testament sacrifices pointed to. He is buried, and three days later
is raised from the dead. He appears to many of his followers
before returning to the right hand of God.

Jesus Christ offers eternal life and forgiveness of sin to all who
believe in Him.

And if you're a sinner like me, that is good news indeed.

Our greatest need

"Many people today are saying, “My religion is the Sermon on the Mount.” Very candidly, the Sermon on the Mount as a religion is making more hypocrites today than anything I know of – because you know you’re not keeping it. If you are honest, you know you are not living by it. But it does reveal to you that you come short of the glory of God." --Vernon McGee

In another place he says again:
"Matthew records the Sermon on the Mount as does no other Gospel writer. Why? He gives it for a people under Law. May I say to you that it's given for people who have a religion. Have you ever noticed that the liberal always goes to it? I've talked to any number of men and women who have said that the Sermon on the Mount was their religion. But I haven't found anybody yet who's keeping it. You'd better change your religion, friend, unless you keep it. Our need is not religion; we need a Savior." --Vernon McGee

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
-- William Cowper

The beloved Vernon McGee

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. (Matthew 23:23)
They argued about little things. I hear questions like this: "Dr. McGee, do you think a Christian could smoke a cigarette?" My reaction is this: Why don't you grow up? What about faith and mercy and judgment in your life? You don't smoke, but what about your life? Is Christ real to you today or are you merely playing a part? Listen to Him:
Ye blind guides, who strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. (Matthew 23:24)
That's a good one! If I had been there, I would have laughed at that comparison.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. (Matthew 23:25)
That sums it all up: What's outside is religion; what is inside - that's Christianity. When you get the inside clean, the outside will take care of itself.
--Vernon McGee

You can't handle the truth

I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

Safety, certainty, and enjoyment

http://www.wholesomewords.org/resources/safety.html

I hear the words of love, I gaze upon the blood,
I see the mighty Sacrifice,And I have peace with God.

‘Tis everlasting peace! Sure as Jehovah’s name;
‘Tis stable as His steadfast throne,For evermore the same.

The clouds may go and come, And storms may sweep my sky—
This blood-sealed friendship changes not: The cross is ever nigh.

My love is oft times low, My joy still ebbs and flows;
But peace with Him remains the same—No change Jehovah knows.

I change, he changes not, The Christ can never die;
His love, not mine,the resting-place, His truth, not mine, the tie.

The Cross still stands unchanged, Though heaven is now His home;
The mighty stone is rolled away, But yonder is His tomb!

And yonder is my peace, The grace of all my woes!
I know the Son of God has come, I know He died and rose.

I know He liveth now At God’s right hand above;
I know the throne on which He sits,I know His truth and love!

--Horatius Bonar, 1861