Anticipating Snow

(Don't worry!  This picture is not looking out my back window.  It was taken during a trip to New Mexico a few years ago).

Only in Oklahoma do schools close the night before anticipating a snow or ice storm.
With schools closed, I didn't have to help at the book fair and I actually sat down to write a blog.

This predicted snow storm reminds me of waiting.  The anticipation builds!  Like waiting for an exciting trip, you plan, pack, and wait.  Finally, you get to enjoy the much awaited voyage.

It also highlights “prediction.”  In Oklahoma, you really never know the actual forecast for weather.  Poor weather men.  They really try.  I guess people think they are God, the only One who can accurately forecast the weather.  One degree can be the difference between rain and ice, between snow storm and flood.  I find it ironic that people will complain about the forecasters, yet still listen to them.  I think the weathermen (and women) deserve more grace.  If everyone prepares for snow and we never get it, better than not being prepared and it comes.

With a snow storm predicted, people rush to the stores and the gas pump to prepare.  The fool doesn’t prepare.  He drives on a low gas tank daring the weather to change.  He can deny it all he wants, but it does not change the truth.  When the snow begins (when the forecaster are actually right), the fool can continue to deny the truth or change his mind and prepare.  In some cases, the snow may too quickly for him to be safe.  Better to prepare than dare.

Preparing for a snow storm reminds me of preparing for Jesus’ return.

Even though the Bible promises the day (or night) will come, some people live in denial.  The fool chooses to live lives as if they will never be judged for their actions that separate them from a holy God.  Sadly, when Jesus comes, it will be too late to prepare.  

    

Others prepare wrongly.  Everyone would laugh at the woman at the carwash the day it is predicted to snow.  Does she know the forecast?  Or does she have an obsession for a clean car?  Is she preparing correctly?

Similarly, some people believe if they just “clean themselves up”, try their very best, perform good deeds, they will be prepared for Jesus.  Are they preparing correctly?

The Bible shares the way to prepare, the only way.  Yes, one must be “clean.”  However, the Bible tells us we cannot clean ourselves.  The only way to be clean is through forgiveness.  So how can you have forgiveness?  Hebrews 9:22b says, “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

Why blood?  From the beginning of the Bible (Gen 3), God taught the penalty for sin is death.  In the garden, Adam and Eve disobeyed God.  They tried to cover their shame themselves, with fig leaves.  However, God showed them they couldn’t become clean before God in their own way.  God provided the way.  He killed animals and covered Adam and Eve with the animals’ skins.  Animals’ blood was shed for the forgiveness of sin.  Adam and Eve should have died for their sin, but the animals died in their place.  

Later, when God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, He also gave them a way to have forgiveness.  God instructed the people to build a tabernacle (dwelling place for God).  One special room, the most holy place, contained a wooden box covered with gold.  The lid, called the mercy seat, had two cherubim (angels) facing each other.  God dwelt between the cherubim.  For the people to have forgiveness, God required the High Priest to kill a perfect goat, catch the goat’s blood, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat.  

What an appropriate name, mercy seat.  Mercy is when we don’t get what we deserve.  The people deserved death for their sin (the penalty for sin is death).  Yet, God allowed the goat to die in their place.  

The name of this yearly ceremony: The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16).  A day that sins of the people were atoned, “purged of sin, wiped clean .“[1]   

Then the next day, the people would return to more sacrifices for their daily sins bringing sacrifices of animals to the altar of burnt offering (Leviticus 4).  God’s continual message:  The penalty for sin is death.  There must be blood for the forgiveness of sins.  The animals died in place of the people.

All of the lessons of forgiveness before Jesus were preparing the people for Jesus.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus (John 1:29) he proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Jesus: the perfect Lamb, sinless.  Jesus: the perfect sacrifice, a man (yet, also God) dying in the place of a man (or woman).  Jesus: the substitute for me.  I should die (spiritually separated after my physical death) for my sin.  Yet, Jesus died in my place.  

I could write pages on the details of Jesus being our final High Priest (Hebrews 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10).  I will let you read more if you are snowed in today (even if you aren’t snowed in).

Some of my favorite verses are Hebrews 9:24-26:

“²⁴ For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. ²⁵ And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. ²⁶ If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.”

Jesus’ death provided a way for us to have forgiveness of sin.  If we believe he died on the cross in our place, turn from our way of pleasing God, and ask Jesus to forgive us and take control of our lives, each of us can be prepared for His return.

Jesus provided a way and promises to return.  Unlike unpredictable forecasts, when Jesus gives us a promise, we know He will keep it. 

John 14: 1-6 says “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. ³ If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way where I am going.” ⁵ Thomas *said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Are you prepared for Jesus?  Or are you preparing in your own way?  Do not be a fool.  Prepare today!

 And yes, we are now getting snow.  Reminds me of the scripture, "Wash me and I will be whiter than snow" (Psalm 51:7)

 

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[1] Mounce, William D. Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Word. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.

Need Hope?

Dirty laundry, diapers, disobedient children, There is HOPE!

Dread, depression, divorce, There is HOPE!

Drunk, disease, death, There is HOPE!

Diet, Dumb drivers, delayed, There is HOPE!

Doubled over pain, debt, disabled, There is HOPE!

Distance, drown, disaster, There is HOPE!

Dried land, drained, despondent, There is HOPE!

Everyone needs Hope. Real, down to earth, yet out of this world HOPE. This world may offer temporary fixes to some of the”d”s, but everyone needs eternal hope, this world cannot offer. The Bible describes hope differently than the world. The world’s hope is only wishful thinking. For example, I hope the weather is nice; or I hope there is a front row parking space. The Bible offers Real hope, an expectant truth, given in a person, Jesus. Because God always keeps His promises, we can trust Him and receive Jesus as our hope.

To receive hope, you must believe the Bible. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Sin, choosing our way instead of God's way, separates us from a perfect God. The glory of God describes God's perfection. Because God is perfect, he cannot allow sin into heaven. Wow! We have a problem. God hates sin, and we are full of sin. To receive hope, we must admit we need hope because of our sin.

The Bible says in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Wages are what we receive for the work we do, what we deserve. The wages for sin: death. "But" (I love that word) read the rest of the verse. The good news: God gave us a gift of eternal life in Jesus. Because it is a gift, I cannot earn his forgiveness.

Jesus came to earth, totally God and totally man, to live a perfect life. Because Jesus lived without sin, when He died on the cross, God accepted his death as payment for everyone's sin. More good news: the Bible says in Romans 5:8, "But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!" Because we cannot make ourselves right before God by what we do, Jesus forgives us the way we are: full of sin. To receive the gift of hope, we must believe that Jesus can offer hope through His death on the cross.

The Bible says in Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Awesome news! ss references:

A.Romans 5:8 : Rm 3:5

B.Romans 5:8 : Jn 3:16; 15:13; Rm 8:39

To receive the gift of hope Jesus offers, you must confess.

Do you need to admit, believe, and confess today to receive eternal hope through Jesus?

 If you would like to receive eternal hope today or just have questions,

I Want Hope

When you receive Jesus you not only have eternal hope, but hope for the daily "d"s (see top).




Linked to A Holy Experience

Spring Cleaning: New Carpet

(I'm sorry I haven't finished "Truth, part 3".  I took a Spring Break)  Here are some spilling thoughts of hope...

My much needed Spring Break with the girls ended today when I dropped them off to school.  We had a great week of time with family, friends, and SPRING CLEANING.  The girls, not as thrilled as I, endured cleaning their closets and rooms.  One project led to another, including tearing out old carpet to have new carpet in the girls' rooms.


I.  Why new carpet?

We moved into our current house 3 1/2 years ago.  The former owners replaced the carpet with the cheapest they could find to avoid giving us a carpet allowance.  We let the girls wear the carpet out!  When I had the carpets cleaned the week before last, the carpet cleaner asked if we had dogs.  "No, but our previous owners did."  Come to find out, in one of the rooms, they only replaced the carpet, not the pad.  Gross!  It only became evident when they wet the cheap carpet to clean it.  Needless to say, we are getting new carpet today! 

II.  How to get new carpet?

This reminded me of my how I used to take care of my stains (sin; choosing my way, not God's way).  My life, like the carpet, had stains from "accidents" (sin) that left a nasty look and atrocious smell that God could not accept.  He only accepts perfection, because He is perfect.  Instead of getting rid of the stains, I tried to cover it with carpet of good deeds (cleaning my room when told, letting go of my sister when told, trying my best in 2nd grade) church going (every time the doors were open).  I thought the more I went to church the better the carpet, right?  However, the Bible says we cannot get rid of sin by DOING more. (CEV) Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God's gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own.  It isn't something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about."  So how could I get rid of the stains?  Only forgiveness gets rid of the stains.  So how can I have forgiveness? (CEV) 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 says, "God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others. What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world."   We can only have forgiveness through Jesus, who died on the cross to take the penalty for our sin, death.  He died to offer us forgiveness.  When we trust in Him, God tears out the old carpet and pad (sin) and gives us new carpet, Jesus carpet (crimson red, from His blood).

III.  How to keep clean carpet?

God only accepts Jesus carpet in our lives to go to heaven.  Jesus carpet, the perfection God demands, is stain resistant.  Does that mean I will never sin again?  No.  But, every time I have an accident on the carpet (sin), the sin is already covered, and easily cleaned. I noticed the day after I had my carpet cleaned, how protective I became to keep it clean. That is how God wants us to be with our lives. (CEV) Romans 6:1-4 says, "Should we keep on sinning, so that God's wonderful kindness will show up even better?   No, we should not! If we are dead to sin, how can we go on sinning?   Don't you know that all who share in Christ Jesus by being baptized also share in his death?  When we were baptized, we died and were buried with Christ. We were baptized, so that we would live a new life, as Christ was raised to life by the glory of God the Father."  God says, don't keep sinning carelessly because you have Jesus.  When I have another accident, I need to tell God about it, so the carpet (my life) remains clean and useful. (CEV) 1 John 1:9 says, "But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away."

So, what kind of carpet do you have in your life?  Carpet you choose stained from sin? Carpet you try to keep clean with your own efforts, never removing the stains?  Or crimson red carpet God provides through the blood of Jesus? If you already have Jesus carpet, are there areas of your life you need to tell God about?  You only have to ask God for new carpet (forgiveness) and he will do the rest.

Verses taken from  the CEV (Contemporary English Version).

Potholes of Fear

I'm sure you are like me and your first thoughts of the day were about potholes.  OK, maybe not. (Hopefully not).  I can justify my madness, unlike other times.  I spoke about fear, to some wonderful, Jesus following, ladies at a retreat today.  The title of my session was, "Avoiding the Potholes of Fear" to go along with the theme "Life's a Trip."  I pondered on my notes one more time this morning and thoughts began to spill.

I remember driving my first car, a blue 1988 Suzuki Samurai (no a/c because what sixteen-year-old needs a/c in small town Oklahoma where you drive less than one mile to church and school and only three miles to work?  Only God knew that I'd drive that way until I got married at age twenty-five) down backroads in a miserably hot summer (no a/c remember), in smaller rural Oklahoma for my summer college job at a bank.  I don't believe anyone took responsibility for road maintenance.  The roads, heavily traveled by combines, semi-trucks, and local pickups remotely looked like pavement, resembling more of a battle field of potholes, better described as craters.  I thought about how potholes can represent fear, especially unwarranted, "what ifs" fear.

1)  Like potholes, fear causes damage.

Potholes can cause serious damage to your vehicle: changing alignment, bursting tires, scraping who knows what under your car, and can even cause you to wreck.  Fear also changes our "alignment with God".  It changes our focus from Jesus to us and our fears.  It may cause us to veer off the road God wants us to travel.    

2)  Like potholes, fear causes detours.

Potholes get bigger with time, overtaking pavement if not filled.  Eventually (unless in rural Oklahoma), the road temporarily closes for repair, resulting in detours.  People cannot use the road, the purpose for which it was made.  Our fear can grow if not properly assessed and diverted.  Our lives, wrecked by fear, hold a "temporarily closed" sign that God cannot use us as He desires.

3)  Like potholes, fear causes deceleration.
Potholes require us to slow down and concentrate on the potholes, rather than the road.  Fear causes us to slow down in our spiritual growth.  

4)  Like potholes, fear causes us to be desensitized.

After a while, the road of potholes no longer require our full attention.  We drive comfortably on the rugged road, knowing exactly where to swerve and accepting the fact that the maintenance crew may never repair the road.  With fear, we desensitize to its presence in our lives.  We wrongly concede to time-wasting, peaceless fear, believing the lie that fear does not affect us enough to care.  And honestly, may not care to change because we live contently with our fear, unable to imagine life any differently.

God desires us to live in freedom from fear, filling our frightening potholes of fear with faith.  The Bible teaches us how to overcome fear, beginning with personally knowing the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

What do you fear?  Are you tired of it yet?

Can a Baby Be God?

Can a Baby Be God?

As a mother of three girls, I remember looking at them as babies (and still do) and wonder, "What will be like when they grow up?"  I love the song, “Mary Did You Know?” by Kutless.  The song asks “Mary did you know that your baby boy (Jesus) would…”  One of the lines says “Did you know when you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God?”   How can this be?  Can a baby be God?

You can understand how a baby can be God if you understand God’s three persons, God’s promises and God’s plan      (Note:  All scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Version, unless noted.)

(For other languages and translations go to biblegateway.com)

First, God’s three persons

Well, it starts at the beginning.  According to Genesis (the first book of the Bible that means “beginnings”), when God created the world (the first message of the Bible), the word “God” in the original Hebrew language (in which most of the Old Testament , including the first five books of the Bible known as the Torah) is a plural form.  No, that doesn’t mean there is more than one God.  The Bible repeatedly and adamantly teaches that there is only one God.  Deuteronomy 6:4 (part of the Torah) says “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” (Also see Isaiah 45:21-22 and Isaiah 46:9)  But God, in His awesomeness, cannot be simplified into a concept we can fully understand.   God is only one, but three persons (plural), God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  After God created the world, the Bible says in Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; (emphasis mine).  Again, the Bible teaches God as plural persons using the words “Us” and “Our”.  With these two Genesis references alone, we can see that God’s person is not singular, but plural  (Also see Psalm 110:1, Matthew 28:19, 1 Peter 1:2, and Jude 1:20-21 to read verses about God’s three persons).   This leaves room for a baby to be God.  But how?

Second, God’s promises

Immediately after Adam and Eve broke God’s rule to not eat of the forbidden fruit, God promised He would send a Deliverer to take care of our sin problem.  When God punishes the serpent (Satan) in Genesis 3: 15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” God promised that someone born of woman would destroy Satan by crushing him.

God promised this  Deliverer would come from the line of Abraham.  In Genesis 18:  God tells Abraham and Sarah that they will have a child in their old age.  In verse 17, The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?  (emphasis mine)  The only way ALL the nations could be blessed is the fact that the Deliverer would come from Abraham’s descendants.

God gave the same promise, or covenant to Isaac.  God told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son in their old age.  They laughed and Genesis 17: 18 – 21 says 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” ¹⁹ But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” (emphasis mine)

God promised this Deliverer come from the line of David and establish an eternal kingdom.  I Kings 2:45 “But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.” (emphasis mine) 

Isaiah 9: 6-7  ⁶ For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. (emphasis mine)

Isaiah 9:6-7 could be a blog post of its own!  This promise written around 700 B.C. ties God’s promise in 1Kings about David’s everlasting kingdom to a child, Mighty God (vs. 6), that will given TO US!  Wow!  I love the other names given to Jesus in verse 6.  Can you find them?

Isaiah, the prophet, also wrote (Isaiah 7:14) “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”  I love this verse.  Immanuel means “God with us”.  This means the baby will be God.

We know God always keeps His promises.

Finally, God’s plan

When the time was just right (God’s timing is always perfect), God kept His promise to send the Deliverer. (For the complete line of descendants from Abraham to the Deliverer, see Matthew Chapter 1, part of Injil).

God told Mary the plan through an angel.  She responded like this:  In Luke 1:30-35 (book in New Testament, also in the Injil) ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. (emphasis mine). 

Nothing is impossible with God.  God is all-powerful.  When he decided Jesus needed to be born of woman (totally human), yet divine (totally God) to be the sinless sacrifice needed, the Holy Spirit (also person of God) came upon Mary, not in any sexual way, but in a supernatural way.  And for this reason, the holy (perfect) Child shall be called the Son of God.  The “Son” describes the spiritual relationship with the “Father”, not a physical relationship of Father/Son (descendant).  Therefore, Jesus is not a second god, as some believe.  Jesus IS God.  

Galatians 4:4-5 ⁴ But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, ⁵ so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

God sent His son (person of God we talked about at the top, Jesus), born of a woman (virgin Mary, promised in Isaiah) so that God will redeem us (pay for our sin), that we might receive the adoption as sons (and daughters).  Really?  We can have a relationship with God?  Yes.  Jesus IS the promised Deliverer that the whole Old Testament prophesied about. 

The book of John (book in New Testament and in the Injil) one of Jesus’ closest friends, also explains how God’s plan from the beginning, included God becoming a baby, Jesus.

John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  John 1:14   And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is “the Word”.  Substitute “Jesus” for “Word”.  In the beginning was Jesus (part of the three persons of God that created everything), and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God.  And Jesus became flesh (became a human baby or “put on skin”) and lived on earth (dwelt among us, another blog post), and we saw Jesus’ glory, glory because He is begotten (not created, but in God’s exact representation, also another blog post), full of grace (Heba, for my Arabic friends) and truth.

I’m so thankful that the God of the universe would want to have a relationship with me.  I am a daughter, co-heir with Jesus himself.  I’m thankful we have the Bible, the word of God, that never changes to give us the answers to how a baby could be God.    And yes, as we celebrate Christmas, we can believe that Jesus, the baby is God. 

John 1:12 says, ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

 “Him” and “His” is Jesus.  Will you receive Jesus as God?  Will you believe in His name?  You, too can be a child of God. (1-888-Jesus-2000)

Jesus didn’t stay a baby….Did He claim to be God? (a future post)

Mary Did you Know? (youtube video)

My Lifegiving Rescue in Light of a Breathtaking Rescue

Remember these pics from 10/13/10 in

Santiago Chile?

          Everyone loves rescue stories: in books, movies, and life.  It’s been a year since over one billion viewers held their breaths as 33 men in Chile, trapped for 69 days, finally surfaced from a collapsed mine a half -mile underground.  The last of the 33men found freedom about 22 hours after the first.  What a miraculous story!  From surviving 17 days without contact with the outside world, surviving on food enough for two days, to surviving the actual assent to freedom, each step of survival amazed the world.

I have a rescue story, too.  Even though my rescue has many similarities to the miners’ rescue, we see one major difference.  Like the miners, I needed a Savior.  However, my need was not for my physical life, but for my spiritual life.

I’m sure the miners thought they could die during several occasions over the sixty-nine day event.  Similarly, I remember as a second grader coming face to face with death as a reality, and even feared death, when I lost three grandparents in six months.  I heard about heaven, vaguely understanding the concept, but knew I wanted to go there when I died.  My parents explained that my grandparents were in heaven after they died.  We last saw each of my grandparents’ bodies at the funeral home.  My youngest sister, four-years-old at the time, thought Baggerly’s Funeral home in Edmond, Oklahoma was actually heaven.  These events made me question my own spiritual condition.  By understanding the other similarities and differences of our rescues, you too, can experience a life giving rescue.

First, understand another difference.  Unlike the miners who knew immediately after the collapse of the mine that they needed help, I originally didn’t understand I needed help.  As a young girl, I thought… I’m a pretty good girl.  I go to church every Sunday with my family; I’ve never murdered anyone, even though I’ve been mad enough at my older brother to kill him J.   I try to be nice to my two younger sisters and older brother, and I usually only hit them if they hit me first.  Well, ok.  I start some of the commotion myself J.   I do the best I can in school.  I think God will love me because I’m not as bad as other people.  But through God’s Word, I learned that my bad actions, bad thoughts, bad attitudes were called sin.  And even one sin was enough to separate me from the perfect God of the Bible.   Because God is perfect, he does not allow sin into heaven.  I may not have been trapped under a mile of rock, but sin trapped me, separating me from God.  I realized I needed to be rescued. I needed a Savior.

Now understand the first similarity:  Just think what would have happened if the miners thought they could escape on their own.  They all would have perished.  I also used to think I could free myself from my sin.  Maybe if I just do enough good things, go to church regularly, give money to the poor, then I could save myself from my sin.  Ephesians 2:8-9  says…For by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works so that no one should boast.  Just as impossible as it would have been for the miners to escape with a small hammer, it is impossible to work our way into heaven.

The second similarity:  The miners didn’t “deserve” to be rescued.  The miners hadn’t “earned the right” to escape.  They merely experienced the new joy because people that loved them wanted them back.  Therefore, people whom they never even met worked to make it happen.  Likewise, I didn’t have to “do” anything to deserve God’s grace.  Only because of God’s love for me did he display His grace to me by rescuing me in spite of my sin.  The Bible says God came and rescued us “while we were sinners”.  We don’t have to make our lives look better and then God will accept us.  He accepts us even when sin traps us.

The third similarity:  Like the miners only had one way out, God gave us one way out.  God sent Jesus.  John 3:16  For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.  John 14:6  "I am the way, the truth, and the life!" Jesus answered. "Without me, no one can go to the Father.  Why would God send His only Son to die for us if there was another way?

The fourth similarity:  For the miners, it was not enough for them to KNOW ABOUT the escape route, but they had to demonstrate their faith by getting into the escape capsule.  How absurd would it have been if the miners decided to stay where they were and not be rescued?  But they did have a choice to escape, or not.  The miners had to place their faith in the rescue effort.  Once they stepped out in faith into the escape contraption, they did not have to put out any effort of their own to ascend to the surface.  They totally relied on their rescuers.

I remember realizing that my grandparents could only go to heaven because of their faith in Jesus.  They each had to decide for themselves if they would believe.  It didn’t matter if they were born to believing parents.  It didn’t matter if they had perfect church attendance.  It didn’t matter if they knew the great stories of the Bible or the nice songs about Jesus.  If they didn’t believe it for themselves, they would have died in their sin, separated from God.

Similarly, one night we had a speaker at our church (a good ole’ revival service).  God helped me understand that I needed to place my faith in Jesus, God’s only rescue effort. The Bible tells us, the penalty for my sin is death, separated from God forever.  But Jesus died in my place. God accepted Jesus’ blood on the cross as a payment for my sin. I told God I trusted Him and wanted to have Jesus save me by forgiving my sin.  Once I trusted in Christ, I turned from my self- effort of escape to rely only on Christ for my escape.  I couldn’t “do” anything else to help my escape.  It was by faith alone that I God rescued me. 

My life giving rescue changed my life that night.  God gave me freedom from trying to be perfect to deserve His love, which I could never do, to resting in what Christ did for me.  God accepted me the way I was, warts and all.  I no longer lived separated from God, but began a relationship/friendship with God.  I no longer fear death because I know that if I were to die, God has made a way for me to go to heaven.  God not only promises heaven after death, but promises to make life on earth worth living.  God gave me purpose in life, to honor Him all my days. 

The final similarity:  Even though the miners went from darkness to light immediately, they still had to adjust their lives to the change.  They wore sun glasses to protect their eyes.  My life also changed from spiritual darkness to light when I asked Jesus to forgive me, but I am continuing to adjust to my new life in Christ.  God isn’t done with me yet.  He’s fixing me, warts and all, to be more like Christ. 

I praise God everyday for my rescue story.  I would be nothing without Christ.  Life would be futile trapped in sin’s dark mine.   You, too, can have a Life giving rescue story.  Have you realized you are trapped?  Are you trying to work your own way out?  Have you accepted God’s only rescue plan, Jesus?  If you have questions, you can call 1-888-JESUS-2000.

Final challenge for those already rescued:  What if only one man in the mine knew the rescue plan, but refused to tell the others about it?  Suppose he left in the middle of the night, leaving the others to perish.  If you know the plan, when was the last time you shared the plan with someone else?

My rescue was only the beginning of my journey.