This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. Hebrews 6:19
It has taken many years in my walk of faith to overcome the thought of trying to do ‘enough’ to please God. This is, unfortunately, how many people live their lives; hoping that they have been to church enough, read their Bibles enough, and prayed enough to please God. They hope God will forgive them and are often times uncertain that He actually will. They hope that they will one day be considered worthy of heaven.
Hope is vastly different from God’s point of view and He doesn’t want us to just live our lives trying to fulfill some sort of ‘Holy status-quo.’ True hope comes from being thankful that God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for us, thus saving us from certain death.
We can look back to the past to know that God never breaks His promises to us because He is just and He is good. His grace is not something we can earn or work towards like bonus points on a credit card or airline.
True hope comes from knowing that He loves us and that’s why He sent Jesus to this earth to save us, even though we don’t deserve it.
Hello Will!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Anders and I found your blog today.
You wrote: “True hope comes from knowing that He loves us and that’s why He sent Jesus to this earth to save us,”
I would like to comment about salvation and forgiveness in order to be helpful!! The comment is lengthy in order to make it understandable.
(To differentiate,)
This is what the Jewish Messiah must have taught about ‘salvation’ - if he was a legitimate prophet according to Deuteronomy 13:1-6: He was called Y'hohua and Christians later changed his name to "Jesus" and changed his teachings [See docmentation at www.netzarim.co.il ].
As stipulated in Dt. 6:4-9,11:13-21 one is required to keep all of the directives of Torâh′ to one’s utmost—viz., “with all one’s heart, psyche and might [lit. "very"]“—”for the purpose of extending your days and the days of your children… like the days of the heavens above the earth” (i.e., eternal life). According to the Hebrew Bible, Ezekiel chapter 18 et.al, the Creator confer His atonement in His loving kindness to those and only those turning away from their Torah [Books of Moses]-transgressions and (re)turning to non-selectively observance of the commandments in the books of Moses. Everyone has transgressed the commandments in the books of Moses and it is possible to obtain forgiveness from the Creator in His loving kindness when living in the above way. The Creator has promised this in His Bible – which is in Hebrew – and He doesn’t lie.
Thus, the way of ‘salvation’ in NT, referred to in your post, contradicts the books of Moses and what the Jewish first century Messiah called Y’hoshua taught. I am a former Christian and understand that after having studied Torah in Hebrew according to etymology. The Creator wants to forgive, but ONLY as long as we do our best to keep His Will. “Accepting the Christian gospel” is not a commandment of Torah and is prohibited in Torah.
Doing your utmost to follow the directives of Torah - the books of Moses - will lead you into an immensely meaningful relationship with the Creator. I have been doing this for more than four years and it has led me into a great relationship with the Creator.
All the best!
Anders Branderud