The religious accused him of being a drunkard, a glutton and having tacky taste in friends. It is a profound irony that the Son of God visited this planet and one of the chief complaints against him was that he wasn't religious enough. Do you realize, just for that quality alone, the appeal Jesus will have to skeptics? He is irresistible. - Rebecca Manley Pippert (p.37)Genuine is the correct word here. He is the real thing - more than Coca-Cola is the real thing. Religious people always have expectations and they are often wrong. The truth will set you free and it is wonderful.
I have been studying the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus' parables and he was as sharp as any man. You must come to him with your thinking cap on. He outwits his opponents at every turn and they are unable to arrest him until he is ready to be arrested. He makes them look like the fools they are and they resent him - say he does miracles by the devil's power.
His mission was to take care of the heart of he matter: men are at the root sinners in need of saving. Once that is taken care of, the rest can be dealt with easily. That is why he has two comings. He comes the first time to take care of sin and a second time to make the rest right. We didn't need a political solution, but a heart solution.
I don't believe that all religions lead to the same place, but I do believe that all the lines of truth lead to the same place and that place is Jesus Christ.
There are only two possible religions when you boil it all down:
1) Works - trying to be good enough to enter heaven on your own merit.
2) Grace - having a Savior, specifically Jesus Christ, who loved you and died for you on the cross, rising from the dead to prove our sins are gone.
Read the next post about being a "sinner." That is a prerequisite for needing a savior. This is a place we must all visit in our lives.
Can you believe that the longing you've felt inside,
Could find it's rest in a man who was crucified?
- Leslie Phillips
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