Thursday, January 7, 2016

Three Things I've Understood For A Long Time

When I was 12 years old I had an experience I sometimes think of as coming alive spiritually. The phrase Jesus used for this experience is being born again. (John 3:3)

Obviously as a 12-year-old, I was immature and my knowledge and understanding of God, theology and spiritual matters was limited. However, here are three things I understood even at that age:

1) I need God.
2) I cannot save myself.
3) I choose to trust Jesus.

That was a long time ago. Now I have experienced way more life. I have made thousands of mistakes. I’ve had ups and downs. I’ve failed many times and I’ve enjoyed a few successes. I have cried. I have laughed. (On a few occasions I’ve laughed so hard that I cried.) I’ve been a student and I’ve been a teacher. I have had the experience of being led and I have had the experience of being a leader.

I have read scores of books about God, discipleship, theology, biblical commentary, the life of Jesus and other Christian topics. I know a lot more about these issues than I did when I was 12 and, yet, my knowledge and understanding of theology and spiritual matters is still limited. (Give me a little break, after all, God is an incredibly big, deep and profound subject.)

Here are three things I understand at my current age:

1) I need God.
2) I cannot save myself.
3) I choose to trust Jesus.

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