Love Worth Finding

Psychologists have long known that every person has two great longings and inward needs.  The first is to be loved, and the second is to love.  But when pressures and heartaches come into our lives, many give up any hope of every finding love.

The tragedy is that we often look in the wrong places to fill this deep need and longing.  Some substitute lust for love.  Others pursue material things or superficial relationships -- all in the futile attempt to fill a God-shaped vacuum in the human heart.  But there is good news!  There is a love worth finding and a love worth sharing.  The Bible says, " For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).  On the cross of Christ, God's mighty love was revealed and offered unconditionally to all who would be saved.

Do you long to know this mighty love?  Then I need to ask you the most important question you'll ever be asked:  Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loves you, that your sins are forgiven, and that you are saved and on your way to heaven?

The great news is, you can know!  Let me share with you how to discover the greatest love worth finding.

Admit Your Sin

First, you must admit you are a sinner.  The Bible says, "None is righteous, no, not one . . . .For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:10, 23).

It is our sin that separates us from God and from fulfilling our deepest needs and longings.  Sin is an offense against God that carries a serious penalty.  According to Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death [eternal separation from the love and mercy of God]."

Abandon Your Efforts

Second, you must abandon any efforts to save yourself.  If we could save ourselves, Jesus' death would have been unnecessary!  

Even "getting religion" cannot get you to heaven.  The Bible says it is "not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His mercy" that we are saved (Titus 3:5).  Salvation is by God's grace, "not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Acknowledge Christ's Payment

What you cannot do for yourself, Jesus Christ has done for you!  "But God shows His love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).  He died on the cross for you and then rose from the dead to prove that His payment was acceptable to God but you must acknowledge and believe this fact.  "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31).  

Accept Christ as Your Savior

Salvation is God's gift to you.  "The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).  When someone offers you a priceless gift, the wisest thing you can do is accept it.  This very moment, you can receive Christ's gift of salvation by sincerely praying this simple prayer from your heart:

Dear God, I know that I am a sinner.  I know that you love me and want to save me.  Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God, who died on the cross to pay for my sins.  I believe God raised you from the dead.  I now turn from my sin and, by faith, receive you as my personal Lord and Savior.  Come into my heart, forgive my sins, and save me, Lord Jesus.  In your name I pray.

Amen.

--Dr. Adrian Rogers

Thirsty - For the Water of Life?

Family hardships.  Relationship tensions.  Indecision and restlessness . . . emptiness.  Are you overwhelmed with life -- drinking in self-help and worldly counsel to satisfy your craving for peace and fullness in life?  The living water of Jesus Christ is what you are really thirsty for.

One day Jesus was walking through Samaria.  He was weary, so he rested at Jacob's well.  In the heat of the day, a woman came to draw some water.  The Bible says:  "Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.'. . . the Samaritan woman said to Him, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?' . . . Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink," you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.'  The woman said to Him, 'Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.  Where do You get the living water?  Are you greater than our father, Jacob?  He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.'  Jesus said to her, 'everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will be become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'" (John 4:7-14).

Jesus is the Living Water.  This is what all people need, whether they are in Africa, or India, or China, or the United States.  We all need the spiritual water Jesus gives.  The Bible says that we are prisoners of  "the waterless pit" (Zechariah 9:11).  Think of that -- prisoners in a pit with no water. 

How long do you think a person can live without drinking water?  Not very long.  You can live a long time without food, but not without water.  Have you ever been really thirsty?  So thirsty that you thought you were going to die.  I am told there is no feeling quite like it. 

The Apostle Peter talked about wells without water (II Peter 2:17).  Think of travelling across the desert and coming to a well where you believe there is water.  You are thirsty.  Your tongue is swollen.  Your cheeks and lips are parched but when you arrive at the well, there is no water.

"WATERLESS PITS"

Are you in a "waterless pit" right now?  In your family?  In your business?  Maybe you are a young person not knowing what vocation to follow, not knowing what to do about marriage, not knowing what to do about the problems you have gotten yourself into -- you are finding yourself in a pit without any water.  

Maybe you have tried everything to satisfy, to bring peace and joy to your life, to have a sense of forgiveness or a sense of belonging.  And you haven't found it.  Jesus said, "everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again" (John 4:13).

Drink of the water of drugs, and you will thirst again.  Drink of the water of fame, and you will thirst again.  Drink of the water of popularity, and you will thirst again.  Drink of all other waters being offered today, and you will thirst again.  

But drink of the living water that Jesus will give you, and you will never thirst.  Jesus said, "the water that I will give [you] will become in you a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14).

WHAT YOU THIRST FOR

The Bible says, "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money come, buy and eat" (Isaiah 55:1).  And "let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price" (Revelation 22:16-17).  Yes, come and buy; it's without price.  Some of you are thirsting for this -- a personal relationship with Christ.

Come to the water!  Drink of the living water!  Become excited about Christ!  "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation" (Isaiah 12:3).  The wells of salvation are being offered to you.  Come and draw the water with joy!  

THE LIVING FOUNTAIN

When you come to the water, there's a satisfaction beyond anything words can describe.  Jesus said, "if anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'" (John 7:37-38).

The Samaritan woman had come to that well.  She had come be divine appointment.  Jesus was passing by, and He stopped to rest.  This woman came at that moment.  

This woman had an empty life.  Her expectations in life had faded, no longer expecting, no longer hoping for anything different, she was on the same old treadmill.  She had been married five times, and when Jesus spoke to her she was living with a man who was not her husband.  Having tried nearly everything, she was miserable, unhappy -- thirsty.

"Come to the water; drink of the living fountain," Jesus told her.

The woman said, "Sir, give me this water" (John 4:15).  Will you say that?  He offers the same living water to you.  Will you accept His offer today?  

Lord Jesus, give me that living water.  I want forgiveness of my sins.  I want to know that I am going to Heaven.  I want a new life.  I am tired of the old life I have been living.  I want something else in life.  I believe that You are the Living Water.  I believe that You died for my sins, and conquered death, so that I can drink of the Living Water and have eternal life and a personal relationship with you.  Amen.

--Billy Graham

Because of God's Great Love

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, their relationship with God was radically and tragically altered.  In an instant, they went from enjoying perfect fellowship with their Creator to being estranged from Him.  Because of Adam's sin, every person comes into the world with a sinful nature (Romans 5:12).

Sin affects every aspect of who we are as human beings -- our body, mind, and will are all tainted.  It's tempting to think we are born neutral with the ability to choose between being "good" or "bad" -- between following God or not.  But the Bible says this isn't the case.  Rather, our natural inclination is to sin (James 1:14-15).  And we love that sin too much to turn from it by our own power:  "no-one seeks for God . . . . No-one does good, not even one" (Romans 3:11-12); see also (John 6:44).  Unable to come to God or even to desire to do so, we are born spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1, 3) and are "by nature children of wrath."

Against this backdrop comes one of the most beautiful and remarkable phrases in all of Scripture:  "but God . . .  "

"But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ -- by grace you have been saved."  (Ephesians 2:4-5)

While we were still living "in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, " (Ephesians 2:3) and absolutely deserving of eternal punishment -- God sought us out and saved us.  This was "not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour" (Titus 3:5-6).

Because we were dead in our sins, God had to first bring us to life before we could come to Christ for forgiveness.  When Paul says that God "made us alive," he refers to the regeneration -- or new birth -- that God gives us when we place our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is this new life that enables us to come to Christ in faith.  Thus, even faith itself -- trusting in Jesus to save us from our sins -- is a gift from God.

Our salvation is, from start to finish, all of grace (Ephesians 2:5, 8-9).  Though we have done nothing to deserve his mercy or love, God lavishes these things on us none the less, let us rejoice, then in the "immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7)!

If you would like to express your trust in Jesus for salvation and take a first step on your journey as a Christian, we encourage you to pray to God, perhaps using this prayer:

Heavenly Father, I believe that because of Your love for me, You sent your only Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross to save me from my sin. I believe that He rose again to life, and that He invites me to live forever with Him as part of Your family.  Because of what Jesus has done, I ask You to forgive me of my sin and enable me to receive eternal life.  Help me to live in a way that pleases and honours You.  Amen.

-- Erika Allen