LIVING FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD –WHICH IS GOD

One of our favorite little booklets for really living is Your Most Important Relationship  published by Youth for Christ and Campus Crusade for Christ, which is available through Christian bookstores also.  It conveys that we are designed to be in a personal and primary relation with God who created us for that purpose.  It along with many such useful booklets has diagrams for us who are right brained. We will use part of such booklets here,  but the main part  and verses will be directly from the Bible,  which is His Operating Manual  for us.

Key steps to acknowledge and trust whole heartedly to establish that  total relationship with God—which is only possible  through Jesus  (John 14:6)  who allowed His own death to pay the penalties for all of our sins.  It is necessary —to know and trust  all four of  these biblical factors:

1)  God created you special, loves you, and wants your life to count.  “You [God] made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb…(Psalms 139:13-14)     For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish….”(John 3:16).

2)  Our sins (any one)--of ungratefulness to God,  violating His Commandments including to love of God and all others as we should-- reveal our rebellion to God.  Sins separates us from Him, His family,  and His eternal benefits to us. “…anything that is not done with faith in God is sin”  (Romans 14:23).   “…Your iniquities have separated you from God…so that He will not hear you”  (Isaiah 59:2,3).  “…each person was judged. …If anyone’s name was not…in the book of life,  he was

cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:13-15).   “The wages of sin is death,  but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord”  (Romans 6:23).   Finally, Good News!

3)  Only through our loving and thankful faith in Jesus for who He is and what He has done for us can we have eternal life with Father God.   “Jesus said,  ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No man can come to the Father except through Me’”

(John 14:6).

4)      We must personally petition God  with  humility, sorrow for our sins, and purpose to follow Him -- to be adopted into His forever family.  “…to all who believed in His name [His character, the considerations, with   confession], He gave the right to become children of  God” (John 1:12).

 A prayer/petition to join His forever family is shown after the following sequential presentation of the Roman Road.  But  even if you are  motivated to give your life to Christ, you should read about  alternatives at Judgment so that you also may understand the serious consequences of our sins.

The Judgments by Christ

Every unconfessed sin, even the urge to do so, will be judged by Christ at some point.    For the Believer in Christ,  this will come before the person is admitted into Heaven   for no sin is allowed to enter, yet he will escape “the flames” (1Cor3:15).     A fine theologian,  J. Oswald Sanders  wrote a booklet subtitled   The Judgment Seat of Christ.     www.rbc.org     Sanders  enumerates 9 areas of Christ’s examination of us.  He gathers most of the key verses that show that the Christian will be judged: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad (2Cor5:10).   “…continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming (1John2:28).    Some will suffer shame before being allowed in.   Most persons, at the final judgment will have chosen hell by their action.   “…broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it”  (Mt 7:13). Unless we have dealt with the sins we know of,  “God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil (Eccl 12:14).    If we have few if any unconfessed sins and have served Him faithfully out of gratitude,  not for favors,  we may receive various amounts of responsibilities and  of 5 rewards/crowns  in Heaven.   One is the “crown of righteousness which the Lord…will award…to all who have longed for His appearing”  (2Tim4:8).  Are you longing for His return?   We are.   Not just to escape seeing the present misery or mess of  half of humanity,  but wanting to Jesus and the ecstasy of Heaven.   The”Great White Throne Judgment” follows  (Rev 20:11ff).

 The ROMAN ROAD TO REVELATION OF GOD and REDEMPTION and the wonderful and eternal life through Christ is summarized in a sequence of New Testament verses in the book of ROMANS.   They should be understood in context.  The Apostle Paul “…writes under the direction of God as moved by the Holy Spirit” (2Peter 1:21).   Now you can follow and mark in your book of ROMANS  (Bibles may differ in a few words but the meaning should be very clear):

*  “I am not ashamed of the Gospel [Good News of Jesus life for us] for it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes…for the righteousness of God is revealed, …as it is written [in the Old Testament], ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”   Chapter 1 vs: 16-17                      

*  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God  Chap 3:23

*  “But God demonstrated His love for us in this:  While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us [paying our penalty]. Ch5:8

*  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord [if we will receive Him].   Chap 6:23

*  “Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus [and He in us, in God’s forever family] Ch8:1

 * “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.  Ch 8:28

 * “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.   For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified [made clean before the Father] and with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”       Chap 10:9-10

How to become a Born-again Christian      What is the confession and belief that He most wants?   A careful and complete petition and prayer on your knees (if you are able, for “every knee shall bow” eventually) of trust in God for assurance of being Born again/adopted into God’s family  would be similar to: 

          Dear Father,  Thank you for creating  me into your dynamic world and being willing to take back into your family us humans who have disobeyed You.  I am truly sorry for offending You and others many times which I could never fully repay, though I plan to correct all that I can. Thank you for giving Jesus to pay for my sins through His death and resurrection   and the Holy Spirit to guide me to You and truth.   I love you all, give you my life, and purpose to follow you  and your Scripture as your devoted child for the rest of my life.  Thank you,  Amen  

The exact words or posture are not as important to God as our willingness to penitently invite Him  to forgive us,  fellowship with us, and live our lives for His great purposes in His power  (see Eph 3:20).  .  If you have never prayed with tears as complete a prayer as the above,  we urge you to do that.  Jesus shed tears for Jerusalem and when we realize how deeply we have offended God by our independent spirit and sins, tears will flow at some point.

 If you prayed similarly to this prayer above, God welcomes you into His family based on the Bible/Covenant you just affirmed. Welcome to His family.    We need to study prayerfully our Bibles (Soul food) daily to learn and know what He wishes from us.  Find a Bible-believing Church where they enthusiastically love God and all people (1John4:20).   Join His Church of believers,  be baptized, seek a Spirit-refilling mentor,  and learn the whole Bible.  Serve God with gladness for what He has done for and with us.  We would love to hear from you and encourage you.

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Please read again those ROMAN ROAD verses in your Bible in context, underline them and share them and your new faith with others.  God will abundantly bless you (though satan will try  make you doubt your conversion to Christ).  But God will not let you go (John 10:27-30).  Keep the faith; He is great.