The Truth About Right Living - A Personal Observation

To many, finding the one true faith perhaps seems impossible, but fortunately, it is not. The devil has a fair amount of power, but he is not all-powerful. Satan can do a lot, but he cannot keep that heart which is hungry for the truth from learning about God. The Lord will allow a person to believe a lie, if that person has the heart to do so, but He will also reveal the truth to all who want it, and especially to those who are willing to seek. This principle is clearly taught in Matthew 7:7-8, plus the writer of Luke's Gospel also indicated in Luke 19:10 that Jesus literally came to seek and to "save" those who are lost and hurting. Thus, the teaching in this matter is not that difficult to understand. For those who really want to know the truth about Him, the Lord will always provide a way! His desire is for everyone to know the truth about Him, and even then, it is almost always His desire well before we desire it for ourselves!

To really know and understand the truth about God and about this one true Faith, one must begin by having the proper desires and motives. The Lord will always honor the right kind of heart and attitude. After that, a person needs to recognize his or her position before God. In Romans 3:23, the Bible teaches that everyone is a sinner. Before God, we have all fallen short of His glory and are lacking. Therefore, the first step towards closing the sin gap with God and towards finding the one true Faith is to see yourself as the Lord sees you - sinful and undone! We are all sinners. To deny that is to deny the very truth of God's Word. To accept it, though, is the first step towards really closing the sin gap with Him.

Secondly, because all who are born of Adam are sinners, then all who are born of Adam are also in a lost state of separation from the Lord. Romans 6:23 says that the penalty for our sins is death, both physical death and spiritual death. When one dies to this life, that person dies and becomes separated from the things of this world. This is the first death or the physical death. But if that same person has left this world and is not prepared to meet God, that is he or she still has not closed the sin gap between themselves and Him, then the second death or the spiritual death, which is discussed in Revelations 21:7-8, becomes their eternal fate. And that is a fate which means separation forever from the One who made us.

According to God's Word, there will not be another opportunity after the first death for an individual to close their sin gap with the Lord. Therefore, the second step towards closing the sin gap with God and to laying claim to the one and only true Faith is to realize that sin and being a sinner carries a very real, very lasting, and very devastating penalty. Because of that, we need to correct the sin problem in a quick, expedient fashion so that we can avoid this eternal separation from God.

Having confronted our undone condition and seeing the penalty for that condition, the third step towards the truth and towards closing that sin gap is to see the true identity of Jesus, the Christ. To do that, one must recognize Christ's dual role as both Sacrifice and Saviour. No one would argue that Jesus was a great man. No one would question His work as a great Healer, great Teacher, or great Example. He really was all of these, but fulfilling those tasks was not His true reason for being birthed into this life.

As can be seen from John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, and many other Bible passages, Jesus came to earth to offer Himself on our behalf so that by His death He could make a way for us back to God. In proclaiming that truth, the Apostle John quoted Jesus by writing that He, meaning Jesus, was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus, then, told them, as is recorded in John 14:6, that no one would be able to come to the Father except through Him, the Son. These words express the whole truth as well as anyone can. An individual may try whatever he or she wishes - being a good person, doing good works, being generous, or whatever, but that person will never close the sin gap with God, except through Jesus. Jesus is the Way. He is the only Way!

What must a person do to close the sin gap which exists with God? What must a person do to overcome the deception and distraction techniques of the devil? Complicated questions perhaps, but questions which still need to be answered, and conveniently, both are satisfied by a single answer, the same which is shared in John 3:16. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that you may have life!

The devil works very hard to prevent people from ever seeing that simple truth. He causes the intelligent to scoff at a god whom they cannot see, he causes the worldly-minded to become overly absorbed by the things of this world, and he even causes the would-be good person to be confused by all of the different religions and denominations of the world. I would agree that one can easily become weary trying to sort through all of the various beliefs and theological issues. But by faith, one faith in God, the same faith in Jesus Christ, His Son and our Saviour, each of us can close the sin gap with God, find the one true Faith, and have true and lasting peace forevermore.

Unfortunately, some people do not like being dependent on Christ. They would rather try to close the sin gap for themselves. Some or many others would simply like to deny that a gap even exists or simply decide to ignore it and hope for the best. But these strategies are not consistent with God's way, and in the long run, they will not work! Once again, Christ is the Answer! He is the only Answer! Through Him, we can be made clean. Through Him, we can be set free. And through Him, we can have eternal life with God. But we must believe, and we must receive! God has done all that He can. Even more, He has done all that He is going to do. The rest is now up to us!

In the course of an individual's life, the devil throws many obstacles before that life. It is often difficult to separate the true from the false and the right from the wrong, but based on all the evidence, it should be clear that Christianity is the only true Faith. It is the only Faith that matters, but even more than that, none of the other faiths of this world offer to their followers what Christians have in Christ.