Fixing What's Broken

    Why are you drawn to God and to fellowship with his people? Because that is your nature.  We were born with a desire to have a deep relationship with God and his people.  Life without God is like living life unplugged.  We need a source, the source, for the power to live.  
   But then why are we so bent toward selfishness and sin?  You are broken.  I am broken.  Our natural tendencies draw us towards things that will ultimately bring only suffering and will conflict with our desire to know God.  Life is difficult.  Drawing close to God and his people provides us with a connection that brings peace and transformation in our lives.
   When we tell others about Christ, we aren't just imparting to them knowledge about a bunch of rules and regulations that they can never live up to.  We are pointing them to the source of true joy, peace, love, and transformation.  We can be freed from the guilt that comes when our sin nature rules our lives and learn from Him how to be transformed.
  In Isaiah 53, he see the suffering Servant being crushed for our inequities and our transgressions.  Transgressions are the sins we commit.  Inequity is the bent we have towards sin- that sin nature that craves what is evil.  Yet, God has made a way for our salvation.  Christ not only takes away our transgressions by paying the price for those sins, he takes away our desire to sin, our inequity, by transforming our nature into his likeness.
  It is like this:  if I have a bent toward eating cookies, the last thing I want to do is buy cookies.  Just because I don't buy the cookies doesn't mean I'm not going to want the cookies.  If the girl scouts show up on the door bringing me the cookies, I'm going to eat the cookies.  
If God had just taken away our transgressions, but left the inequity, we would still be in trouble because our craving would still be there.  Just because the cookie jar is out on the back porch does not mean I'm not going to want to eat the cookies.  What God does is take that desire away so that if the cookie jar is sitting on the table, I don't want a cookie because that desire is gone.
  That is what God does to change our life -- to give us relief from our struggles and difficulties.  That is the message we need to tell the world.   I can quote scripture all day long, but until people realize the reality of who God is in their lives, scripture won't matter to them.   People's lives are changed when we introduce them to who God is in their lives - the peace, transformation, joy, love, and purpose he brings.  We need to show others the love God has shown to us.

In Him,
Pastor Boyd

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