Read your Bible. The entire Bible! While the New Testament is lovely…we do not know how good the Good News is until we understand how bad the bad news is! We must be willing to admit we are the Israelites, that we behave exactly like they did, so that we can see how desperate we still are for our Savior. Don’t brush off the Old Testament because you will miss soooo much!
The Old Testament is the story of God’s Love pouring out to His people. It focuses on His people trying to become righteous by following rules and regulations. Spoiler alert: it does not go well for them. Sure when they get into trouble they run to God, and He has compassion on them, forgives them, blesses them, increases their power and influence…and they quickly turn away from Him and back to their fallen ways. Sound familiar? Following rules does NOT save us. Surrendering to our King does.
The New Testament is the solution to all humanity’s problems. If our fallen, sinful nature keeps turning our hearts away from God and towards selfish Pride, then we need Someone Who would change our hearts. We find this transforming power only in the Love of the Father through the Sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. And furthermore, it is only when we surrender our life to Jesus, that we have the will and ability to follow Him in our union with the Holy Spirit. (Php 2:13) and in this beautiful relationship we find we have, can enjoy and share the Abundant Life more and more. Life gets sweeter and sweeter…read your Bible
Lesson: read your entire Bible; we don’t really understand how good the Good News is until we realize how bad the bad news is
<>< Peace, Diane
