Desire

It is my opinion that everyone is born with a seed of desire to acquire some faith in something.  This is the spiritual side of life.  Human nature is such that mankind lets his ego take charge and acquires faith in his own power.  As his life progresses this faith in self continues to grow.  The ego gets larger, finally it gets too big and a person gets in situations beyond their abilities.  These circumstances which are thus produced will eventually produce a change in the person.  This change can go in either of two directions.  If it directs itself inward the person gets even more entwined in problems  and his life becomes miserable, beyond his control.  On the other hand if the individual is willing to let go and allow God to take charge he will experience a growth in peace and serenity.  This is a humbling experience, it deflates the ego.

Humans always need to be responsible and make proper choices.  We must always perform our responsibilities.  Just because we turn our life and our will over to God's care and His will for us does not mean failure.  His will for us requires and demands much of us.  As we grow in our relationship with Him we will discover that we desire to do things differently.  The end result is that our will and His will are in complete agreement.  This is maturity.  Various individuals mature at different rates.   Some people spend their whole life without the experiencing the peace which comes from God.  Having a personal relationship with God is very rewarding.

God understood our human nature, the nature we are all born with.  Knowing this He provided a way for us to change, to turn towards Him and towards a new nature.  The first opportunity to turn was when He presented His Son as a savior.  The Son was rejected.  Fortunately for us the Son provided us with His teaching and a plan for regeneration.  This plan was passed down through the ages by students of the Son, His disciples.  God has protected His Word, the Bible, down through the ages.  The message of His word is the same today as it was in the time of His Son.  Repent; turn from something towards something else.  The entire story of the Bible, both the old and new testaments, present a movement.  Christ is presented on every page.  The movement is from reliance on "self" to reliance on God.  God is presented as a Father, He loves his children.  He desires good for His children.  He provides a way for us to be adopted into His family.  That way is the Gospel, simply believe on Jesus Christ and ask for salvation.  A Christian is merely a person who has accepted the gift of salvation from God.  After we accept this gift we then will find and appreciate the movement described in the Bible.  We will grow in our relationship to God.

My personal understanding of the Bible was never clear until I invited Christ into my life and asked the Holy Spirit to reveal the Word of God to me.  My power was not sufficient to grasp the beauty and the spiritual movement presented in God's words.  Have you opened the Bible today with a sincere desire to grasp its significance.   Life is great when you get into the flow, go with the movement, and cease swimming upstream.  Which way are you going?  Does life continually get better?  It does with God.

Footnote:  Dr. J. Vernon McGee presents the Movement associated with the Bible in a very practical way.  His messages are very popular.  Behind his messages is a great deal of  research and study in order to present the Bible from a popular rather than from a scholarly (and too-often boring) viewpoint.  His five year radio program has been transcribed and published in a five volume set.  The reading of these volumes is anything but boring.  He brings the Bible to life, he ties the Old and New Testaments together.  He demonstrates the dynamic needed to apply the Bible's wisdom to our contemporary society.  The Spiritual Movement of Christianity is made clear.