Seriously
Look. I don’t take myself too seriously…At least I hope I don’t…In fact I used to despise my life and hated myself. (It’s called “depression” perhaps clinical). Because I am now trying to help others and share what I have learned, and further that I was going about in a way that was to them too preachy, a good friend of mine thought that maybe I had developed a messiah complex. I, of course, had to look that up, and thankfully I don’t.
I know what I used to think of myself, and it was not that I was the Second Coming. Rather, in my mind it was always was a toss up between my being either Judas Iscariot or Satan himself! It was so bad that if I looked into a mirror too long, my face would metamorphose into an ugly, ugly contortion. I was blind in that I could not look beyond the physical me to see what was inside. So it was like trying to fix a car’s engine with a blindfold on and without opening the hood or even turning the key! Looking back, I was pretty much beyond help, though some of my friends tried to help and get me out of these doldrums. Unfortunately, they were also pretty much blindfolded.
I had been self-medicating with alcohol and later switched to drugs That was pretty much numbing, but not curing. It wasn’t until I came to the point of taking responsibility for my life that the cure came. When I asked (actually begged) Jesus to forgive me and to come into my life, that’s when my blindfold came off and the healing began. So, please don’t misunderstand my motives.
Jesus was seen to heal the sick and restore sight to the blind. Yet, His more important mission went beyond the physical to restore and to heal the inner person. “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see” has perhaps been so overused it has become trite, meaningless, and ineffectual to most folks. But if you look at the life of its author, it might have its purpose restored. Its purpose was the same as my purpose is: to share this good news of release and restoration given without cost to me and to you…but it cost Him everything…We are purchased with a price…
Jesus was beaten severely; He was scourged (a whip with embedded glass, metal or stones used as an instrument of punishment, causing great suffering to a person, tearing into his flesh), and finally, He was crucified (a form or torture perfected by the Romans; the execution of a person by nailing or binding them to a cross, a slow death by suffocation, sometimes taking days). “But he was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (ref. Isaiah 53:1–12, NIV). Jesus, “for this reason also, God [has] highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,” (ref. Philippians 2:9), and “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (ref. Acts 4:12)
Please try Jesus…Romans 10:9, which says, “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.” Finally, “ ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare 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 [inner self] that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ” (ref. Romans 10:9–12)
Have a nice day!
