Why God? Why?

As the leftover candy hearts and teddy bears make their way off the clearance shelf, I wanted to close out February with a final note on love.

I’ve shared in prior posts that there was a time when my relationship with God was what some would consider an “open” relationship. I always knew He was there but I’d flirt with the younger, newer versions of spirituality that all the cool kids seemed to be in to.

I saged my apartments and balanced my chakras. I aligned my vibrational field with the universe and committed to manifesting the life I always wanted. Nonetheless, God was always there.

Since there is such a variety of religions and spiritual practices out there, I often wondered, which one isTHE one. Since I noticed they all had a foundation of love, I figured I couldn’t go wrong, right?

This weighed heavily on my heart and as you’ve seen on the Breadcrumb Trail, I prayed for the truth and better understanding of God. I prayed to be put in front of the people, places and things that would guide me.

When I met my downstairs neighbors, who happened to be retired missionaries, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to take them up on their offer to assist me on my journey. (God wink, anyone? )

One of the first questions I asked Ron and Judy was, “Of all the world religions, what makes a person choose Christianity?” I’ve learned a lot since that day.

Why God? Why?

Authority

The teachings of God through Jesus Christ and the apostles is authoritative. One of the coolest things I’ve learned about the Bible is that all of the names, dates, places and events cannot be proven wrong. It was written by 40 different writers over 1500 years from all over the world. Every piece of it is in 100% agreement with each other. There are NO contradictions. This blows my mind and should blow yours, too!

Unlike Christianity, other “religions” like Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism are debated on whether or not they are a religion or a philosophy. Many of the teachings are the result of interpreted philosophies. There are no actual writings from Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha). His followers wrote what they thought he might have meant years after he died.

Gautama saw plagues of mankind and his conclusion was that everything that causes suffering of mankind comes from greed. While I (and many) will agree this is true, it is not authoritative. It is an idea vs a way of salvation. True religions come from outside of man. Christianity comes directly from the source, God Himself and Jesus Christ.

Accountability

With authority, comes accountability.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

Other religions don’t hold you accountable to the obedience of the originator of the religion, whereas God does. As I mentioned last week, a human would never, ever create a God that required the obedience and discipline God asks for. We would never create something with “rules” so hard to follow or that required the road less traveled to be taken.

The goal of other religions is often to overcome various forms of suffering on earth. Christianity doesn’t make promises of an easy life on earth, but instead offers salvation and eternal life through the forgiveness of our sins, because of the suffering someone else (Jesus Christ) endured for us. Christians accept suffering as part of life and rely on the love of God to guide us through trying times. That brings me to my final point today.

Love

Though it’s inevitable we will experience pain and suffering on earth, God’s love and availability is also a guarantee both here and in eternity. There are no such promises in the above-mentioned religions. While the teachers may have promoted love for one another, they did not extend their own love for everyone in the World. They do not extend a personal relationship with our Creator.

I’ve thought hard on how to describe this. A passage from Sarah Young’s “Jesus Calling” earlier this week paints the most beautiful description I’ve seen.

Be still in the light of My Presence while I communicate Love to you. There is no force in the universe as powerful as My Love. You are constantly aware of limitation: your own and others’. But there is no limit to my Love; it fills all of space, time, and eternity.

Now you see through a glass, darkly, but someday you will see Me face to Face. Then you will be able to experience fully how wide and long and high and deep is My Love for you. If you were to experience that now, you would be overwhelmed to the point of feeling crushed. But you have eternity ahead of you, absolutely guaranteed, during which you can enjoy My Presence in unrestricted ecstasy. For now, the knowledge of My loving Presence is sufficient to carry you through each day.

1 Corinthians 13:12 KIV

Ephesians 3:16-19

In a world turned upside down, what could it hurt to open yourself up and allow the endless love of God to fill your heart? I once asked myself this question. I weighed the risks and realized there was nothing to weigh. Instead of pushing God aside and putting Him on the back burner, I invited the Holy Spirit into my spirit, my body and my mind.

We all search for love and companionship, often not realizing it is available to us at all times, because we are too focused on what is trending and who our friends are following. In doing so we miss the opportunity to receive God’s love, and this love, is the only love truly everlasting.

I’ve learned that the path of Jesus Christ is often not the most popular. He doesn’t seem to get as many “likes” or “re-post” and sometimes is even censored. I’ve also learned the path less traveled leads to the greatest destinations.

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May God bless and protect our country and everyone reading.

~Maria