In Search of Truth - Final

IF SELF-DENIAL, SACRIFICE AND SUFFERING ARE NOT THE WAY TO SALVATION, WHAT THEN CAN I DO TO SAVE MYSELF?

NOTHING!--You CAN'T save yourself! Yet the central belief of almost all of Man's religions is that Man is basically good and righteous, and he CAN save himself. In fact, after careful analysis we can safely conclude that there are really only TWO schools of religious thought and belief in the World: The DO-IT-YOURSELF religions and the GOD-ALONE-CAN-SAVE-YOU kind!

MOST of the World's religions teach their followers that they can save THEMSELVES by their own piety and good works, by their own holiness, by their own sufferings, their own self-denial, or by their own obedience to the laws and traditions of THAT particular religion!--But NO man yet has ever been good enough to earn or merit his own salvation!--"For there is not a righteous man upon the Earth who always does good and never sins."--Ecclesiastes 7:20.

In the very beginning, God originally intended for each of us to have a close personal relationship and communication with Him. He wanted to be our closest FRIEND, Someone Whose Love, faithfulness, concern and care we could always count on.

But God did not want to MAKE us be friends with Him. He could have easily created us all to AUTOMATICALLY obey and worship Him, like some kind of robots, but He didn't want to FORCE us to love or obey Him. This is why He allowed both good AND evil to be revealed, so that we could each make a personal CHOICE, so we could voluntarily CHOOSE to love and obey Him, or rebel and go our own way.

Sad to say, each of us has made the WRONG choices at some time or another. We have acted selfishly, unkindly and unloving, not only hurting others, but even hurting GOD Himself, Who as our loving Heavenly Father, is saddened when He sees we are going the wrong way.

But despite all of our troubles, problems and imperfection, God still LOVES us and WANTS to be close to us, to be our nearest and dearest Helper and Friend. Yet no matter HOW earnestly and sincerely we try by our OWN piety, good works, suffering etc. to become close to Him, to become one with Him, to become "enlightened" by Him, to attain salvation from Him, we will ALWAYS fall SHORT of reaching this goal.--"For ALL have sinned and come SHORT of the glory of God!"--Romans 3:23. No matter HOW good or righteous we try to be, no matter how severely we discipline ourselves or strive to attain godliness or salvation, it is simply not within Man to save HIMSELF!

WHAT THEN CAN I DO TO BE SAVED?--MUST I RESIGN MYSELF TO REMAINING FOREVER SEPARATED FROM GOD?

God is so great, so high, so almighty, so BEYOND our limited human understanding and comprehension, that it is impossible for us to fully understand or grasp Him or His ways. He says, "As the Heavens are high above the Earth, so high are MY ways above YOUR ways, and MY thoughts than YOUR thoughts!"--Isaiah 55:9. But He so much wanted to help us and to become our close Friend that He sent Somebody Who could SHOW us His Love, Somebody Who could live WITH us as a man, Who could EMBODY and show us what God Himself is like.

God loves us so much, He doesn't want us to have to suffer separation from Him. When we're without God's Love, our hearts can never be truly satisfied, and we will remain spiritually empty and lifeless. So to bring us His Everlasting Life and Salvation, He sent His Own Son, JESUS, to Earth almost 2,000 years ago.

Jesus was miraculously conceived by the Spirit of God and born to a young virgin girl named Mary. He grew up to become, in a sense, a PICTURE of His Father, so we could SEE what the great invisible Creator is LIKE.--And that picture is a picture of LOVE, for all Jesus did was go about everywhere doing good, helping others and teaching about God's great Love for us all.--Matthew 11:28 John 14:6 Luke 4:18.






TFI