IS JESUS ABLE TO BRING MEANING AND PURPOSE INTO MY LIFE?

Ron Bainbridge

Today’s Message of Encouragement from Discovering A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES

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To HELP Men and Women Find HOPE

THROUGH SHARING GOD’S GRACE and LOVE!

(Ron Bainbridge Editor) (January 14th, 2020)

IS JESUS ABLE TO BRING MEANING

AND PURPOSE INTO MY LIFE?

Friend I’m glad you are taking the time to read this message today and I sincerely hope that what I am going to share with you might strengthen your faith and enable you to see beyond the circumstances of your life to the immense possibilities that can be yours, because of what God has done for you through Jesus of Nazareth.

Each day, the Discovering A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES team seek to demonstrate the wonderful truth, that no matter what troubles you and I may be experiencing in our life, we can confidently say, “With God by my side, I will get through this.”

Friend, on behalf of the Discovering A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES team, I invite you to interact with the stories we share about real people with real problems who, (because they are being transformed by God’s love), are able to see the world in a more positive and Hope-Filled manner. These people I’m talking about, (as they face life’s questions), see through the eyes of FAITH, a God who is alive, dynamic, and powerful.

So today, I invite YOU to join us in the quest to discover the Grace, Love, and Power of a God who wants to be YOUR friend and guide for life and eternity.

Friend, I’d like to begin our message today, by posing the following question:

IS JESUS ABLE TO BRING MEANING

AND PURPOSE INTO MY LIFE?

Perhaps YOU have asked this question at some time in YOUR life. If so, I sincerely hope that what YOU read today will bring to YOU a fresh view of Jesus of Nazareth.

In order to help answer the question I have just posed, we should ask ourselves, what relevance could a man who lived in Nazareth 2,000-years-ago possibly have for the questions we face today?

From historical records, there is no doubt that the life of Jesus was relevant to those people in the first century who came to Him for answers to their urgent questions. However, we in the 21st Century might have some different concerns.

In the 1st Century, when Christianity first appeared on the scene, the old, established religions had been around for centuries and Christianity seemed the least likely religion of all to dominate the scene. But somehow it did! And within a few centuries, the other religions had diminished, or disappeared, as Christianity continued to grow.

Throughout the centuries, Historians have asked many times: “Why did Christianity grow as it did?”

Adolph Harnack, a German Church Historian, who lived in the early part of the 20th Century, said, “The one thing Christianity provided was SALVATION.” – And his reason for saying this, was because the Philosophical schools offered a rational approach to life and other religions offered protection from perceived gods. However, Christianity provided rescue for people who were hurting.

In fact, we are reminded very positively of this by Matthew in his gospel account, in chapter 1:21, when he quotes the words of the angel to Joseph before Jesus was born. -- This is what the angel said: “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Friend, History records that wherever Jesus went, He offered Salvation and Hope. – And as He travelled through the towns and villages, He met the physically disabled--the lepers, the untouchables, the crippled, the diseased, the deaf and the blind. These sadly troubled people were usually misinformed that it was the sins of their parents that had caused their misery. They were living HOPELESS lives and desperately needed someone who could heal them and help them to put their lives back together again.

Interestingly, the Greeks used the same word for “SAVE” and “HEAL!” This word meant “to make whole”, “to give total well-being.”

It is also significant to note that people went to Jesus for one purpose: and that was to be made whole. In Matthew 9:21-22, we read where a distressed woman, who had suffered for twelve years, with a bleeding problem, (and had sought a cure from every doctor within kilometres), came to Jesus and said to herself, before she had even touched Him, “If I can just touch His clothes, I will be healed.” – The Scripture records that “Jesus turned and saw the woman and said, “Be encouraged dear woman. You are made well because you believed”.

Later, in that same book of Matthew 14:30, we read where Simon Peter attempted to walk on water, Then we read that: “But when he saw the wind, he became afraid and began to sink and cried out, Lord save me”. Then we read that: “Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and saved Peter.”

Friend, I can imagine early Christians telling these stories years later, and recalling the cry, “Save me!” – But this cry came to mean more than salvation from the agony of a disease, or from drowning in the water, because people knew that Jesus brought Salvation of a much deeper kind. You see, Jesus gave their lives the FORGIVENESS, WHOLENESS and HOPE they were looking for.

It is also absolutely undeniable, that the very questions, for which Jesus the Nazarene was the answer in the 1st Century are still being asked today, in the 21st Century. – And people are still finding the answers, as they believe and trust their lives to Him.

In a real sense, those questions are being asked wherever men and women say, “I am no good!” – You see, the modern search to be someone, to amount to something, to gain self-respect, is not far at all from the quest we saw in a man named Zacchaeus, or a prostitute who lived centuries ago. – In fact, they wanted nothing so much as they wanted self-respect and a new beginning. And what they were looking for, before they even knew His name, was Jesus the Nazarene!

Friends, some of us may work in executive offices and seem to have everything we want, such as education, a good income, and a very bright future.

However, there are moments for everyone---perhaps as we’re travelling to work, or at the end of a long day working on the farm. Or whatever our vocation in life might be---when we ask ourselves the questions: “Is this all there is? Am I missing something valuable in life that this hurried pace is not providing me?” – And when you and I stop to think about it, these questions are not very different from that of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus wanting to know what he had to do in order to inherit eternal life.

When we look at our own family life, and reflect on what values we have to hold it together, we need to ask ourselves some serious questions. Such as, are there any ultimate commitments that lead us to make sacrifices for the sake of others in the family?

And as I think about these thoughts I am sharing with you today, it comes to my mind that as long as we live in a world that is beyond our control, we will search for a Saviour. – As long as there is cancer and the fear of an epidemic; as long as our world is threatened by terrorism; as long as we ask, “Isn’t there more to life than what we have discovered?” – WE WILL BE LOOKING FOR A SAVIOUR!

Friend, when Christianity first spread in the ancient world, the Christians never found a culture that was not looking for a Saviour. – In fact, this is why Christianity will not go away! – You see, Jesus the Nazarene and (Jesus alone), fulfils the longings of the human spirit by His example and His teachings. And in doing this, He shows to us the way into the presence of our heavenly Father! – And as He makes available to us this wholeness of life, we are able to experience inner peace, regardless of what outward circumstances may exist.

Friend, as you and I reflect on those words I have just shared, we can be reassured that Jesus is the person sent by God to provide each of us with the WHOLENESS and SECURITY OF LIFE we all inwardly look for.

Today, I sincerely hope you will want to BELIEVE and TRUST YOUR LIFE TO JESUS! However, if it is your desire to examine further the life and teaching of Jesus, before you make that commitment, I would be pleased to send you a Complimentary Ten-Lesson Home Bible Study Course, titled “Jesus, By John."

To receive your FREE copy of “Jesus, By John”, write to Discovering A BETTER LIFE, P.O. Box 1540, Albany, WA 6331

You may telephone your request on: (08) 98 418 418

Or Email us at: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

Friend, I look forward to sharing a new message of encouragement with you tomorrow. Until then, may our Loving God lift you up on eagle’s wings and provide you with His Peace, Wisdom, and Love.