It is my own personal belief that many people I know, who are not Christian, run from the idea for a couple of reasons. I will discuss some other reasons later. But today, I want to talk about one reason in particular. This reason is because of their pride. They think they will lose who they are as a person. People who know Jesus well and have had time to grow in their faith, know that this is not true. However, I have seen this fear in my friends. In fact, I once suffered from it!
When I was little, my grandmother told me about God and Jesus. I remember sitting in the floor next to her recliner. She told me that God created me. She said that I was made different from everyone else in the world. That I had certain talents and abilities because God wanted me to do something specific with those abilities. She said that only I could learn what it was He wanted me to do with them. I asked how I was supposed to figure that out. She said that I had to get to know God’s son, Jesus. That through prayer I was able to talk to Jesus. She told me that Jesus would give my messages to God and tell me what God said back. I asked if I would hear Jesus speak. She told me that when I talked to Jesus and when I was in certain situations, that I would just suddenly KNOW what Jesus was telling me. Then she taught me how to say The Lord’s Prayer. She explained what it meant. She also told me an important part of praying was to do two things at the end. The first was to tell God/Jesus a list of of the the things I had for which I was thankful. The second was to ask God/Jesus for good things to happen. We prayed out loud for people who were sick to get better and for people to be happy.
Once I grew up and moved out on my own, I played with the idea of going to church. I went to certain ones all over town, one time. I told myself they were all hypocrites or weirdos! I saw people who were mature Christians as stuck up or as wierdos that had seizures when they worshipped! I literally went to a service where people got on stage, acted liked they had been possessed, and fell on the floor throwing their body like a rag doll! I thought about calling 911! Then I met a man named Byron Matthews. He was a mature Christian. I thought he was so stuck up! But, I had to keep seeing him because he was also helping me get out of debt. I was in VERY bad financial shape. Byron invited me to his church to see a man speak. He was a huge financial success and was speaking for free. (Of course you could by his books and cds there.) But, it was a rare opportunity to see Peter Daniels! I was there for Peter, but I found a church that actually felt like a home. Try as I may I couldn’t find a fault there, I found pastors that I could love and believe in as people who were just trying to know Jesus like me. That church is where I have been ever since! It's The Rock of Asheville. Here's a link to their website. http://www.rockofasheville.com/ If this blog post makes sense to you. I highly recommend that you come check out this church!
Later, I was at a business conference. My mindset about money had changed from get out of debt, to live in abundance. My mindset about life, had reverted to what my grandmother had told me about God having something he wanted me to do with my talents and abilities in this life. It was Sunday at the conference and it was a strange town. The leaders of the conference wanted people to be able to go to church without a hassle. So they had a non-denominational service arranged. I went that day and made a decision to get back to a real relationship with God. I understood that I would “become a new person” and that God would “renew my mind.” This is where I had to deal with my pride. I had to understand what “become a new person” and “renew my mind” meant. I thought that they meant that I had to lose who I was. Like my previous self had no worth. That it was so terrible that God wanted to start over with me. To those people who think this, I want you to know, that is absolutely not true! If you think that, you are TOTALLY missing the point!
Think about being saved, or in my case, rededicating your life to Christ, as if you are a computer. Think of God as the manufacturer. God created you. He made you in his image with unique software that is meant to complete a unique task. However, life, circumstances, the devil, maybe even family have been using the computer. They have installed a new operating system. They had downloaded new software. They have tried to get you to comply and complete their tasks. You are just a computer. They have not treated you with respect. They have let you get dusty. They have spilled coffee on your keyboard and made your keys stick. They may have broken a panel door. Or jammed a CD in one of the drives. They have went to bad sites and downloaded viruses. But the saddest part of all of that, is the fact that you have let them be the administrator. Of course, you can’t be blamed too much for that. You were told as long as you can remember that they were in control. You think that is just the way it is. God doesn’t want to change you. He doesn’t think you lack value. He made you. He loves what He created. He is pissed at everyone that has mistreated you! He wants you to see your own value. He wants you to see the vision He had for your life. He wants you to complete the task that He gave you because He knows you are capable! Because He knows that reaching your potential honors the value He built into you. It shows you that He loved you enough to want you to be GREAT! He wants you to become the administrator! He wants you to dust yourself off! He wants you to have pride in who you are and what you were made to do! He wants to “renew your mind.” He wants to clear out the bad operating system and put back the original one! He wants to clear out the viruses and preconceived data! He wants you to have a clarity about the task at hand! He wants to give back the value that the computer had when it was first manufactured!
In dealing with my friends, I have had a hard time making people understand this concept. It’s not that they can’t understand what I am saying. There are two reasons they don’t understand. One is simply because they run from any opportunity where it might come up because of their preconceived thoughts. The other reason is because even if they hear the truth, they may not believe it at first. I didn’t immediately believe. I had to have the courage to allow my self-image to get to a point where I could believe. This is a whole different topic. What I have learned to do with those friends, is to be an example of the way a Christian should really live, to love on them, to give them time to grow their self-image, and lastly to pray for God to reach their hearts!
