Everything is different (part 1)

This is a dialogue that happened on the beach in Indonesia that I got to be apart of.

Holy Spirit: Explain to me why you give sacrifices to your gods.

Kadek: My daughter is sick. And I have taken her to the doctor, and he doesn't help. So I give sacrifices to my god in hope that he might heal her.

Holy Spirit: Did she get healed completely?

Kadek: Yes.

Holy Spirit: Is she still sick now?

Kadek: Yes.

Holy Spirit: So she's not completely healed, meaning she's still sick right now.

Kadek: Right, she's still sick, but I continue to give sacrifices to my god.

Holy Spirit: So do you think that your gods care about you or your daughter?

Kadek: I don't know.

[Later in the conversation]

Holy Spirit: So you really do not know why you give sacrifices to your gods. Do you know anyone that does?

Kadek: Once a year, we have a 'priest' that comes and explains some stuff to us, but I really don't know why we sacrifice. It has something to do with us being bad people, so we must give sacrifices so that we can have good favor with our gods. But I really don't know why.

Holy Spirit: Does your priest know?

Kadek: I think so.

Holy Spirit: Don't you think he has a responsibility to tell you why you sacrifice? Even more than that, don't you want to know why you sacrifice things every morning and evening to your god? Don't you want to know why you spend countless dollars on your sacrifice?

Kadek: I just trust.

Holy Spirit: What do you trust?? You sacrifice to a god who might not even care about you and who is very inconsistent. You're not even sure if he/she really exists.

Kadek: [speechless]

{Pause}

Holy Spirit: Let me share something with you Kadek. Don't you think, if someone knew without a shadow of a doubt the cure for your daughters illness, that you would do everything you could in your power to find out how to heal her? [She nods her head]. Even more than that, if I were your 'priest', and I knew how to heal your daughter, I knew what the perfect sacrifice is to heal your daughter, don't you think I should tell you?? [She nods her head]. You give sacrifices to your gods, because you believe that you are sinful. Which you are. But the sacrifices that you give aren't good enough, that is why you give sacrifices every morning and evening. There is a man named Jesus. He was the perfect sacrifice for you and your daughters sin. He was without blemish. Perfect. He died once and for all. Meaning, He didn't have to die or be sacrificed several times. Likewise, I don't have to give sacrifices every morning and evening for my sin. I am covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, because I have excepted Him as Lord and savior and I now live in faith in the Son of God. The cure for you and your daughter (because of her sin) is not the doctors that you go to. It is not the priest that you go to. It is not the gods that you go to (who don't even care about you or your daughter). The only way that you or your daughter can be healed is through Jesus Christ. The God that I know and serve, loves me passionately. He loves YOU passionately Kadek. He loves your daughter passionately. He proved that, though He didn't have to, through sending His son (namely: Jesus) down to earth to die for you and your daughter, so that you might know Him. Could you imagine sacrificing your daughter so that the whole world might know you and have a relationship with you?? That's what God did for you and me, so that we might know and enjoy Him forever.

Well isn't that just a cute little story, John. (sarcasm)

It's not a cute little story. We are talking about the gospel here. It's Isaiah 53.5

But He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

We were bought/purchased at a price [Jesus' death]. We were healed through his stripes, through his afflictions. We did not do anything to deserve the grace/mercy that He gives. He was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. And yet, He asks us to be in a relationship with Him. Christianity is not a works-based religion. It is a RELATIONSHIP with Him, and by us knowing Him, we gladly and confidently want to tell people about the grace of God that we have received so that they might receive that invitation we have been given. We have been saved by His wrath through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And when God the Father looks at us in the end, He should see sin/bad people/objects of wrath, but instead He see's the blood of Jesus Christ (who was without blemish and perfect) and Jesus testifies that we are His.

In conclusion. If you are a Christian reading this, this is the truth that has been promised to us.

-We know that our God loves us and wants a relationship with us.

-We know that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

-We know that we have been redeemed by His blood.

-We know that He is actively pursuing us.

-We know that He is alive.

-We know that we have been sealed by His Holy Spirit.

-We know that when we die, we won't simply just go into the ground/dirt to be buried, but we will get to spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven. Without any doubt!

I pray that we would believe, and not simply just know these truths. Because Everything is Different for us. We have been raised from death to life through Jesus Christ. We were once dead and we are now alive!! Something has radically changed!!