Lessons for Living from the Bible in Everyday English by Dennis Magee

This will likely be the most important letter I’ll ever write to you because I want to discuss something that is foundational for my life, and is the most important aspect of any of our lives. That is the spiritual aspect, too often neglected. All of us get involved in the day-to-day events of our lives without thinking about the spiritual side. I don’t know to what extent your upbringing included religious training, but remember this, you have a soul. Your soul will survive through eternity after your body ages and dies, and will be in one of two places, heaven or hell. It’s not my style to hassle anyone about religion, so unless you take an interest and want to discuss it further with me, I’ll not discuss it again in any depth. I may ask you from time to time how this part of your life is going, but I won’t get into it in any depth unless you want to. I want to discuss this in depth at least this one time however.

Man has been speculating about the nature of God and life after death since the beginning. When I was an undergraduate I myself read extensively on various Eastern religions. Also, as a science major, I had lots of training in evolution. I’ve always approached all facets of my life by reasoning things out and evaluating available evidence, and did the same thing with religion. And, this is why, after a lot of thought and examination of facts I’ve come to realize that the only religion in the world that has any relevance for mankind is Christianity. God came to earth in the form of a man, Jesus Christ, to demonstrate how we should live our lives and to show us how to be saved from our sins and gain eternal life. Most major events surrounding the life of Christ, His miracles, etc., are very well documented. The Bible contains God’s instructions to mankind on living life and on attaining eternal life. Bible scholars know that it was written over a period of between 800 and 1500 years by about 40 different people. God instructed and guided each of them on what to write and how. Only God knew how He wanted it all to fit together. And the amazing thing about it is that it does all flow together. In the Old Testament for example, various prophets foretold events about the life of Christ many hundreds of years before He was born, such as where He would be born, what His profession would be, where and how He would die, even the events that would take place at the Cross while he was dying. The prophets mentioned crucifixion before it ever came into being as a form of execution, and talked about the soldiers gambling for His robes at the foot of the Cross. All of these things came to pass, because God foresaw that they would. This is why I am a strong believer in Christ. I can’t ignore the evidence.

Some people who you’ll discuss this with will say that Christ was one of many great prophets, a great man. This is wrong. Christ was the Son of God, the means by which God could overlook our sins and reconcile us to himself. He loves us more than we can know, and created us because He wanted other beings on whom He could lavish this love; He wants our companionship, but only if we want to give it. Love isn’t love unless there is an object, or being, toward which it can be expressed. God is love, and so He created mankind to love and share eternity with. But this would mean nothing to Him if He didn’t give us a choice to love Him or not. And so He gave us free will to decide. But God also created a need in us for Him. And it is not until we are one with Him that we feel completed and fulfilled. God is pure and cannot tolerate sin; man is by nature sinful and unclean. The only way God can accept our companionship is by cleansing us from our sin. This is where Christ comes in. Christ knew no sin, and God can view each of us as being pure like Christ, and therefore acceptable to Him if we accept Christ as our personal savior. Here are some relevant quotes from the Bible:

• “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who so ever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

• “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one shall come to the Father but through me.”

• “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

• “For as many as received Him, to these He gave the right to become children of God.”

What this all means, is that if we receive Christ as our personal savior, God views us in the same light, completely acceptable to Him, and entitled to all He has. This means eternity in heaven. Since Christ is the only means God provided for our salvation, if we don’t receive God’s plan for salvation we come under His wrath, and are destined to spend eternity in hell. Hell will be as inconceivably horrible as heaven will be wonderful. I don’t want to see anyone I care about end up there. Each of us has to make this choice. Inactivity, in the sense of ignoring your spiritual life and receiving Christ is one choice, the one that will result in hell. None of us can afford not to make the right choice and receive Christ. Any of us regardless of age, can die at any time; and then it will be too late. Hell is not only for murderers, rapists and thieves, and so none of us can afford to take the attitude that “I’m basically not a bad person and I do good deeds, so I’ll get into heaven”. The extent of our sinfulness and the extent of God’s purity are so far separated that nothing that we try to do on our own can bridge the gap and reconcile us to God. All that we can do is receive Christ, and then we are reconciled. None of us can rely on good works to save us. God considers the best of our works as but “filthy rags”, that don’t even come close to justifying us before God because of the extent of our sinfulness.

• “For by grace we are saved through faith, and this not of ourselves; it is a free gift from God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast.”

Once we have received Christ, nothing can separate us from the love of God. When we are children of God, we want to do good because we want to please Him. There is a big difference between wanting to do good to please Good versus thinking that it will earn our way into heaven. But so many people miss the point, live their daily lives without regard for their spiritual future, and feel some how they’ll make it to heaven. Or most people just don’t think about it.

• “Broad is the road to destruction and many will go that way, but narrow is the path to eternal life and few will find it.”

And so, the focus is on Jesus Christ. It is of value to revisit who He is and what He means to us. Jesus is the Son of God, and He came to earth to show us how God wants us to live and how to attain eternal life. To demonstrate His deity, He performed miracles that were witnessed by hundreds of people. He raised people from the dead, cast demons out of people, and healed the sick. He was then crucified and after three days rose from the dead to demonstrate His control over death. Over 500 people saw Him alive after they witnessed His death. He endured separation from God and death of His body as an atonement for our sins.

The Bible tells us that our earthly battles are not against flesh and blood, but against the spirits of evil. It’s difficult for people to grasp because we can’t see it, but living parallel to us in this world, is a spirit world of angels and also satan and His demons. There is an on-going battle for people’s souls. Satan wants your soul to be in hell for eternity where he can torment you forever; God wants you for His companionship and everlasting love in heaven. All of us are beset with demons, who try to get us to live contrary to the will of God. In extreme cases, they can cause people to commit atrocious acts against other people, but in most cases, they want to prevent people from knowing the truth about salvation and living a Godly life. This is subtle but dangerous. A person can feel that he or she is leading a good life, and is convinced of this by these evil spirit forces that tell us we don’t need God, nor church, and that God’s plan for salvation is hogwash. And without being aware of it, we’re headed down that broad path to hell. In our daily lives, we take our mates for granted, talk about other people, fail to help others when we could, etc.; nothing really bad, but all manifestations that we aren’t living Godly lives. When we belong to Christ, we have patience, love and commitment to helping others.

None of us can lead a Godly life on our own because satan’s influence is too strong. We need God’s help. When we receive Jesus as personal savior, two things happen: 1) We become totally acceptable to God and are given eternal life, and 2) He gives us the Holy Spirit to help us in our daily lives. When you become a child of God you are in His daily care and He watches over you. He gives you what you ask for if it is best for you to have it. He has a plan for your life and will help you to lead the most fulfilling life possible, if you will trust in Him. By the power of His Holy Spirit He will grant you wisdom, understanding and all the qualities you need to live a Godly life. And He gives you strength to resist satan’s temptations. The Bible tells us that satan is like a lion, looking for a soul to overcome. Without God, who is much stronger than satan, the devil will succeed in ruling our lives. Without God in charge of our lives, we are like a ship on a stormy sea without an engine or rudder, cast to-and-fro by the winds of this evil world. Among young people this is manifested in drug abuse, pregnancy, abortion, and a downward spiral that for many young people ends in suicide. Some of the rock groups are satanists who glorify death and suicide. As the antithesis of God, satan is death, and totally opposite everything that is alive and healthy. It is because of satan that there is death and disease; but God is the affirmation of all that is life, and health, and well-being.

So how does one receive Christ and become a child of God? It’s as simple as praying this simple prayer: “Jesus I am a poor miserable sinner, totally lost without you. Please forgive me my sins and be my personal Savior. Help me to lead a Godly life”. It is as simple as this, such a simple step that most people don’t take. Jesus comes to us by invitation only. God isn’t about to force us into this decision, because He wants us to come to Him on our own. Jesus tells us: “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me.”

Most of us, especially when we are young, don’t think about death. We think we’re going to live forever. The reality and finality of death don’t hit us until we have been at a wake. But thinking about death is not a bad thing. It can reaffirm our lives. If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, you would treat people differently and appreciate every aspect of life more. When we’re on the other side, having died, and our soul reflects back on how we have lived our lives, we don’t want any regrets. We need to avoid this while we are still alive and able to make choices. Each of us will face Jesus after death, and will be called to account for our lives. We will want Him to tell us how well we’ve lived and that we have pleased Him.

Finally, everything we have has been given to us by God. He owns everything, including us. All He asks is for us to acknowledge this by accepting His plan for salvation (receiving Christ as personal savior) and trying to live as He wants us to. None of us is perfect, even the most devoted Christian. We all have failings, and over the course of our lives He helps us to overcome these. We only need pray and ask Him and through faith, He will grant it. He even gives us faith to help us believe if we ask for it.

Everything in this world that is good and decent and loving comes from God. Without God’s presence the world would be filled with every kind of wickedness and cruelty. This is what hell will be like. Eternally separated from God’s love, forever tormented by satan and his demons. So, for one’s own sake, one needs to make the right choice. Receive Jesus Christ as personal savior and you will receive all of His power and blessings for living a full, rich life; and all through your life you’ll have the peace of mind of knowing where you will be when you die. In paradise with Him through eternity. Can you say for certain now that this will happen? Don’t be caught dead without Jesus.