Did you know that approximately 75% of youth that went to church at one time drop out? Why is this happening? Why wasn't I one of them? Why wasn't my husband one of them? Why do we both have family members who are? This is a scary question for me to face because now that I'm a mother, I desperately DO NOT want my children to be added to this statistic. I wonder what makes believing in Jesus so hard for some yet seem so easy for others. What about the ones who do believe it as truth, yet feel their lives would be better without God and His "rules"?
Growing up we went to church whenever the doors were open. My two older brothers and I were part of Children's Church, Sunday School, Youth Group, and Royal Rangers/Missionettes. My parents were "strict"...borderline "abusive" by today's standards (haha). We went to church whether we felt like it or not...we weren't allowed to watch movies with cursing, nudity, or too much violence...we had to sneak listening to secular music. We were kept in line by spanking and grounding...we weren't allowed to curse and our friends from school had to be met by my mom before we could go to their house. Man I must have hated my life, huh? Far from it. Of course there were times I was frustrated by these rules, but I accepted them, and now that I'm an adult, I thank God for them.
Since we had rules, my parents also had standards to live by. They were far from the "do as I say, not as I do" type. My parents didn't drink, smoke, or do drugs. They worked on their marriage and are still married after 35 years. My dad was hard-working at his job, my mom was hard-working at home. We always knew we were loved and we watched my parents lean on God in both good times and bad. And of course there were hard times...being a Christian doesn't mean you get a magical life of no troubles. What you do get is the strength to get through them and the confidence in God's promise of turning it around for good. When I look back, all of these "rules" created an amazing childhood for me. Maybe there's a reason God gives us guidelines on how to live a better life??? It taught me a lot, provided me with great memories, but the main thing I got out of it was that God is real, Jesus is real and if I live my life for Him, I can get through anything.
I think people have a hard time believing because God can't really be "proven" in the way that people want and the "standards" of a Godly life seem daunting at first glance. I also don't think people realize all they GET when they live according to God's way. I want to briefly talk about these issues now, and I'm sure I'll get more in depth at a later time.
God can't be proven in most minds because we can't see Him. Unless we have tangible proof of anything, we won't believe it. That's the way we work...we're born skeptics. I find this strange though: evolution hasn't been proven 100% either, yet people find that easier to believe. There is so much evidence supporting the Bible as being valid, yet for some reason, that's often dismissed. I won't get into all the proofs right now, but research "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell. He was an atheist trying to make a mockery of the Bible and ended up with so much evidence showing it's validity, he became a Christian. Also research the Shroud of Turin. These are two tools to show there is a lot of scientific evidence supporting the Bible and what it says to be true.
Now for the rules...those awful rules that keep people from having any fun are what skeptics LOVE to use as a reason to forget about God. Well, at first glance, it can seem intimidating. Why does God have so much to say about the way we live our life anyway? Unless we know the character of God, we will never truly understand. Why do we tell our kids to not eat a bunch of ice cream for breakfast? Because IT'S NOT GOOD FOR THEM. They don't always like it, but hopefully they know that we love them, and take us at our word. We need to know WHO God is...WHY He tells us things...and WHAT will happen when we obey and when we don't. The ten commandments and all other "rules" are guidelines that God has put in place to make our lives easier and better. "The wages of sin are death"...you don't need God to strike you with lightening-living a sinful life brings disaster in itself. That's why it's called sin. I will get into the specifics of this another time, but for now I'll just give one example. God tells us not to get drunk. What stems from drinking too much? Drunk driving, rape, fights, consentual sex that's regretted, unwanted pregnancy, embarrassing actions and saying things you shouldn't have as well as taking a physical toll on the body in the form of hangovers, alcohol poisoning, ulcers, cancer, internal bleeding, and cirrhosis of the liver to name a few. Do you see what God's trying to protect us from? It's like a parent wanting to keep their child safe. Sin is only fun for a season, but the repercussions last much longer.
So if we shouldn't do these things...even if we understand that it's for our own good, what CAN we do? What do we get out of the deal?? Well the big prize is eternal life in heaven with the Lord. But that doesn't always help when we are struggling here on earth now. What you get here is a life of freedom! A life of freedom because you don't have to deal with the results of bad choices. You get a life of never being alone, always having someone to talk to, POWER to overcome temptation, KNOWLEDGE of why we are here and DESIRE to do something bigger than yourself. And don't forget about peace that passes all understanding, unspeakable joy, and unfailing love. This is one of the main differences (I feel) of people who follow the Lord, and people who don't-personal experience. This is so hard to put into words, but when you take a step of faith, God will run to you, and it's evident in ways that are hard to explain. This amazing life is so much FUN!!
Well this blog turned out to be much longer than I expected, yet I haven't even scratched the surface of what an incredible journey living for the Lord is. I hope you'll check back from time to time and read personal stories, proofs, and ways to be happier while we're here and without any worry of what's over there.
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