Pure Water, Fresh Air, New Birth

By Rick Blumenberg  @rickblumenberg

Years ago Mutual of Omaha, a large insurance company, studied the salesmen who failed to discov­er the rea­sons for failure and "weed out" likely fail­ures before spending so much money tra­ining them. This would also help many avoid fail­ure. 

Many Ways to Fail

They discovered there are unlimited ways to fail. They finally admitted the study was a fail­ure. Every time they thought they knew every possible way to fail somebody discov­ered a new one!

In any situation, the gate that leads to failure and de­struc­tion is wide with numberless ways to get there. Multi­tudes of people find their way t­o and thru it. Every generation invents new methods and previously un­known ways to go to hell. 

On the other hand the gateway that leads to life is narrow. You have to search to find it. Many lose their way and perish before they  get through. That's why the Bible is so important. It tells The way to get to heaven--the way to put all the various parts of life together so life is a meaningful whole. But it only tells one way of salvation and that way is Jesus.

Some don’t like only one way

Several years ago I watched the Donahue Show as he inter­viewed Billy Graham. When Phil asked how to get to heaven he quoted Jesus' state­ment to Nicodemas; "You must be born again."

As you can imagine, Phil didn't like that answer. He knew before asking he would­n't like the answer. He knew what the answer would be. I think his pur­pose, was to make Graham look stupid to his audience because Phil did­n't think it made sense that God would be so "narrow-mind­ed". Logic says if there is a God he would not make only one way to get to heav­en. Anyone who thinks so is illogical, nar­row minded, and bigoted.

I’m constantly amazed that a per­son who is not smart enough to create even one tiny single-celled amoe­ba, much less anything as com­plex as an insect or worm, would still think he/she is smart enough to tell God how to handle His crea­tion!

But perhaps you've asked that same question. Why did God only make One Way to get to heaven—One way to be saved? Does the Bible really teach that? Let's see.

I John 5: 11-12 "...God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life; He who does not have the Son of God does not have life."

Now let me ask you a question: How many liquids do you know that will pre­vent a person from dying of thirst? I only know of one—water. It can come in many forms— milk, cola, cof­fee, or other drinks that are water-based. You can drink gasoline, motor oil or brake fluid but they won't sustain life. In fact, they de­stroy it. If we don't have water, we die. That's pretty narrow isn't it? It just isn't logical. Anyone who would believe such a thing would have to be narrow-minded and bigoted. The problem is…..it's true

How about breath? How many gases can we breathe to maintain life? I only know one—oxygen. We can breathe many gases. Some will kill us, some are harmless, one makes us laugh, but none sustain life. If you don't have oxygen, you die. That's pretty narrow isn't it? It just isn't logical. Anyone who believes such a thing is nar­row-minded and bigoted. The problem is…..it's true.

If we take water out of the liquids we drink, we die of thirst.

If we take oxygen out of the air we breathe we're soon asphyxiated.

If we take Jesus out of the picture, we are "dead in tres­passes and sin". And eventually, when separ­ated from our physi­cal bodies by physical death, that spiritual death be­comes ete­rnal. Without Jesus, life as we know it would not even exist.

Thank God for Water!

Why did God create the human race (and as far as I know, all other forms of life) so we must have water to sur­vive? That's easy. You know the answer. Because water is e­nough! Water is a mar­velo­us li­quid! It brings wealth to a nation, health to it's peo­ple and to all of creation if it's kept clean and pure. Not­hing tast­es bet­ter than a cool, re­fresh­ing drink of spar­kling pure water!  Thank God for water!

Thank God for Oxygen!

Why did God create us so we could only breathe oxygen? Ano­ther easy answer, He only created one gas to sus­tain life be­cause oxy­gen is fully adequate! Oxy­gen is a marve­lous gas! It gives health and strength to all the dif­ferent or­gans in the human body. Nothing feels bet­ter than a deep breath of fresh, clean air! Thank God for oxyg­en!

Thank God for Jesus!

But how about salvation? Why did God plan only One Way for peo­ple to be saved? Why couldn't there be "many roads, winding their way to one God"? The answer is the same as the answer to the two previous questions—because One Way is enough.

Jesus Christ is a marvelous Savior! He brings whole­someness and joy to all who believe! Absolutely noth­ing is as wonderful as living life fully surrendered to the lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the only true and Living God and our Creator!  Thank God for Jesus!  

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
     

Free Toner Cartridges?

By Rick Blumenberg @rickblumenberg

When I saw "Laser toner cartridges - free" and the email was from my friend, I was sure someone had hi-jacked his email name and used it for a pfishing expedition to try and scam me or anyone else who would bite.

Just to be sure I hovered over my friend’s name to see if there was a scam email beneath it, but to my surprise it seemed it really was from him, so I read the email.

I’m from Missouri

But I was still totally skeptical. After all I am from Missouri (literally and emotionally) so I don’t usually believe anything that sounds too good to be true. It turns out however, that sometimes there really is a "Free Lunch"!

As it happens my friend had bought a new laser printer and had new cartridges he had been buying in bulk for ten years. He still had three, but he could no longer use them because they didn’t fit his new printer. Rather than trash them and fill the dump with something valuable, he sent emails to his friends to see if anyone could use them.

So, as I said earlier, sometimes there really is a free lunch—but only I may add, if someone else pays the bill.

This is not the first time this has happened to me and the other time was even more significant than free toner cartridges. I was a sinner, separated from God. I was mired in the shame of my ungodly behavior and un-Christ-like attitude. I didn’t deserve forgiveness or the removal of my sin and shame, but Jesus Christ had already paid the bill for my forgiveness. All I had to do was accept it as a free gift from God!

Having grown up in the church I had been taught this for years so I already knew it to be true, but it was so much more amazing when I could apply this truth to my own situation. I thought God was mad at me for my bad attitude and behavior. It only made sense that I had to do something to earn forgiveness, but no!

Salvation really is a free lunch!

Salvation is a free lunch only because before the world was created God planned for our forgiveness. It’s free to us only because Jesus Christ, God’s Son paid a terribly high price to make it available, not only to me, but to every person on planet earth.

If you haven’t yet accepted God’s forgiveness, know this: God has already forgiven you because Jesus paid the price for your salvation!

That’s what I call really, really, really, “Good News!”

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s

My View

from Tanner Creek.

   

Living in God's Reality

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Paul wrote in Philippians 3 about living in the joy of God’s reality. Those aren’t Paul’s words, but my description of what he wrote. After you read this I hope you also read Philippians 3 thru 4:2.

Paul urges us to “rejoice in the Lord” then departs temporarily from this theme to talk about a way of living that steals our joy and fills us with deep anxiety. His thoughts and writings recalled his past efforts to attain salvation by what he thought were “good works”.

There’s nothing wrong with good works. The problem is if we try to use good works as our method of salvation. Paul now knew without doubt it was gained only by faith in Christ—not by any good works he had done. Some, he now realized, not only brought no salvation, they were not really good. They were instead, very bad works. In his zeal he had actually persecuted the same church he was now trying to build. Paul knew others who had tried that same futile road to heaven and he knew such behavior would only steal their joy. He didn’t want others to walk that same dead end road when such behavior would not gain salvation and could even find them fighting against God instead of serving him.

Paul knew God had a better idea. In verse seven he wrote, “…whatever was to my profit I now consider loss…compared to…knowing Christ….” He even considered them “rubbish”.

Paul did many good things. But call them “rubbish”?

Because such good works only bring despair if we depend on them for salvation. They produce joy only when done in response to loving God and loving humanity. We are all God’s people by creation. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we are all forgiven.

Paul’s former life had been lived with a wrathful view of God. Paul’s life reflected the wrath he assumed was the nature of God. When Paul met Jesus, he met God’s grace and mercy. Realizing that grace and mercy was for everyone brought Paul an indescribable joy. He had moved into the awesome light of God’s reality and found it amazing.

God’s reality is that we all are forgiven. Christ died for our sin, but too many people still live in the defeat of hopeless guilt. Mentally, even Paul hadn’t fully attained it (v. 12). Paul knew the truth of forgiveness, but he still struggled to fully grasp the limitless grace of God. Nor the fact it was for him, Paul, a middle-eastern terrorist, who had been saved from his own terror and from the terror he had dumped on the church. He now realized this forgiveness had been granted both to him and to all humanity!

Most do not grasp that God loves everyone. Paul knew his own mind still hadn’t caught up with the reality of God’s grace. In verse 16 he urged “let us live up to what we have already attained”. We are spiritual siblings of the Lord Jesus Christ because God loved us and sent Jesus to bring us all to God.

God opened the door for you to live a life of joy. That door is Jesus! An antidote for past sin, Jesus also offers faith as immunity from future sin and a welcome into God’s amazing grace.

Open yourself to the Joy-giver, Jesus. Give him past failures and claim what is already yours; a loving relationship with God, through Jesus Christ. Then God’s Holy Spirit can help you claim with heart and mind what Jesus attained for you through his death and resurrection. You too can begin to live in the joy of God’s reality. 

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s My View from Tanner Creek. 

   

I Believe! Part 3

I believe in the selfishness of sin. Every sin is basically some form of selfishness and every instance of selfishness is sin— the very opposite of righteousness. Selfishness, by its very nature, alienates people from God and from each other, hindering and ultimately destroying the Divine‑human oneness that is the essence of abundant living.

I believe in the wholesomeness of holiness. Holiness is the Divinely intended state of mankind and every unholiness involves some sort of destructive unwholesomeness and defeats God’s perfect Will for us. Holiness does not interfere with life but makes it decisively more enjoyable, more worthwhile and more satisfying. Body, mind, and spirit were created by a holy God for holy living, therefore any unholiness is destructive in any area of life.

I believe in three steps of relinquishment. I believe in salvation, where persons humble themselves before God, to ask forgiveness of past sin, and to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Master of life. I believe in sanctification, where redeemed persons surrender their total being and every extension of themselves to God, requesting the infilling of His Holy Spirit, who cleanses us from the tendency toward selfishness and sets us apart for God’s sacred purposes. I believe the third step is "Becoming". As Christians continually yield themselves to the refining power of the Holy Spirit we become more and more restored to the image of God.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.