Inspiration or Invitation

… because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

 

I recently talked to a woman who has very clear ideas about who she believes Jesus “was.” She was surprised when I suggested that she could not call Him a “good teacher” if she does not also call Him God.

She maintains that she lives a life based on the Bible. Her first line of defense in all things is God but she does not believe that Jesus is God. She believes that the same man who said that He and the Father are one, that no one comes to the father except through Him, and that all authority on heaven and earth had been given to Him, was just an ordinary man who happened to be the Son of God.

A good teacher could only say these things of himself if they were true. Otherwise, he is a liar. Liars are not good teachers.

After I talked to this woman I thought about her view of the Bible. She said it is an inspiring book. Jesus’ life sets an example we are to follow.  She denies He is God, to be worshipped.

I say the Bible is not just inspirational. I say it is also invitational.

It invites us into God’s plan for the redemption of our sinful lives. This invitation starts in the book of Genesis where man’s fall into a sinful nature happens.  God introduces the sacrificial system to redeem those sins. Already, He is pointing us to the sacrifice Christ, the Messiah, would make for our sin. He sacrificed Himself once for all time in order to open a way for us to be reconciled to our holy, just, God. The truth continues until the Book of Revelation when we are foretold of a time when Christ will return. Those who have heard the call of God and followed Christ as directed, will be with Him in glory forever. Those who refuse, will be eternally damned.

As I write it looks too simple, but that is the plan.

As you read the scripture are you looking for only how it might inspire you?   Do you seek to read only those verses that speak of the love of God and not those that seek to show the justice and the wrath of God? Neither one, by itself, gives us the full picture of God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Read as an inspirational book, we will miss the invitation to believe. John 20:31  says, “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Believing in half of Him is not enough. If we do not read about His view that sin is rebellion against Him and must be punished, then the verses that tell us to repent and believe that He died for those sins, mean nothing.

Is the Bible just a book to inspire us to live a better life or is it an invitation to believe in the One who will change our lives – now and forever?

Inspiration or invitation. The way you see it may literally save you for eternity.