John 6:66-68; At this point many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him. Then Jesus turned to the twelve and asked, ” Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, ” Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.”
That scripture is very personal to me. A large part of my becoming a serious Christian is hung on those very words Peter spoke. Peter recognized that there was no other source for truth and that there was no other option. An honest truth seeker always lands in Jesus’ corner.
Part of my long journey of faith was that I just wanted to know what was true. I started out in a good Catholic family, but church was more of what we did on Sunday and that made us Catholic. In no way am I going to belittle the Catholic folks, but we didn’t read the Bible and didn’t really know anything about it. That was the priests job. I didn’t own my faith.
As soon as I was out of my mothers sight, I was done with church. Eventually I started reading “Out on a Limb” by Shirley Maclaine and started to get into the whole New Age thing. Still the more that I read about New Age beliefs, the cornier it got. I was not God and I was not going to keep getting regurgitated until I figured out that I was God. Crystals are neat, but diamonds got a lot more fun in my world. Something more sensible was needed. Next came “Dianetics” by L Ron Hubbard. Again, it seemed pretty logical in the beginning. Some of it made sense and it appealed to the logical side of me, but the further I dug into it, Scientology really fell apart. It really doesn’t answer the hard questions and is really incomplete. Next in the loser lineup was a series of books by Stephen Hawking. Again, kind of made sense in the beginning, but it really made no sense in the end. Neat theories but they just don’t hold up to any objective scrutiny. They just get mad and call you names and look down on you if you point out the obvious flaws in their ideas. Atheism was a waste. Still, I kept part of it, because when you’re a young energetic lad, sin is fun and Stephen Hawking sure won’t bust me for behaving badly. No sin in Stephens world!
Fortunately I was blessed with a persistent mother. She wasn’t one bit concerned with hurting my feelings when it came to my behavior. Finally in an effort to convince her that the Bible wasn’t true ( and so I could stay out of church), I embarked on a journey that has never ended. I was going to show Ma all the stuff that was wrong with the Bible. Well, I didn’t really know what it said, but everyone else said it was all wrong. 3 months later after intense and honest research, I had nowhere else to turn. Like Simon Peter, I had recognized that Jesus had the words to eternal life. His word was true in the strictest sense of the word. I’ve been researching insatiably for the last 30 years. The Bible is Gods truth, the only source of truth, and its His message to me. The answer to every struggle and every expression of joy are in there.
I will admit it, there have been times that my heart has wanted to turn back to sin. Sin is so easy short term, but it will always leave you wanting more until it consumes you. The thing is, that when you realize the source of truth, you can’t really go very far. There is no way out. New Age, Scientology, and Atheism don’t hold any truth, there is no lure to go back. Jesus always calls me back and He isn’t afraid to discipline me either. He’s taken me to the woodshed plenty of times! Never punish, only discipline.
If you find yourself wandering or doubting, first check yourself for sin. Get that under control and repent. Then get back into studying Gods message for you. Let me assure you, any sincere doubt that you may have, has an answer. The Bible is a historically accurate book, written by 40 authors that God chose, to speak to you. If you hear or read something that causes you to doubt, look it up yourself. Don’t trust anyone, test Him, He can take it! If you will honestly study, you will find that you have no where else to turn either. You aren’t trapped, just safe in His arms. Still having some desire to be naughty, no doubt, but you just cant rationalize turning your back on truth. You will likely find that you become closer to your creator than you ever thought possible. Study(not just read) your Bible and find out what that really means.
Jesus loves you friends! Those words come so cheap to us, but cost Him dearly. I’ll be praying for all you doubters, to whom will you go?
humbleshoeshineboy 