In the beginning, God created a perfect world. He made the earth and the sky and the heavens - and everything within them. Every star in the sky, every vast sea, every living creature and all the wonders of this earth were created by His hand. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” - Psalm 19:1 Our Creator gave us the gift of life. In the beginning, man lived in perfect harmony joy with God. Until we abused our Maker's gift of free will and turned against Him. We left His path to life and followed our own road to death. Sin entered the world and it became a broken place. Every human being in this world is born into sin. Worst of all, sin separates us from our Maker, who cannot coexist with evil. We can never be perfect or get rid of sin, no matter how hard we try. Left to ourselves, we only continue down a path of darkness, deserving judgement - and ultimately death. Eternal separation from our Creator. But His love for is deeper than the oceans and vaster than the skies. Even though we did NOTHING to deserve it, our Creator sacrificed himself for us. He came to earth as Jesus, fully man and fully God, sinless and the only one with the power to take on our darkness. Jesus loved us so much died in our place - the most brutal, tormenting death imaginable on a Roman cross. It was supposed to be our death, yet He gave His LIFE for us. On the cross He took our sin and it died with Him. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” - Isaiah 53:5 He was buried, and all was silent for three days. But death could not hold Him. On the third day, He rose from the grave, defeating sin and death! Death has lost the battle, and it has no hold over us! HE IS ALIVE! We are no longer captives to darkness, and because of Jesus we have a way to our Creator! We now have the free gift of eternal life, by nothing we have done. All we have to do is accept this gift and follow our Savior, walking His path of life. Even when we follow Jesus, it does not mean we completely stop sinning. But even when we turn back on the road, He will find us and guide us through his Holy Spirit. And in the end, we can live all of life with the hope of heaven and eternal life. The hope that someday, despite the trials and brokenness of this world, we will come face to face with our Creator and live eternal life in a new heaven and new earth. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” - Revelation 21:4 Jesus has opened the door to life. Will you follow Him?
