We keep trying to feel happier longer, to make the rest of our existence more tolerable. If the happiest you ever are is when you're drinking and/or doing drugs with your friends, then you will live to party. It's easier to drag yourself out of bed to go to work if you can look forward to getting high with your friends after work. So you work to party. Or if you're never happier than when you're riding your Harley, your whole life will be about that.
The golf fanatic lives to golf and can't wait to go again. The football fanatic lives to see his team play. Talking about them at work makes his job more tolerable. He may even paint his house the team's colors. The hunting fanatic wears camo all year. He lives for hunting season, and dreams of having a trophy kill in his rifle sights.
We find what we think makes us happiest, then then we try to do it as often as we can. The problem is that we only really feel happy while we're doing it, so it can't last. It only amounts to maybe a few hours a week of that really happy feeling, but then even an all-night party only lasts the night and it's over. Then the guilt, the remorse, and/or the reality of everyday, mundane life sets in again. The in-between time (which is the vast majority of our waking hours), we can only look forward to the next happy time. We live most of our time looking forward to the next brief happy time, which is always over too quickly.
So then we think, "Well, if I could just get more of this or that, or if I could just do more of this or that, THEN I'll be happy! That'll make me happy!" One who pursues happiness in money becomes a millionaire and still isn't happy, so he figures he needs more and never feels he has enough, etc.
It's all about getting kicks. Maybe they're called kicks because it's like being kicked - it happens quickly, and it hurts afterwards. Compared to the kicks, the rest of life isn't much fun. It's at least mundane and empty most of the time, and it's usually accompanied by feelings of guilt or remorse. The greater the kicks, the worse life is without them.
Not only that, but they can easily be taken away and then you are left with just lousy old normal life. What if the guy who lives to golf breaks an arm? Or the one who lives to party runs out of dope or gets busted? Or the hunter can't hunt anymore, or the bank reposesses the Harley?
The Fatal Dead End
How far can you drive down a dead end road to find what you're looking for? Only until you hit the dead end. You will come to the dead end sooner or later, then you will have to turn around and try another road.
I went down alot of dead end roads, but all I found on them was nothing. A bunch of kicks that lead to nothing but emptyness. After awhile, I started to realize that all the kicks are the same old thing - they're always too short, they never last, and it's always a bummer when they're over.
What hope is there when you hear of the famous millionaire rock star who commits suicide? Did he or she overdose because they didn't have enough sex, or money, or drugs? Or was it because they found that these were all dead ends? What road isn't a dead end? Where do I have to go, or what do I have to do, to find the happiness that lasts, where "the fun never ends?"
So I came to a conclusion: if I could learn to love boredom, heartache and misery, I could finally have a wonderful life. But of course, this is not realistic. No one can ever enjoy those things.
Then I felt like, why do I bother living at all? What's the point of suffering through life, just to keep myself alive? That doesn't make sense. If I'm going to die anyway and just be basically miserable in the mean time, why bother? I always hated that bumper sticker "Life sucks and then you die" because as far as I could tell, it's true! But I didn't want it to be true! I think people put those stickers on their cars hoping that someone will prove them wrong.
I thought of different ways I could kill myself, but I wouldn't do it because I was afraid God might send me to hell for it. That figures, right? Kill myself to end this hell and land in a far worse one for all of eternity!
So I would pray to God to let me die, to take my life. Some days when I didn't even want to go out of my house, I would think, Well, if I go somewhere I might at least get killed in a car accident. I cant get killed sitting here at home.
See, I have always known God exists. Everyone does, at least deep inside. I think people who say "There is no God" are just saying it because they're begging Him to prove them wrong. Like when even an atheist finds himself in a really desperate situation, he will make a deal with God: "Oh God, if you're really there, please help me and I'll..." or "Oh God, if you get me out of this I promise I'll..." No one would make a deal with someone they're certain doesn't exist.
So anyway, night after night I found myself still alive, dreading the dawn of the next day of the same old meaningless, empty existence. So one night in bed in the pit of my desperation, as I was thinking of the best way to kill myself, I cried out to God and said "God, I give up! I don't know how to live, and you wont take my life, so I need you to take over for me!"
Well, right then He did. He revealed to me that night, in a supernatural way, what I really wanted to know - what every human being wants to know: He gave me what I've always been looking for - the TRUTH about life and a rescue from my empty existence.
What is Truth?
We all seem to have our own personal opinions about the meaning of life. "Well, I believe this, or I believe that." We can all sit around and argue what we each believe is true about our existence, our purpose in life, what happens to us after we die, etc. The New Ager believes that the whole world is just an illusion created by his own imagination, and that he is the god of his own universe. The Islamist suicide bomber believes that if he dies blowing up innocent "infidels", he will have 72 virgins waiting for him in heaven, or some nonsense like that.
But it doesn't matter what I believe, unless it's the truth, right? Everything else is just nothingness, nonsense. And there can be only one truth, right? Think about it - If there were two "truths" that didn't agree with each other, then one of them must be wrong, or they're both wrong, but they can't both be true, right? How can I think that whatever I suspect to be true, is true just because it might seem right to me?
Here is reality: There is only one universal truth about everything! And the most high God who created our universe and everything in it - including us - has that truth, because He made it!
Can you see, or are you blinded? It doesn't matter who you are, what you feel is true, or who you think your god is. The fact we all know, at least deep inside, is that there is only one God, one Creator who is above all, and His truth is the only Truth!
The Truth About You
Who knows a computer chip better than the engineer who designed it? He knows all about it, what voltage, current, and temperature it needs to be at its best. Or wouldn't you love to talk about your favorite computer game with the programmer who designed it?
Let's say you're trying to fix your car but you don't know what you're doing, and you just keep making it worse, and you break something, and you're getting totally frustrated and discouraged ... then, just about the time you throw up your hands and give up, wouldn't it be great if the engineer who designed and built it came by and said "If you trust me to help you, then let me take over and just do what I tell you, and relax, and we'll have it running like a top in no time." Man, it would feel so good to have an expert in control, I would do everything he told me! Even if it didn't seem right to me, I would do whatever he asks. After all, he is the expert!
If you want to know what it takes to be "happy" in this life, or how to find true, lasting, ultimate joy, peace, love, and contentment that never ends and no one can take away, wouldn't it be great to talk to the Engineer and Programmer who designed you? If anyone knows, He would, right? Doesn't it make sense?
The Truth Will Set You Free
Life can be a struggle. If you need a reason to live - a perfectly valid, legitimate, rewarding, and totally fulfilling reason to live, wouldn't you like to find out what it is from the one true Master and Creator of the Universe, the Expert who created you and therefore loves you fully and perfectly, and knows you better than anyone else possibly could?
It's crazy how simple it is: It's about turning your life over to the Expert that created you and letting him take over. And here's how to do it : Repent of your wrong ways, believe in Jesus Christ and put your faith and trust in Him, and you will be saved.
This is not some pie-in-the-sky religious holy-roller fairy tale. It is REALITY. It's the ONLY WAY. Jesus Christ is the Only Way! Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one gets to the Father except through Me."
Only He can save you. And not just for eternity, but from the misery of living an empty life also. The Kingdom of Heaven starts right when you repent and put your faith in Jesus. How do I know this is true? Because the Master of the Universe said so. He put it in the book he gave us and He doesn't lie. And also, He has changed my life!
But just believing about Jesus doesn't do it. Even Satan believes about Jesus, but his fate is already sealed in the lake of fire where he will be "tormented day and night for ever and ever." No, it's about surrendering your life to your Lord, surrendering your life to your Savior and letting Him take control for you.
It's about honestly admitting to God that you are a weak, hopeless, lousy sinner, and that you're no good at running your own life your own way because you've made such a mess of it, and you've done alot of wrong things. It's about admitting to your Creator that you're too weak to get it together on your own anymore. It's about giving up trying to do it your way, and asking God to take the reigns and help you do it His way. It's about asking Him to take over control of your life and be your Lord, and it's about making a sincere once-and-for-all decision to start trying to do things His way.
Jesus says in His Book "He who loves his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for My sake will find everlasting life."
It's like surrendering your car and your tools over to the Expert mechanic, and letting Him fix your troubles. What a freedom there is in that!
The beauty of it is, when you decide to ask Jesus to be the Lord over your life and you sincerely ask Him to forgive you, you will also receive His Free Gift of forgiveness for all your sins, and I mean all, no matter how terrible! In His Word to us, He literally promises to erase all your sins off the slate and remember them no more when you sincerely ask Him to forgive you! You can be free from the penalty and guilt of all your wrongs, just by asking Jesus to forgive you and to be the new Lord of your life.
This is called the Good News, or Gospel, of Jesus Christ. It is the blood that Jesus shed on the cross that makes this possible and washes away our sins when we sincerely ask Him to. When you decide to put your faith in Him, he stamps your rap sheet "Penalty Paid In Full" because His death paid for it. He says "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Born Into a Fulfilling and Joyful Life
And best of all, according to God's word, you then become one of His adopted children, a son or daughter of the King and co-heir with Jesus Christ Himself of the Kingdom of Heaven, where we can have true joy that never ends! You can then have the certain hope of living a perfectly wonderful and amazing existence throughout all of eternity after you graduate from this short life on earth!
In His book, God says "...eyes have not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." Well, I don't know about you, but I can imagine some really wonderful stuff! But it's way better than that!
It's called being born again - being reborn of the Spirit of God. He says "Unless you be born again, you can in no way enter the Kingdom of God."
And here's a fact you should know: If you're not living for God, you're serving Satan. There's no in-between! If you're alive, you're either on one side or the other.
You give Him your old, miserable, empty life, and He gives you a new wonderful one. You die to your old natural sinful self, and he gives you His Holy Spirit to live in you and take over for you, and right then you begin to know the true lasting joy that is available to those who love Him, who live in Him and for Him.
God also wrote in His book that Jesus will be coming again soon to get His children (those of us who belong to Him) and will take us to be with Him in Paradise. His children will escape His wrath, but woe to those who will be left behind!
Are You Ready?
Are you sick and tired of your miserable, meaningless life? Are you stuck in a rut on a road that leads to nowhere, but you're too weak to get yourself out of it? Do you feel that the mess you've made of your life is too big to clean up? Do you feel like everything you ever try to do comes to a dead end? I know how it feels, but I also know it doesn't have to be that way. You can be rescued the same way I was rescued. And it's amazingly simple!
That's why it's called amazing grace. Grace, by definition, is an undeserved kindness. It's a gift you didn't have to earn or deserve. It's a gift freely given just for the asking. It's total forgiveness and rescue just for reaching out and asking for it, no strings attached. It's unquenchable joy in this life and the promise of eternal life in Paradise, in return for simply surrendering to Him.
Are you ready to give up living life your own way and let the Expert take over? I guarantee you, there's not one possible good reason to wait! It's not going to get better, just worse without Jesus as your Lord because your life is hopeless otherwise, and your eternal fate is at stake!
Don't think you have to wait and get your life cleaned up first! That's a lie! He will meet you and rescue you right where you are, as you are, in the muck on that dead end road. He loves you more than anyone on earth ever possibly could! Jesus is real and alive, and He is standing at the door right this moment as you're reading this, just waiting for you to open it and invite Him into your life and your soul.
HERE'S WHAT TO DO: Get "on your knees" right now and sincerely CRY OUT TO JESUS in your heart! Tell Him you do believe He is the Son of God, and that He died and was raised immortal from the dead, and that you know you're a sinner in need of His salvation, and ask Him to forgive you for everything you've done wrong, no matter how terrible! Ask Him to pick you up out of the muck of your life and wash you clean. Ask Him to come into your soul right now and take over your life for you!
Tell Jesus you give up. Tell Him you really want to change your life, but you're too weak to do it yourself because you don't have the strength or will power. Tell Him you really want to get right with Him. Ask Jesus to wash all your sins away with the blood He shed on the cross, and to be the new Lord of your life. Ask Him to save you from your empty existence and pick you up and carry you into His Kingdom.
He promises He will do it, according to His Word, if only you will sincerely surrender yourself to Him and accept His Free Gift of grace and salvation that He is offering you right now. And I know He keeps ALL His promises!
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)
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