Chasing an Epic Life

Paul talks about running the race in the bible and i want to run it to the fullest! I am quitting Diablo 3 because there is better things i am doing with my time. 1) I can invest more time in my relatioship with Jeff. Jeff needs a true friend and i want to be that friend to Jeff 2) The work i sow now in my business could reap a huge reward down the road. God has me in a season of dedication and focus. I need to be a master time manager. I need to be on a schedule and allow my self healthy rest. My full eforts need to go into owning an insurance agency and i cant give them when i am truely focued on video games 3) what benefit does the game give me? I feel like crap the next day. I am just killing the same guys over and over again. I dont see it creating unity between my friend as much as it creates poor moments. I see all our sleep paterns gone to the pits. Loren and Beiege are both utterly depressed. 4) I can be a better example to beiege and Loren. They can see my life and the blessings God has poured in my life and the character that he has built for me by following him. They may look up to me and by looking up to me questions the source of my strength :) 5) I dont feel like this is a matter that is non bibical to play but instead God has a greater journey for my life 6) I can be a better friend to Tom. He needs an ecourager and someone to lift him up! I can be that friend! 7) I will be much more organized and get to spend more time with my family! 8) My brother Dan and Nate are at cross roads and need my encouragment 9) Dallas is going through a tough time and i can be there for him more 10) Leigh needs help finding a job and i can be there for him. THere is to many awesome reasons that our way the benefit of playing. No more diablo 3 for this guy :)

Salvation

For a long time i have struggled with the idea of how do you get salvation and can you loose it? Lets start with the biggest question in human history. How are you going to be saved from eternal Damnation? The answer is Jesus Christ. In the bible it says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and belive in your heart you are saved. Plain and simple? Lets break each down. Confess with your mouth? This is confessing out loud that Jesus is the Lord of your life. THis part seems very plain and simple. Believe in your heart? This can be a bit more of a challenge. The challenge with the heart is it is our true desire. Humans we decieve are self because our heart is wicked. We act like our intentions are good but inwordly we have a hidden selfish agenda. You have to truly belive that you are a sinner. That you and God are on opposite spectrums. That you are in a pit of your destruction for the wages of your life. You have to belive that Jesus Christ trumps every thing else in your life. That Jesus now rules your life. If you truly belive this. You are saved In regards to the rich man that ends up going to hell. He rejects that he is a sinner and he decided that his wealth trumps Jesus Christ. Once Saved the battle of eternal destinys is over! You cannot do any work or not do any work that will condem you or change Gods view on you. I dont care what anyone tells you! God loves you not because of your merits which are as good as a tampon rag but becasue of his son who died for you. Now that you are saved lets talk about works We dont memic Christ because if we dont he will toss us into hell. We mimic Christ beccause he is our true love. He is our greatest desire and to want to be opposite of Christ would be like hating your best friend for no reason. Take a great leader if you have been lucky enough to meet one. You dont follow this leader because he guilts you into following him. You follow him because he insires you and you want to be more like that leader. Which way is better to view Christ? As he guilts us through life in order that we meet his stadard and hopefully get saved? Or He is our true joy and enthusaim. His action make us want to be a better man and we follow his lead in order that we can be the light of the world. When we slip, he doesnt guilt us but instead lifts us to his level even though we dont derserive it! To describe him as the first is what are old father SATAN DID! We literally describe Jesus as Satan when we say we can loose our salvation. Imagine the pressure we are in when we belive that we Must meet GODS standard and at any point he may toss us into hell. What a terrible father and that is what is Satan is! So can you loose your salvation? Apsolutely not! What is the point of the cross if your salvation is based on your merits? Did God say it is almost finished! Mark you finish the rest of my work ! No! God purpose is to be glofied! Gods death on the cross is the glorification. Not mans work. We would love to takes Gods glory which every other religion in the word does and say that we had a part in our salvation. We earned it because we lived holy. That is what the Jews belive and they are the one that Jesus gets the most upset about. Jesus truly wants your heart and he will do the rest. Not your actions. Jesus will mold your action because he inspires you To sumarize as you read the bible you will be challenged at time to see sections as if its by our merits. Just rembmer the cross and study that verse in greather detail. You will find it usualy paul reffering to running the race and rececing prizes from God in heaven.