What Does the Christian’s Life Offer?
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Why be a Christian?  I mean if it is to be a good person, well you can be a good person without being a Christian.  I know plenty of good people who don’t go to church and who have never made a public confession to follow Christ.  I know plenty of good people who are Buddhist, Muslims, Jews, and Atheists to name a few.  However, I do think that being a Christian does make you a better person, but I think there is more to the Christian life than just being a good person.

Does suddenly being a Christian give you wealth and comfort?  Unfortunately, no.  I know it’s sad!  But you can’t have faith if the only reason to have faith is for material wealth.  Probably because, to God, that material wealth has no special position in His eyes.  It is not the material, the car, the clothes, the money that defines the person.  What God is going to care about is your character and how you live your life.  Not what you buy or own.  Essentially, wealth and material has nothing to do with being a Christian.  You can be righteous in God’s eyes whether you are rich or poor.  What essentially following Christ does for you is give you peace of mind regardless of your economic status.  You may not gain material wealth or even comfort, but you will find happiness in Him.

And as far as living life in comfort, unfortunately following Christ is the opposite of comfort!  The Christian life is all about being put into challenging situations.  And it isn’t because God is maniacal and likes to watch His creation struggle.  It is because He likes to watch His creation triumph over all life situations.  God likes watching us problem solve.  Basically God likes to see us trying.  The Christian life is about doing not settling.

Does the Christian life offer a life after death?  Of course!  How is this possible?  Because the power of God’s love.  You see, God loves us so much that there is nothing that can separate our connection of the love with Him.  Death is never the end of God’s love.  God’s love is about how we are always with Him whether it is in this life or the next.  God loves us so much that He cannot bear not being with us.  So in this life, God is with you always!  And when we pass away, God is still with us, and hence live eternally with Him.  Through God’s love, anything is possible!  If God cares and love, then God will make it work out, always does.

But being a Christian in order to have an afterlife should not be a reason to be a Christian.  The Christian life has so much to offer.  We don’t follow Jesus just because we fear nothingness or even hell when we die.  We follow Christ basically because through Christ we can be a good person by having our morals and ethics to the test, and seek happiness regardless of social or economic status.  Seek joy when life gets confusing or though.  But there is also more!

The Christian life offers purpose!  We are given a mission by God through the example and words of Christ.  From the beginning to the end of the Bible it is all about how God created us to be co-creators and caretakers with Him.  Think about it.  In Genesis, God created Adam and gave him a task, that is to name all living beings that are created.  Adam, is a co-creator!  Also, Jesus is always giving His disciples things to do.  Go to town by town, heal the sick, cure diseases, and exorcise the demon possessed.  Jesus feeds the multitude telling the disciples to find some food in order for Jesus to work on dividing the food into portions that all people can be well fed.  Jesus telling the disciples to find a colt and donkey to go to Jerusalem.  Jesus tells the disciples to prepare a room for them to celebrate the Passover meal.  Jesus telling His disciples that the power is given to you!  Not to mention all the parables that give us life lessons and thoughtfulness.  Even in Paul’s letters offer much needed guidance and wisdom to live a Christian life well.  The Christian life offers a life to be a good person, happiness, life after death, and a purpose.  But even if you find yourself in a position where you cannot fathom or feel these things, then just know this.  The Christian life offers a God who loves you so much, and that God is willing to do anything for you, even come down as a human in Jesus, to be your friend, and even willing to die on the cross, to be resurrected, and to be with you more intimately in the form of the Holy Spirit. 

And it’s good to feel loved by someone.  So, know that no matter what, in every life situation, in every bad decision made, God loves you always.

Our church is looking beautiful!  Church members have been coming over for the last three days help cleaning the inside and outside of the church.  It really does look amazing.  Once the weather gets warmer, we will start to plant some flowers and get some mulch put in. 
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Truly I am very happy that we have the ability to take care of God’s house.  I think our members do such a great job in making sure that every building maintenance is up to safety standards.  As much as we do to take care of the inside of the church, we needed to do the same for the outside. 

For the last year or so, the outside of the church needed some well needed love, which we were unable to do it because of COVID protocols and other factors.  So, it was time to get down, pull weeds, rake, trim hedges, clean up the flower patches, and everything in between.  It looks marvelous and once those hedges start getting green, it is really going to brighten up the church!

At Ward Ave Presbyterian Church we want the inside and outside of the church reflect the people’s heart, and now it certainly does.  It is a huge improvement.  Also, I cannot thank enough the people who not only did the hard work outside the church but also the people who worked inside, cleaning up the office areas and closet.  It is spectacular in the office.  It is organized and pristine. 

As much as we will always continue to take care of the needs of the people, we must remember to take care of the church building as well.  Again, everything we do must be a reflection of our hearts that are in Christ Jesus. 

Thank you all for helping out everyone!  So if we haven’t seen you in a long time, come on by!  Or if you never came to our church, please, come worship with us, we would love to meet you and have you in join us for worship!  God bless you all!  May Holy Week bring you joy and further guidance!