I was engaged in a conversation, once, with a fella who was pretty animated about whatever it was he was discussing. At one point he declared with great conviction, “I have done a 360° on that subject.”
I laughed.
He gave me a puzzled look.
I said, “So then, you still believe the same thing you’ve always believed? You’ve not changed a bit!” He still didn’t get it.
I then drew a circle for him in the air and showed him that to “do a 360°” is to return right back where you started. I suggested that perhaps he had actually “done a 180°” on the subject. Then he chuckled.
180°’s are rare things.
From birth, our environment, our geography, our own insecurities, and the pressure of cultural fads begin to influence our ideas. And our ideas tend to settle and then even harden as time passes.
Yet, the Christian faith calls for just the opposite— a 180°. Not on everything demands a 180°, mind you.
For not everything is wrong.
However, on the subject of one’s soul and the means whereby we come to know God, the Christian faith does indeed require a 180°. If we think that we can stitch together our own unique plan of salvation – no Savior needed – no saving needed, we are wrong.
The Christian faith says plainly, that that is not so.
Jesus’ death on the cross is laden with rich meaning and accessible symbolism.
1. He died for a reason. That reason was you. That reason was me.
2. He offers to us the gift of His death as the just punishment for all of the naughtiness we have done and all that we might yet do.
3. This gift works beyond the limits of time. It stretches to the past. It meets us in the present. And it will be waiting for us in the future.
A 180° comes at that moment when we choose to part with our patchwork of ideologies—our home-brewed atonement—and when we humbly receive the gift freely offered. The very word “repent” in the Greek suggests that a person, heading in one direction, turns and then heads in the other direction.
I’m no engineer, but that sounds like the definition of a 180°.
So consider:
have you committed to the 180°? Or have you simply said I want to do a 180°?
In actuality, have you done a 360° as my friend said before? Have you never really made a changed?
Our faith in Jesus requires that we repent and we walk away from sin. It requires that we let go of that which so easily entangles us.
So what’s the plan? Where are YOU headed?
Jesus said, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near (Matt 4:17).”
I challenge you to repent right now and to believe in the gospel.
Will you do that?
My friend, say YES today and be FREE!
I love you all,
Go give em Heaven!
Pastor Scott
Want more encouraging blogs from Pastor Scott? Click here.
I laughed.
He gave me a puzzled look.
I said, “So then, you still believe the same thing you’ve always believed? You’ve not changed a bit!” He still didn’t get it.
I then drew a circle for him in the air and showed him that to “do a 360°” is to return right back where you started. I suggested that perhaps he had actually “done a 180°” on the subject. Then he chuckled.
180°’s are rare things.
From birth, our environment, our geography, our own insecurities, and the pressure of cultural fads begin to influence our ideas. And our ideas tend to settle and then even harden as time passes.
Yet, the Christian faith calls for just the opposite— a 180°. Not on everything demands a 180°, mind you.
For not everything is wrong.
However, on the subject of one’s soul and the means whereby we come to know God, the Christian faith does indeed require a 180°. If we think that we can stitch together our own unique plan of salvation – no Savior needed – no saving needed, we are wrong.
The Christian faith says plainly, that that is not so.
Jesus’ death on the cross is laden with rich meaning and accessible symbolism.
1. He died for a reason. That reason was you. That reason was me.
2. He offers to us the gift of His death as the just punishment for all of the naughtiness we have done and all that we might yet do.
3. This gift works beyond the limits of time. It stretches to the past. It meets us in the present. And it will be waiting for us in the future.
A 180° comes at that moment when we choose to part with our patchwork of ideologies—our home-brewed atonement—and when we humbly receive the gift freely offered. The very word “repent” in the Greek suggests that a person, heading in one direction, turns and then heads in the other direction.
I’m no engineer, but that sounds like the definition of a 180°.
So consider:
have you committed to the 180°? Or have you simply said I want to do a 180°?
In actuality, have you done a 360° as my friend said before? Have you never really made a changed?
Our faith in Jesus requires that we repent and we walk away from sin. It requires that we let go of that which so easily entangles us.
So what’s the plan? Where are YOU headed?
Jesus said, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near (Matt 4:17).”
I challenge you to repent right now and to believe in the gospel.
Will you do that?
My friend, say YES today and be FREE!
I love you all,
Go give em Heaven!
Pastor Scott
Want more encouraging blogs from Pastor Scott? Click here.
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