Hope For Our Wobbly World
There is Hope for Our World. It starts with you. Get Outside Your Bubble.
All of us are bubbleheads. We have a bubble of information, beliefs, assumptions, and values through which we interact with the world, make our decisions, and evaluate other people. The fact is that our bubble is exactly that, OUR bubble. No matter how strong our convictions and feelings about what is in our bubble, it's still ours.
This position is not to say everyone's truth is a version of truth. Truth is not as relative as some would like to believe. However, we must recognize that just like languages around the world are different, the information that each person has within their bubblehead of beliefs is like a different language. If we want to speak with someone who doesn't know our language we must learn theirs or help them learn ours, or both. They may call this their truth, and that's their right in a free world.
Here at Planet Gel-O, we seek to start courageous conversations around challenging topics anss issues that separate our bubbles and cause the tension and difficulties of our world. We believe humanity is full of the most incredible potential, but our ability to work together usually determines the outcome of our ventures. As the great convergence unfolds over the coming months and years, our ability to hold courageous conversations and let them lead us to courageous coexistence will determine our survival or the level of our survival. We will not escape the need for very challenging and difficult conversations that require courage and willingness to hear others perspective. This alone will lead to courageous coexistence and the cooperation needed to manage the challenges coming our way.
Hope For Eternity
In the opening video on the home page of this website, I share that I believe there is only one hope for humanity which is Courageous Coexistence, and one Hope for eternity which is Jesus Christ. How can we hold those two beliefs together? It's because Jesus didn't come to save the world, he came to save individuals from an unsavable world.
According to the Bible, the world will continue in its ups and downs and inevitable decline until Jesus' return.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the Truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me" (John 14:6 NASB) I cannot make those words less than they are. People must answer for themselves whether they are true or not. No one will know their truthfulness until they die. Then we will find out. Here are three reasons I hold them as truth.
1. When I look at the breadth of humanity I see great good and great evil. We can write off and excuse that evil in many forms, but the Bible offers an answer for that conundrum called the heart. Within our hearts, we hold both the image of God and the brokenness of evil. The Bible calls that evil Sin.
He called it Sin and gave himself to save us from ourselves and the manifestations of our Sin.
" For God so loved...
2. I have experienced the power of the Bible in my life. I have experienced the presence of God the Holy Spirit. I have encountered the manifestation of demonic powers. I have seen the changed lives that come from the presence of God's spirit in a home, or marriage.
3. Every human being puts faith in a belief about what happens when we die. Whether it's cosmological, spiritual, or simply back to the dust of the earth, our beliefs are based on faith. Since we cannot know until we die what that reality will be, we have this life to decide where we will put our faith and live it out. Naturalists like to tell themselves they are using science and not faith, but belief in an afterlife or not, since it is unprovable, is still faith. Those who believe in God can't prove he exists, but those who believe there is no God, can't prove their belief either.
I have surveyed most of the world views on the larger existential questions and this has led me to Jesus as the Bible describes him and humanity as the Bible describes us. We were created in the image of God with unimaginable potential, but fell to pride and selfishness and chose to trust the lies of darkness instead of the love of our creator. We can not recover on our own, and so God in his amazing love for his created children sent his only begotten Son to rescue us from the death in our hearts and the eternal separation from his presence that physical death instigates.
Through faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, we can know life here and eternal life forever. Jesus is our hope, our truth, our righteousness, and the only way to the Father.
If you want to trust Jesus Christ for eternity and to be with you with whatever life brings, it starts in your heart and with your lips.
"But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation" (Rom 10:8-10 NASB).
If you would like to make that confession - do it right now with these simple words.
Father in heaven, I confess you as God and Jesus Christ as your one and only Son. You sent him to pay for my Sin and sins so that I could have new life and eternal life with you. I confess that I am a sinner and need your forgiveness. I turn from living life on my terms and give my life to you and for your kingdom here and in eternity. I acknowledge Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I receive your Holy Spirit into my heart and praise you for your love, forgiveness, and acceptance through him. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.
Now the most important step you can take is to tell someone what you just did. If you know another Christian, please call them. If you don't contact Michael at michaelm@planetgel-o.com or book a 15-minute introduction and tell him personally. Book here.