When I was in high school I had one major nemesis: MATH!  It didn’t help that my mother was an accountant and I inherited my “inability to understand math genes” from my father.  He couldn’t help me and when my mother tried, she attempted to teach me HER way.  Unfortunately what she said and what I heard were two entirely different things:

My mother would attempt to teach in this “math speak” language that just confounded me more and pretty soon she was yelling at me for not understanding and I was crying because I just couldn’t understand!  “I don’t get it!” I’d cry and she would huff at me, “What don’t you get?  It’s simple!” and then she would launch into her math gibberish again and I’d zone out.

It was just as difficult for my math teachers.  Mr. Ruxton pulled out what little hair he had on his head trying to teach me basic algebraic concepts and finally out of frustration I suppose, he just let me spiral into the abyss of math ineptitude.  He finally took pity on me by granting me a bare pass mark.  Not because I earned it, but so he wouldn’t lose any more hair having me repeat the class.

Amazingly in university, a small math light bulb came on over my head, and some basic concepts suddenly made sense to me.  I could balance my cheque book, I figured out percentages, I could solve some basic math problems.  Algebra and trigonometry were still foreign concepts but I discovered I didn’t really need to understand them to be able to live my life.  As I got older, I found myself more interested in learning about geometry and my math knowledge grew.  I may never have the math understanding my mother had but I’m okay with that.  I’ve got what I need and that’s fine.

When I became a Christian I had a similar experience.  Initially I just didn’t “get it”.  Well-meaning people who wanted to evangelize me were talking just as foreign a language to me as “math speak”.  This Christianese was a language I didn’t know and certainly did not understand.  Just like math, I just wanted the basics, I zoned out at the rest.  When I finally became a Christ-follower, I certainly did not know everything about Christianity, the Bible or church, and if I’m totally honest I STILL don’t, but I know enough to live my life and faith let’s me accept the things I still don’t fully understand.

Faith is defined as:

1.  complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

2.  strong belief in God or in the doctrines of religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.

The Bible defines faith as: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”  Hebrews  11:1

There are so many, many things I do not totally understand about Christianity.  There are stories in the Bible that for all intents and purposes are so outlandish that they seem to border on the unbelievable, BUT if I have faith, and the confidence to know that MY God can do anything, I don’t need to explain HOW He did it, I just need to know that HE DID!

If you are a person who is struggling with understanding everything there is to know about God and Christianity, welcome to the Club.  You are not alone.  Discovering where you fit into God’s plan is a lifelong journey and there is no mathematical algorithm that will help you analyze your way to total understanding.  Accept the fact you don’t need to know everything, but make every effort to grow your faith, and accept the Gospel and you’ll be okay.

“What is the Gospel?”

I was given permission to use the Gospel Acrostic from Dare2Share in the fourteenth chapter of my book: Love the Wounded.

God created us to be with Him. (Genesis 1-2)
Our sins separate us from God. (Genesis 3)
Sins cannot be removed by good deeds. (Genesis 4 – Malachi 4)
Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)
Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life. (John)
Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever. (Acts – Revelation)

GET IT?

Here then is the A, B, C’s to Salvation:

“A” stands for Admit. A person must admit to God that she is a sinner. She must be sorry for her sin and turn away from sinning. Verses that support this step are Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; Acts 3:19; and 1 John 1:9.

“B” stands for Believe. A person must believe that Jesus is God’s Son and that God sent Jesus to pay the penalty for sin. Verses about believing include John 3:16; John 14:6; and Romans 5:8.

“C” stands for Confess. A person must confess her faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Read Romans 10:9-10, 13.

Pray this prayer for your Journey with God to start today!

Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins and the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness.
I believe that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins, and I am now willing to turn from my sin.
You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess the Lord our God and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we shall be saved.
Right now I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. This very moment I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior and according to His Word, right now I am saved.
Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace which has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus that your grace never leads to license, but rather it always leads to repentance. Therefore Lord Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not to myself.
Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life. Amen.

If you just said this prayer and you meant it with all your heart and you have repented (turned away) from your sins, I believe that you are saved and are born again.  (John 3:6-7)  You may ask, “Now that I am saved, what is next?”  First, tell someone!  Leave a comment, let me rejoice with you!  My Pastor says when someone becomes a Christian it’s like Christmas!  We need to celebrate!  Then you need to get into a Bible-based church, and study God’s Word.  Once you have found a church home, you will want to become baptized.  By accepting Christ first, you are baptized in the Spirit, but it is through water-baptism (immersion) that you show your obedience to the Lord.  (Matthew 3: 13-17)