God created us to experience a life of peace and joy. However, not all of us are having that experience! Instead, we experience fear and suffering. Why?
It is because of our warped perceptions of ourselves and God.
An accurate perception of yourself and of God is required for a life of peace and joy. When your perception of yourself or God is not accurate, it leads to fear and selfishness.
Who You Are
As might be obvious from your own thoughts and behavior, you are a human being infected with fear and selfishness. This condition came about because our first human parents, Adam and Eve, fell for a lie told about God: that He is a cruel tyrant who does not want us to enjoy our lives to the fullest.
For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5, NIV).
Satan’s insinuation was that God was withholding something from the human couple that would have elevated their experience. They could have more, if only God was not a selfish dictator holding them down by arbitrary rules (or “laws”).
They believed the lie that God could not be trusted. In so doing, this belief broke their relationship with God.
Notice what changed:
God had not changed.
God’s law had not changed.
Only the human beings had changed.
They were now afraid of God, and this fear instilled selfishness (sin) into their characters.
They passed that condition on to their children, and it infects all of us.
The Bible tells us over and over that sin is corrosive, caustic, and deadly. All who are infected with it will die if it remains untreated.
There are certainly people who do good things, and we all behave in a loving manner at certain times throughout our days. However, there are circumstances that would bring out the fearful, selfish being that we are. It would cause us to behave in a selfish manner, resulting in pain, injury, and even death.
Sadly, there is nothing we can do to cure ourselves. We have nothing with which to rid us of the fear and selfishness embedded in our characters.
We need a savior.
Who God Is
God is love (1 John 4:8).
Jesus is a complete revelation of God.
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation (Colossians 1:15, NLT).
Jesus is not a physical revelation of God, but a revelation of His nature and character of love.
That means God the Father is just like Jesus, God the Son. Since Jesus is completely giving, kind, and compassionate, so then is God the Father.
Jesus does not condemn anyone. The Father does not condemn anyone.
Jesus wants to save everyone. The Father wants to save everyone.
Jesus will not destroy anyone. The Father will not destroy anyone.
Jesus gave his life to save anyone. The Father allowed this to happen to save anyone.
So, God loves you. Jesus proves to us that God loves us… to death, because Jesus loved us to death. There is nothing He won’t do to save you, except manipulate you or resort to coercive measures. He will not force you to do anything, but He so desperately wants you to trust Him and let Him heal you.
God is not a dictator threatening to torture and kill you because of your disobedience.
God is a loving friend, who wants you to trust Him and take the medicine that will cure you of your disease.
Who You Will Be
The primary symptom of fear is selfishness (sin), acting to preserve one’s life at the expense of others. This is your condition, and it is fatal if left untreated.
Fortunately, Jesus is the Remedy.
We are infected with fear of God because of the enemy’s lies about God. The first step in the treatment is to realize the truth.
The truth will set you free (John 8:32, NIV).
Jesus shows us the truth about God. This truth dispels the lies told about God by Satan. This truth turns our fear of God into trust in God.
Once we trust God, knowing that He loves us, wants us to live a life of peace and joy, and only wants what is best for us, we open our heart to God. This is the second step in the treatment: We allow God the Spirit to do the work in our hearts and minds required to destroy the selfishness within us and replace it with love.
This “blood transfusion” is, again, made possible only by the life and death of Jesus.
Adam and Eve were sinless, but they were not mature. Before they could form perfect, loving characters, they were deceived by Satan. Their growth was halted, and their characters were warped. They were no longer capable of forming perfect, human characters.
Jesus came and did what they failed to do: to form a perfect, loving human character. Fortunately, He succeeded in this mission!
Now, by the working of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ perfect character can be instilled in you, so that you become just like Him.
Think of a blood transfusion. You can have your entire supply of blood replaced, and you are still you. In the same way, the Holy Spirit takes the loving human character that Jesus formed and transfuses that into your character, replacing your selfish nature with a loving nature.
You don’t lose what makes you an individual; instead, you gain what makes you like Jesus. In so doing, you begin to experience the life of peace and joy that God has always desired for you.