A lot of folks are feeling that way these days - folks who have been
riding the 
financial roller coaster on
Wall Street, in corporate earnings, and in layoff threats. If it were ever
"fun," it's not fun anymore! There's a growing uneasiness about the future for
many people. But it's not just about the latest high or low on the Dow Jones -
it's just the nature of any security that is rooted in "earth stuff" of any
kind. In a sense, all earth stuff is a roller coaster. Just ask people
I know who've suddenly lost their home in a storm or a fire . . . or who've
lost a 30-year job . . . or even their personal health or their life partner.
Just like that roller coaster I dreaded, a lot of us have felt the bottom
suddenly drop out of something we were counting on.Which gets us thinking
about what is really important in the short ride we have here on earth.
In a sense, everything in our lives can be divided into one of two columns -
stuff that really matters and stuff that really doesn't. And
while our roller coaster is riding high, we tend to neglect the things that
really matter. Like the God who made us. The God we'll meet the moment our
heart beats for the last time.
The problem is that our earth-pursuits - making more money, getting a
promotion, "winning," building our personal kingdom - those ultimately
"trivial pursuits" may have blinded you to what really matters, to what really
lasts. They may have even marginalized God in your life. Most of
us make a little room for God at the edges - a little church, a little
charity. But He's God! He's supposed to be the "sun" we revolve our
life around, not one of the "planets" that revolves around us.
The world's best-selling book, the Bible, provides the ultimate
profit-and-loss sheet on your life and mine. Jesus simply asked, "What
shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"
(Mark 8:36) Not long after He posed that haunting question, Jesus brought it
to life by telling about a rich man who was so successful that "I have no
place to store my crops." As he was planning how to expand his already huge
empire and relishing that he had "plenty of good things laid up for many
years," God broke in. "But God said to him, 'This very night your life will be
demanded from you.'" (Luke 12:16-20)
And one day God will surprise you and me with that same announcement -
"It's over." And then all that will matter is whether or not the sins of your
life have been forgiven, whether or not you belong to the God who made you.
According to the Bible, we've been so full of us that we haven't had
much room for God. Which is why there is a "grand canyon" between us and our
Creator.
We would spend this life - and all eternity - away from Him, except
for the Bridge. It's actually a cross. In God's own words, "God is
on one side and all the people on the other side, and Christ Jesus, Himself
man, is between them to bring them together, by giving His life for all
mankind." (I Timothy 2:5) There's only one thing in all the universe God
thought was worth spending the life of His Son on - you. That's how much He
loves you. What was happening on that cross on that first Good Friday was
God's one and only Son absorbing all the guilt and all the hell for every
wrong thing you've ever done.
And the "roller coaster" you've ridden lately may actually be a wakeup call
from God - to turn you from what can never be secure, to an Anchor
Relationship with Him that you can never lose. It's the "everlasting"
thing your heart's been restless for your whole life.
If you've never begun your personal relationship with Jesus Christ -
and you want to - you can tell Him that right now, right where you are. Tell
Him you're ready to get off the roller coaster of a self-run life . . . that
you're giving yourself to the One who gave Himself completely for you. You can
belong to God from today on if you will tell Him with all your heart --
"Lord, I have been running my own life - but I resign as of today. I was made
by You . . . I was made for You, but I've been living for me.
I'm sorry for that self-rule You call sin. But I believe your Son Jesus Christ
paid my death penalty when He died on the cross. And right now I am turning
from a life of 'my way' and I am putting all my trust in Jesus Christ to erase
my sin from Your book, to give me a relationship with You, and to get me to
heaven. Lord, from today on, I am Yours."
If you want to talk with someone who can help you make your connection with
God, there's someone ready to do that right now at 1-888-NEED HIM. We would
love to hear from you, as well, so we can send you the booklet I wrote about
this relationship, called
Yours for Life. We don't represent a particular religion, and
we don't care what religion you're with - or even if you have a religion. This
is pure and simple about you crossing over that "grand canyon" and beginning
the God-relationship you were created for.
The roller coaster ride may continue to take you for a bumpy ride. But it's
all the difference in the world when you know you are anchored to a
never-leave-you Relationship with Jesus Christ - that your life is in His
unshakable hands. And when you know where your ride will end - you belong to
God now and nothing earth does, nothing even death does, can
take you from Him!
