Talents For Sale

I promised you the story of Jesus. And it will come. But I've realized that such a daunting task has kept me from writing other things, so for now I am going to write about something else.

What is life? Oh, the youthful question. Trying to figure out what exactly I am doing here. Aren't we all?

I've been given talents. We all have. What do we do with them? What is the purpose in them? Back to the age-old question again .. What is the purpose in life?

"To glorify God" we always hear. Okay, how? Disciple. Great. Marry perhaps, have kids, love your family. Great. Tell people about Jesus. So great. But what about working? And the desires to pursue music, art, athletics or academics? What do we do with those?

What are those talents for? They certainly come from the Lord, since He is the Creator. He is the best musician, the greatest artist, the most superb athlete and the smartest academic. And He imparted those to us. Oh, what to do with them. And in the midst of it all - stay humble.

I know I am to use my talents for His glory. How, I am not sure yet. But I suppose He won't let me miss it, if I'm on the watch. One thing I do know is this...

I want to share what my Savior has shared with me.
Where I am talented, that I may teach.
Where I am blessed, to be a blessing.
Since I am loved, to love others.

The Gospel As I See It

Aren’t there enough things written about the Bible already? What could possibly be so different in what I have to say? Does “As I See It” mean this is going to be my own sketchy interpretation, just taking Scripture and using it how I want to? The answer to the last question is no.

Here’s how I see it: I believe that everything written in the Bible is real. God created the world, there were prophets who prophesied Jesus’ coming, He came, died, paid for our sins and rose again, and now all Christians have the Holy Spirit living inside of them. Woah, slow down. Crazy? Yes. But I am 100% convinced. And not just because I’m some idiot who will fall for anything. It took me a lot of searching to come to this conclusion about Jesus. And I came to it in two ways really:

1. I’ve experienced Him. Not in some spooky encounter but in the still, small ways He usually does. First of all, I have a mother who has loved and served me in a way that meant huge sacrifice for her, and she believes in Jesus. The reason she does what she does is because of Jesus. That speaks volumes to me. Then there’s the specific scriptures have spoken to my heart about things that no one knew I was struggling with. My conscience tells me there is an absolute right and wrong. Creation instills awe in my soul. I see prayers answered (and then I see some unanswered, or as I think of it, I get answered “no,” to be fair). Sometimes I wish He would just come to me tangibly, shake me by the shoulders, and say, “I AM JESUS AND I AM REAL.” But He doesn’t. Nor has any other so-called god done either. So that only leaves me with the option of there being no God, and that just doesn’t make sense in my head at all. So am I crazy for these experiences? I think not, and that is because of reason 2.

2. The Bible tells me Jesus is real. Plain and simple. It follows logic, there is evidence to back up that events in it are real, and it makes sense. Many disagree with me though. That is why I have two reasons to believe and not just one. If I only had the Bible, and no experience with Jesus, I would struggle to believe it. In fact, I was that way for a long time. I wrote a song once with the lyrics, “There is evidence that God exists. I’d be a fool not to accept it. But this man named Jesus, did He die for me? Some say yes, but some say no, how can I be sure?” The Bible tells me the story of Jesus, and it makes sense, but without my experience of Him I don’t think I would believe it. How would it be different from all the other religions that claim to be right like Islam and Judaism and Buddhism?

NOW, I have one more thing to say. Even after reading the Bible and the Gospels, even with having my mother being so wonderful and believing in Jesus, I still struggled with it for a long time. I wanted it to be true. I wanted to believe. But I just couldn’t. Some other lyrics from the song mentioned above are, “Jesus makes this crazy world make sense. My family believes, my friends have been set free. But I’m struggling to believe. Help me to believe, please touch me Jesus.” It was around then that I found the verse Jeremiah 29:13, which says, “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me” (NLT). Maybe taken a bit out of context, but after I read it, I saw it as a challenge. I said OK, Jesus, if you are real, please prove it to me. If You are real, I should find answers to my tough questions and I should experience You as real. So I asked Him to reveal Himself to me.

And He did.

I was praying one day and simply watched a picture play out in my head of Him coming to me and telling me, “Rachael, you do believe in me. You’ve seen me.” Since then I have seen Him heal a woman of depression, seen people love unconditionally in His name, and felt His love and His scripture come alive. Again, crazy? Maybe. But I can’t deny it. I cannot prove Jesus to you by fact. I do have the Bible though, which helps me know I’m not just basing my faith on feelings alone. But let me reiterate this again in case I haven’t made it perfectly clear yet: HE helped me believe in Him. If you want Jesus to be real, or even if you don’t, I think it’s pretty hard to reason yourself into faith. Although there is reason out there to be found. But if you’re struggling, I dare you to ask Him. I dare you to ask Jesus to prove Himself and then read the Gospels, which are the books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible.

God gave me another Scripture while I was doubting. One day I read Hosea 2:14-15 (note: this Scripture was not originally written to me, I get that. But it applied to me when I read it, and it has come true. An all-powerful God can do that) “But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from captivity in Egypt” (NLT). Jesus indeed did transform my Valley of Trouble, my doubt, into a gateway of hope. Jesus is the hope of my life and the hope of the world. Now I have given myself to Him. I know that makes me crazy to some but He is undeniable to me. I don’t go out on a limb for much but I have seen Him and experienced Him and I cannot turn back now!

PS. I’m still relying on Him to continue to increase my faith in Him. It’s human nature to doubt what we cannot see.

PPS. The end to that song, in case you’re curious, goes like this: “I was thinking the other day, how do I know I am saved? But then I saw His face. Hallelujah I have been changed! There is power in His name, and forever I’ll proclaim!”

PPPS. The Gospel Message is simply the story of Jesus. I’ve realized that a lot of people know a little about Jesus, but they don’t really know His whole story. You’ve heard you can’t get into Heaven without Him, but do you know why Christians claim that? You think Christians are all about rules, but did you know those actually don’t matter at all? The Bible is a love story about Jesus. The next post shall be on that – the story of Jesus, why it matters, and what that means about getting into Heaven. For what it’s worth ... this is the way I see it.