I am really enjoying engaging in this new Bible I am reading… Today, I will share with you inserts of what we are applying to our life. It’s a blessing to be able to share these wonderful truths with the world.. I have enclosed inserts from: “What is missing in our lives”

Be blessed, enjoy it, and apply it to your life.. It’s life changing information!

Minister Evelyn Diane

Donald Lawrence Giants Praise Break)

What is missing in our lives?

Purpose, meaning, a reason for living—these are all things we desire and search for in life. Despite steps each one of us takes to find purpose and meaning in life, we still feel empty, unfulfilled. That is because there is a spiritual emptiness in each of our lives. We each have a hole in our heart, a spiritual vacuum deep within our soul—a “God shaped blank.” Possessions won’t fill this hole, nor will success. Relationships alone cannot satisfy this emptiness, and morality, in and of itself, falls miserably short of occupying this space. In fact, even religion cannot fill the void in our heart.

There is only one way to effectively fill that void. This way will not only help us to have a life that is full and rich on this earth, but—more important—will give us the absolute hope of spending eternity in the presence of God. Before we can truly appreciate this good news, though, we need to understand the bad news, which is a serious problem we all have.

The problem: s i n The Bible clearly identifies our serious problem as sin. Sin is not just an act but the actual nature of our being. In other words, we are not sinners because we sin. Rather, we sin because we are sinners! We are born with a nature to do wrong. King David, an Old Testament Israelite ruler, wrote, “For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). Because we are born sinners, sinning comes to all of us how you can know GOD naturally. That is why it is futile to think that the answer to all of life’s problems comes from “within.” According to the Bible, the problem is within!

Scripture tells us, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9). We are not basically good—we are basically sinful. This sinfulness spills out into everything we do. Every problem we experience in our society today can be traced back to our refusal to live God’s way. Clear back to the Garden of Eden, Adam made his choice, and he suffered the consequences of it, setting the pattern that all humanity would follow. The Bible explains, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. . . . Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone” (Romans 5:12, 18).

“That’s not fair!” you may protest. Why should we suffer because of what someone else has done? Yet, given the opportunity, each one of us would have done the same thing as Adam. In fact, not a single day passes that we do not face the same test that was set before Adam. God has given us the freedom to choose between two separate paths: the path that leads to life and the path that leads to death. The Bible says, “Today, I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

w i t h o u t a l e g t o s t a n d o n Someone may say, “But I live a good life. I try to be kind and considerate to others. I live by the Ten Commandments.” But the truth of the matter is that the Ten Commandments, or the law, as they are called in the Bible, were not given to make us good but to show us how bad we are. The Bible tells us, “No one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are” (Romans 3:20). The purpose of the law is to make us realize how sinful we are. You might say that God’s law was given to “shut our mouths” and show us that we desperately need his help and forgiveness for our terminal condition as sinners.

Look at the passages below to get a better understanding of the nature and seriousness of sin.

1. We Have All Missed the Mark (see Romans 3:23).

Romans 3:23 says, we have all sinned. For those who would claim to be the sole exception to this eternal truth, verse ten of this chapter plainly says, “No one is righteous—not even one” (Romans 3:10). Another word for righteous is good. The word righteous means, “One who is as he or she ought to be.”

When the Bible says that no one is righteous, or good, it is not so much referring to behavior but to inner character.

What exactly is “God’s glorious standard” that Romans 3:23 says we have failed to meet? God’s “glorious standard” is absolute perfection. Jesus said, “But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). In other words, anyone who is not as good as God is not acceptable to him.

One definition of sin, derived from the Greek word hamartia, is to “miss the mark.” As far as the mark of perfection goes, we miss it by a mile. Although our sinful nature makes it impossible for us to live up to God’s standard, we cannot blame sin on our nature alone. Sin is also a deliberate act.

2. Sin Is a Deliberate Act (see Ephesians 2:1). Another word
for sin in Ephesians 2:1 is transgressions or trespasses. This word speaks of a lapse or deviation from truth. In contrast to simply “missing the mark,” this is a deliberate action. Because sin is a deliberate action, we cannot blame our sin on our society or our environment or our mental or physical state.

Everyone has chosen to do what was wrong. If we protest this point, “we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth” (1 John 1:8).

3. The Ultimate Penalty for Sin Is Death (see Romans 6:23).
According to the Bible, we have offended a Holy God. We have not done this once or twice, but so many times that we are unable to keep count. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death. . . .” Wages are something you are paid for work rendered. In other words, you earn your wages. Because we have all repeatedly sinned, we have earned the penalty of death, which is eternal torment and punishment in a place called hell.

Amid all this talk about sin and death, there is some good news. God has given us a way to escape the penalty of our sin. He has made it possible for us to have a relationship with him and enjoy the hope of eternal life without punishment.

The Solution:

“JESUS CHRIST!”

God understood our problem and knew that we could do nothing about it. Because God loves us, he sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to bridge the chasm of sin that separates us from him.