Saturday, November 3, 2012

my belief statement

So, I told you that once I finished my homework I would post it here for you to see. Well, here you go!
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I believe that God is the Almighty Creator, the One who spoke this complex yet somehow incredibly simple universe into existence out of nothing (Hebrews 11:3), through the power of His Word who is Christ Jesus (John 1:1-3).

I believe that God made us in His image (Genesis 1:26&27), but through our sins we have fallen way below the bar of perfection that He set for us, and in ourselves we are incapable of pleasing Him (Romans 5:12, 8:8). Despite all our failings, though, He still loves us. In fact, He loves us so much that He gave us His Word; both through the Scriptures which were spoken by God (II Timothy 3:16&17) and have the ability to cut us to the quick to reveal the true thoughts of our hearts (Hebrews 4:12); and through the Son, Jesus, who left His seat next to the Father and took on the fragile, weak, humble body of a man who would be slain as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins (Isaiah 53:5). What's more, He loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8), when there was nothing good in us.

I believe that in ourselves we can do nothing, and therefore we must accept the gift of salvation through faith (Ephesians 2:8&9). That faith is in Jesus, our only way to the Father (John 14:6). All who believe in Jesus Christ are given the gift of eternal life (John 3:16). Through Him all our sins are forgiven, removed from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), and forgotten.

I beleive that God keeps His promises and expects us to do the same by loving Him and loving others (Matthew 22:37-40), remaining faithful to His commands (Deuteronomy 7:9), and living a life that is worthy of our new role as His children (Ephesians 4:1).

I believe that all power and wisdom belong to God (Psalm 147:4&5), yet He is still a "father to the fatherless [and] a defender of widows" (Psalm 68:5) who hears those who cry out to Him (Psalm 55:16&17). Though God is the Creator and Ruler of all--from the stars to life and death to wild animals to lightning to the behemoth and the leviathan (Job 38-42)--He still takes the time to quiet us and sing over us (Zephaniah 3:17).

I believe that God has given us everything we need to be able to live according to His purpose. He has laid out the requirements in the Bible (Micah 6:8), given us teachers to explain the Scriptures to us (II Timothy 3:14&15), and sent us the Holy Spirit, who convicts us of our sins and leads us to the truth (John 16:5-13). Though it is impossible for any of us to please Him on our own, in Him we can do all things (Philippians 4:13), for His power is made perfect in our weakness (II Corinthians 12:9).

I believe we are called to become like Christ. We are to learn from God by imitating Him (Ephesians 5:1), in the same way that children learn by imitating their parents. We are to become like Him in both life and death, dying to our sinful self and to our sins so that we can become like Him in a new life (Philippians 3:10&11). We are to look at things from God's point of view, focusing on what is eternal instead of the unimportant, temporal things of this world (II Corinthians 4:18). At the same time, we are called to go. We are told to spread the good news of the gift of salvation to all people, teaching them as we have been taught (Matthew 28:19&20).

I believe that as followers of Christ we are His witnesses here on earth (Acts 1:8). As such, we must act in a way that supports the message we profess (Philippians 1:27). God promises to be with us always, even through the worst we may face (Romans 8:35-39).

I believe that God loves all those He has created and wants everyone to come to Him. If we don't tell others, how will they know about Him (Romans 10:13-15)? Like Isaiah did, when God asks for someone to go we should say, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8)


...what about you? What do you believe?

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Thoughts? I would love to hear them!
~Mandy

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