The distance between your head and your heart.
How true this is - Christianity is about having a personal relationship with Jesus, a personal relationship with the God who created ALL things...
Too much to take in really, isn't it? That the God who created the universe and every living thing that inhabits the earth, cares about us! He wants a relationship with us!
Religion and Faith are two completely different 'things' - they are poles apart - literally like the North and South Pole.
Religion says "do", Jesus says "done".
Religion is all about rules and workmanship - you have to earn your way to heaven.
Faith in Jesus is about accepting that we aren't perfect, and no matter how hard we try, we will never be perfect. It is about acknowledging that, apologising for all the wrongdoings in your life, and then making the commitment to do follow Jesus and seek to live your life and exhibit the same qualities as Jesus did when he walked the earth - qualities such as servitude, compassion, patience, meekness, forgiving, kindness, gentleness, self control, non-judgmental, giving, sacrificial, committed, humility, obedience.
There has been a huge uprise against the imminent executions of two convicted Australian drug smugglers in Indonesia. Why? Because of the injustice of such punishment on two changed and rehabilitated men. Men who have completely turned their lives around in the 10 years that they have been incarcerated. When such repentance has clearly been displayed - not just in their words, but in their actions; the question is... where is the forgiveness? And as Andrew Chan said earlier this year, "what does it take to get a second chance?"
One of the last things Andrew Chan said to his family and friends before both he and his companion convicted smuggler Myuran Sukumaran were transferred to the Javanese execution island, to await execution by firing squad, was "I’m proof that Jesus is alive, give glory to Jesus..."
On his pre-dawn early departure to the island, one of the few possessions that Chan took with him was his Bible, that which was to him given in the weeks after his arrest by his family — he describes as his most treasured possession.
Jesus changed this man in way that no doubt Chan - entrenched in the wicked dark dungeons of the drug world - quite possibly never imagined, never contemplated or even thought possible. Yet Chan met Jesus and was so overcome with his goodness, grace, mercy and sacrifice, that Chan made the life-changing decision to turn his back on his 'old' way of life and embark on the journey of his 'new' life.
'The old has gone and the new has begun!' ~2 Corinthians 5:17
Just weeks before he was transferred to the execution island, Chan was ordained as a Christian minister. He spent six years studying and has been described by an Australian senior minister as 'extraordinary, (with) such a determination to learn, in fact almost a desperation... I have never experienced a student like Andrew, and probably never will again.'
Chan's passion is so real, deep and passionate because he has experienced the other side of life - he knows all that he has been saved from. He has been saved from going to hell - saved from an eternity of agonizing suffering, pain and torment. He has been given 'freedom'; sounds contradictory and ironic considering that he incarcerated in Indonesia... however the kind of freedom I am referring to is that within - freedom from the burden of sin.
People think it's 'crazy' until they themselves experience Jesus for themselves... it happens time and time again... you only have to look at Andrew Chan - caught up the dark world of evil, totally reformed and transformed by Christ Jesus. AMEN!
And people still don't believe...
