I was recently blessed with the opportunity to listen to world-renowned Christian artist Ron DiCianni speak on the subject of excellence in the arts. DiCianni imparted to the mainly teenage audience his life story in the arts. He told us briefly of how he spent many years of his artistic career going from paycheck to paycheck, striving to earn as much money as he could. While he experienced a high degree of success in this endeavorer, it was simply not quite enough. Although he was making a lot of money, and his artwork was very popular, Mr. DiCianni just didn’t feel…fulfilled. His life still lacked real purpose.

DiCianni then proceeded to tell us of his new found vision that drove his artistic efforts. He had found new purpose in the person of Jesus Christ, and His death and resurrection as prophesied in the books that make up the Old Testament, and recorded in the New Testament. DiCianni found that the Biblical account of Jesus Christ, the literal Son of God, confirmed by a mountain of historical and bibliographic evidence that is simply undeniable, gave Him a new reason for pursuing excellence in the arts. If, as the biblical account says, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God in human form, really rose from the dead as the perfect atonement for all of the shortcomings that you and I have (And we all have them, in abundance even)  when we fail to live up to God’s standards of living, and if, as the Biblical account is accurate when it says that Jesus is the only way to enter God’s paradise after death, then DiCianni wanted to spend the rest of His life imparting this knowledge to others, so that they could experience this same joy in their own lives.

From the very beginning, God has had as His plan for us to be with Him. He created us for the purpose of communion with Him. However, since God is a perfect God, He cannot be in the presence of  imperfection. We have all fallen short of God’s standards of living. As human-beings, we all sin. We are all imperfect. If this was the end of the story, then we would be doomed to an eternity without God, because our imperfection would hinder us from being with God. However, from the very beginning, God has had a plan to restore us, to save us from this imperfection. His plan was to send His son to this Earth to die in our place, to, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians chapter five, in verse twenty one: “Be Sin, who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God”. When Jesus Christ died outside of the city of Jerusalem, and was later raised from that death on the third day of His being dead, this happening two thousand years ago, it was a real historical even that saved you and I from our sins. All that is left for us to do is to accept that free gift of salvation from Him, and then to live our lives with faith in Him, striving daily to live our lives in accordance with His will.

This brings me to an important point for those of us who have already accepted Christ’s gift of salvation, being renewed in our minds (Ephesians 4:23). Now that we have this salvation, we owe our entire lives to Jesus Christ. Our entire lives. Every aspect, every field of study, every activity, every day,  every thing under the sun that we do, we should do to glorify the God who is perfect, and has provided a way to save us from our imperfection.

Essentially, my point is this: Those of us who have been given new life through Jesus, must live like it. We need to get out of our comfort zones, blast past the mediocre, and begin to do our best to honor our Lord in every situation.

Calvin Seervald once said that: “Whatever arena that Christians withdraw from goes to hell”. What this means is that whatever arena of life that Christians do not do our best to excel in, will be prone to false doctrine, philosophies, and world views that do not present purpose, but instead produce purposeless strivings that are ultimately vain.

So I challenge you, my readers, to find purpose in the person of Jesus Christ. Put your trust in Him, and He will give your life purpose. If you need further evidence to convince you of this truth, I would encourage you to first read some of the New Testament, especially the Gospels. This will give you a better understanding of the salvation and purpose that is offered through Jesus Christ, and how you can take hold of it.  Secondly, read Joshua McDowell’s The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict.  Maybe you feel that the Christian religion is just like any other; based in the “feel-good” teachings of a great person who died a long time ago. No! The Christian religion is the only one based in historical reality. There is much more bibliographic (literary) evidence supporting the belief in a real time, historical Jesus than there is of Homer’s existence! No other book in the history of the world has any where close to the amount of manuscripts confirming it’s accuracy than does the Bible. In McDowell’s book, this truth is shown with stunning detail. If you are skeptical, please read his book. If you have any further questions about Christ’s Divinity, the accuracy of the Bible, or the impact that the Gospel can have on your personal life, then please contact me through the site’s contact form.

Thanks and God Bless!

Calvin

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” 

    The original Pledge of Allegiance was written by Francis Bellamy.  He wrote The Pledge for a popular children’s magazine The Youth’s Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day.   It originally read like this,” I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”   It stayed this way for 66 years until a man named Louis A. Bowman saw the need to add “under God” to the pledge.  He knew that a nation that lacked God was a nation heading for troubled waters.   Louis knew that it was not the United States government that governed America;  it was God himself who set our laws into place and more importantly hardwired morals and absolute truths into us. 

             You see a government isn’t here to necessarily make new rules, just enforce them.  The reason is simple, God has already given us our rules that we need to live by!  These rules were molded into us when we were created as humans.  And if that’s not enough has God flat out told us how we need to live our life’s.  It’s called the Ten Commandments!  If Americans actually picked up and read their bibles they would know this!  So that leaves us with this question:  what would happen if God is taken out of our country?   The answer is a simple one: all hell would break loose!  After all, what is a nation without morals? 

          Let’s imagine use our imaginations for a second.  Imagine you are on a cruise of the Atlantic ocean.  While on your cruise, you are going to stop at ten completely separated and isolated islands.  In fact they have no communication between other islands or the rest of civilization.  When you stop at the first one you start to notice something: their pnly laws are those of their morals.  Its illegal to steal, cheat ,lie, kill ect…  After island one you go to number two.  After getting off you begin to see an eerie resemblance to the first island you visited.  They have the same basic laws!  After number two you go to three and notice the same thing, 3 to 4,4 to 5, and on you notice the exact same thing.  Now why is this? God is the reason.  He put these truths into them.    If they are taken out, there would be no differential between good and bad!  Black and white becomes an endless gray.   A murderer would be looked at the same as a hero;  Hitler would be at the same level as George Washington.  Could you imagine?  Without morals people could murder their neighbor, steal a car, bake cookies for their kids, buy a present for their spouse, all this in a days work!!  They wouldn’t know that they did anything wrong at all! 

       America need to realize that we are governed by God and that He is the one who makes our rules and laws.  As Americans it is our reasonability to pick up our Bibles and realize what right and wrong is.  And not only will our morals be clearly defined, we will find Life.  Life that only Jesus Christ our Savior can offer.  Life that was paid for through the murder of an innocent Man.  

~ John 3:16