We’ve been looking for them, at least since I was a kid. Life forms from somewhere else in the universe.
In the 1930s for example, famed actor, Orson Welles, freaked out a nation with a radio broadcast of simulated news bulletins. Millions were convinced an alien invasion was taking place.
And then in the 1950’s, sightings of UFO’s triggered reports of downed aliens secretly kept in New Mexico’s infamous “Area 51.” And then in the 1990s, the hit TV series, “X Files.”
Now our government has started releasing extensive files with all kinds of footage of aerial phenomena. Is it military technology? The interplanetary visitors we’ve been waiting for? Or spiritual forces, as the Bible talks about in a section about “how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
In our broader popular culture, extraterrestrial life is one of the most enduring mysteries of the past century. But it’s just one of many things in the “beyond us” category.
Astronauts return from space in awe of the magnitude of what they have seen beyond our world. And millions of us are endlessly curious about a buffet of spiritualities and unexplainable spiritual phenomena.
And while our fascination with things “beyond us” takes us down many different trails, there is one common source.
There’s a yearning in our soul that needs something bigger than ourselves. Bigger than can be explained.
And the revealing explanation for this comes from the greatest “beyond us” of all. The God who created us. Who says in Ecclesiastes 3:11, our word for today from the Word of God:
“God has placed eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
We are looking for something that will last forever!
Which effectively eliminates everything “earth.” Oh, we try all kinds of relationships and accomplishments and experiences – but they don’t last! And all of our ventures into the unknown and unexplainable are ultimately, well, substitute supernaturals. Little bridges that leave us stranded. Because none of them reach the destination our soul craves.
Knowing our Creator. For He tells us that we were “created by Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). And as He prayed, Jesus said, “This is the way to have eternal life – to know You, the only true God” (John 17:3).
But our search for lasting love and peace and meaning has not taken us to Him. It has taken us away from Him. God describes it this way: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to our own way” (Isaiah 53:6). The opposite of God’s way.
Tragically, that has left us “without God and without hope” (Ephesians 2:12). Alone in His universe. By our choice, not His.
A lot of religions talk about God at the top of a mountain. And us on many different roads, hoping they will lead to Him.
But the divine bombshell is this amazing reality: we can’t possibly reach a sinless God, no matter which road we choose. But God loves us too much to leave us lost.
So in the greatest act of love in human history, He came down from the mountain to bring us to Him! At the unspeakable price of dying to pay the penalty for the very sinning we’ve done against Him. In the Bible’s words: “Christ died for sinners to bring you safely home to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
Then He rose from the dead to give us a gift that answers the eternity in our heart.
Life. Eternal life!
That life is within your reach today. The answer is not “out there.” It’s right here. In the Savior waiting for us with arms open wide.
I urge you today, don’t put it off another day. Invite Jesus into your heart. That will be the best decision you’ve ever have made. Please pray this prayer and mean it from your heart, as you invite Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.
# Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask that you would forgive me.
I believe that You died for my sins, and I believe that you have risen from the dead.
Today, I turn away from my sinful ways, and invite You to come into my heart and into my life.
Right now I confess you Jesus as the Lord of my soul.
I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior.
Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone.
Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life.
Amen.
(for resources to help you navigate this journey with Jesus and to help you get started, visit www.ANewStory.com alternatively www.whatnow.vip or call our Prayer Lines on 0861777707)