The Hand That Reaches Down

Friday, May 21, 2021

There are many different religious teachings. Hinduism teaches that salvation comes when man merges back into God through reincarnation. Islam teaches that salvation is to obey the Shariah, Islamic Law. Buddhism teaches that salvation is to extinguish all desires of the soul and enter a state of nothingness called 'Nirvana.' Orthodox Judaism teaches that salvation comes when one observes all the mitzvahs to where one's good deeds outweigh one's bad deeds. Although these teachings are very diverse, they all maintain that salvation has to come from man, the one who needs to be saved. It's all about a hand reaching up to heaven and hoping, by one's own effort, to achieve it. The one who needs to be saved cannot save himself. All the religions of the world speak of an arm reaching up, of our achieving salvation except one - the Gospel. That alone declares an arm from heaven reaching down. So stop striving to be good enough, and seeking to save yourself, for you cannot and do not have to. Messiah is reaching His arm down to you. Just grab hold of His arm. He'll do the rest.

From Message #378 - God on the Blue Planet