Blog new orientation

Up until now on authentichopeforanswers.com I have sought to enlighten those in the darkness of secular materialistic thinking, to save them from their incipient hopelessness by pointing to the only True Source of valid, true, fulfilling answers – the One and only true living God, revealed in Jesus Christ. I thank those who have been following me and I hope you have found my writing helpful.

I have become aware of what seems to be a cultural movement away from empty atheistic answers; thinkers these days want something more serious and solid on which they can build their lives. I hope my posts add a small contribution to this fresh hunger for Truth to satisfy the heart as well as the mind. 

Glen Scrivener comments on this new openness to the Christian worldview, that people are more open to wanting to check out the Bible, find out more about Jesus, and some have started attending church. A friend locally has typified that movement from discontent with superficial answers to grasping the life-giving truth of the biblical Story, and it makes me think and hope that out there in the blog-reading world there may be others who, having found the Christian answer more satisfying, desire to become followers of Jesus.

I want for some time to come to reorient this blog therefore, so as to help such new believers who may or may not have much background knowledge of biblical things. Having turned to pray to Jesus for light and salvation, these believers have set out on a new path; but for many it is unknown territory. There is a lot to learn as a new believer, and it takes time to assimilate all the blessing we receive through faith in Christ and what exactly is the life that Jesus calls us to when we trust in him.

As I give thought to the forthcoming posts, I envisage maintaining the orientation of giving authentic answers, but no longer so much addressing those still in the mists of vain relativistic ideas and scientific materialism; rather I will seek to deal with the questions of those who set out on the new path of faith in Jesus. I will seek to answer the key question a new believer might ask: “What exactly is the new life in Christ?” I will share advice that helped me as a young believer, and some essential truths revealed in the Bible that will help the Jesus-follower to grow both in faith and in living as a child of God. 

To live in harmonious relationship with God, as I have often mentioned in previous blogs, is the real purpose of our existence. To find this is to enter into the fulfilling life that God envisaged for us in his love when he created us. While the mass of humankind drifts far away from such a relationship, those who hear Jesus’ call, “Follow me” and respond with repentance and trust in the Saviour, start out on a life where at last they begin to find and fulfil the meaning and purpose of our lives.

St Augustine said it well long ago in a prayer in his “Confessions”: “Lord, You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You”. Jesus invites everyone to come to him and learn of him, promising that rest of soul (Matthew 11.28-30). Through his saving work, and through faith in him, believers experience that rest of soul; they will enjoy it and develop it as they learn to walk with Jesus day by day.

Clive Every-Clayton