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Good News for Bruno Mars

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Good news, kids!  It turns out that the train you thought crashed into Bruno Mars as he was inexplicably pulling his piano through a rather rough part of Los Angeles after he caught the girlfriend that he would have caught a grenade for DIDN’T splatter him and his piano!

And bonus -now he has a new love that he obviously doesn’t mind showing affection for in the It Will Rain video…that is until 1:53 when they get into this huge fight and start ignoring each other.

Side note - I know what the conflict was about.  If you notice, they got along fine until Edward and Bella showed up in the video.  At that point I think Bruno says, “Man, Breaking Dawn was like the worst movie ever made and R-Patz needs to get out in the sun more!” And his girlfriend is like, “No way, Bruno, Twilight is awesome and you’re just jealous of his high cheekbones!” And then it just unraveled from there.

Bruno also clearly expresses what counselors call codependency - see if you agree:

If you ever leave me, baby,
Leave some morphine at my door
'Cause it would take a whole lot of medication
To realize what we used to have,
We don't have it anymore.                          

Most of us fear breaking up with people we love, but morphine?  Really?

Obviously, I don’t share Bruno’s view of how to cope with life after a lost love, but I am all about with this line:

There's no religion that could save me
No matter how long my knees are on the floor

Fact is, no religion can save anyone.  Not in this life or the life to come.  Do you know why?

The term “religion” comes from the Latin religio - which means “to bind back.”  So every religion - no matter what its title - has in common a way for people to bind themselves back to God. Religion is humanity’s search for God through humanly invented ways, such as good works and/or religiously adhering to a list of rules, rituals and regulations.

That’s why no religion can save poor Bruno or his girlfriend or Edward or Bella or anyone.

That’s also why Christianity is technically not a religion at all.  Instead of it being humanity’s search for God, our faith is God’s search for humanity by giving his Son, Jesus, to come to earth as a human being and then die on the cruel Roman cross to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. Authentic Christianity, rather than being a religion, is a restored relationship between The Creator and His created ones.

And when you think about it, that makes sense. Jesus lived a perfect life - in other words he kept the list and earned salvation for us.  So how much of a slap in the face to God is the idea that we can be good enough or work hard enough to merit a right relationship with God???  That’s a bit like saying to Jesus, “Thank you for dying on the cross…but I don’t think that was enough.  I’ll just throw in my good works to finish the deal.”

That’s why these truths from God’s Word is the line in the sand between religion and a relationship with God:

When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy (Titus 3:5, NIV).

But we know that God accepts only those who have faith in Jesus Christ. No one can please God by simply obeying the Law. So we put our faith in Christ Jesus, and God accepted us because of our faith (Galatians 2:16, ESV).

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it (Ephesians 2:8-9, NLT).

Can you imagine what heaven would be like if we all could work our way there?  I seriously don’t want to spend eternity listening to how great people think they are…don’t we have that enough down here?

And the best news is that since salvation is a free gift, you don’t have the lifelong worry from religion that you might not make it.  Religious people can be the most uptight, stressed out folks in the world because they think their eternal souls depend on it.

So if you’re in a relationship with religion right now, break up as soon as you can and find freedom in trusting Jesus Christ for salvation.  You won’t need morphine at your door, because He fills the void that no human or drug or experience can.  And when people see you walk with Christ on a daily basis, THE Cause will rain on your world and people will find what they’ve been seeking all their lives!

 

One reason that It Will Rain is so popular is that the theme of the song connects with everyone who has loved and lost.  People who are trapped in religion feel lost and want to find love, so what a wonderful opportunity we have to share the message of freedom from their bondage!

Thank you Jesus, for living the perfect life and dying for our sins so we don’t have to earn our salvation through manmade religions.  Help people to see You in us so they will desire a relationship with the God who made us and wants a relationship with them. Give us boldest to share your free gift of salvation with others.

Romans 5:17.  For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

  Check out this popular video on Religion vs. Jesus that’s recently gone viral on YouTube. Then stay tuned…next week’s Soul Fuel will be on this vid.