The Great Divide - Pt. 2

This post is a few weeks late, things at school are really starting to pick up now! Anyways, I’ll now explain the significance behind the blog’s name, The Great Divide.

As I alluded to in Pt. 1, the name stems from one of Scott Stapp’s songs, “The Great Divide”. In case you haven’t heard the song, the chorus goes:

You set me free, to live my life
You became my reason to survive the great divide
You set me free

What Stapp is referring to you when he says “You” is Jesus Christ. God’s son in the flesh liberated him from his sinful nature, and allowed him to live a life free of guilt. The burden of knowing that he will never be able to be made righteous with God has been lifted off his shoulders. Nothing is more comforting than knowing you will spend all of eternity with the one, true God. Galatians 5:1 states,

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

I too experienced this sense of freedom and relief during my Freshman year when I came to know the Lord on a personal level. I had always been raised going to church and understood a lot of what the scripture was trying to say, but I was missing the biggest point – I had no faith. I always thought that I would be good enough to go to heaven because I was a nice person. God couldn’t separate me from himself. I never killed anyone; I never committed any grave sins. In the book of Romans however, Paul writes that no one is righteous, we all fall short of God’s perfect standard.

Romans 3:10, “There is no one righteous, not even one” he continues in verse 23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Once I began to realize that I could never measure up to God’s standard, I finally started to recognize my need for a savior. Just because I went to church didn’t make me a Christian. Does going to McDonald’s make you a Big Mac?

There is good news in the Bible though too! God sent his one and only son, Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life to die for each and every one of us. Jesus lived a holy and just life, and willingly died for all of creation so man could be saved.

1 Peter 3:18 - “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.”

Thus Christ came down to earth, lived and died for man to make us right with God. It is faith that saves man, not his good works. The message of Christianity is quite simple, but so many people, including me, have missed it all.

Romans 10:9, “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

On the night of May 7, 2010, I survived the Great Divide. I crossed over from a life of death that was leading to eternal destruction to an eternal life of joy and hope with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He set me free.

I also think college itself can be a Great Divide. Many of us enter college having no idea what to expect, some have no idea of what they want to do with their lives. I didn’t come in with many expectations; I only had three things I wanted to accomplish. 1.) Get good grades 2.) Run fast 3.) Get a girlfriend. Granted, two of those things I am still pursuing and giving the glory to God in the process (Col 3:17), and hopefully if it’s in the Lord’s plans someday the third will come true as well.

Ultimately, college is an experience like none other. It’s the four years of your life where you really discover who you are and what’s your purpose. I arrived at Drake as an immature boy, chasing after things in the world that could never satisfy me and always leave me empty. I feel by the time I graduate I’ll be a responsible man. I know my purpose in life, I will have gained enough responsibility to survive in the real world, and I have discovered the one thing in life that can only bring me joy, satisfaction, and happiness. The Great Divide can be daunting, but if you take that giant step, it will be the greatest thing that you will ever experience.

In Christ,

Mike