Inaugural Post: Finding the Way Home

Welcome to our little corner of the Internet! My name is Josh Lefler. My wife, Erin, and I are starting this blog in order to chronicle our lives and articulate a biblical worldview. Let me open by sharing our family mission statement:

The Leflers desire to enjoy and reflect God and His glory forever. Our family is a structure founded on the story of God in His Word. The pillars that hold up this structure include prayer, worship, service, and community. The roof is God's grace, which covers us. The door is for faithfully drawing in and faithfully sending out. The love of God warms our home, and loving relationships are what make it beautiful. These relationships equip and relieve the saints, as we find our hope in Christ for eternity. Amen.

We penned this mission statement on our Honeymoon in June 2010 because we wanted God to use our marriage to bring us closer to Him, closer to one another, and also to prepare others for the Christian life. 

We desire the Gospel of Jesus to be at the center of all we do, and daily lean on His grace to sustain us. We believe in God, and believe he communicates to humans primarily through the Bible, God's Word. 

We believe God created the universe to be good, and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to have dominion and care for God's good creation (Genesis 1-2)

Tragically, our ancestors were deceived by Satan, chose to defy God and were separated from God's presence (Genesis 3). Thus, all of us are under separated from God. Truly, "None is righteous, no not one" (Romans 3:10 ESV). Even worse, we participate in the separation. Truly, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23 ESV) and "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23 ESV).

But the good news is that God promised Adam and Eve that one of their descendants would destroy Satan and deliver mankind from the curse (Genesis 3:15). Jesus Christ was this descendant. He was fully God, and fully man. He lived a sinless life, but was unjustly executed. On the third day following his death, he arose! By conquering death, he broke the curse of Adam and destroyed the power of Satan (Hebrews 2:14). The Bible says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins. The righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God." (1 Peter 3:18 ESV).

But that is not all! The Bible describes the restoration of all things through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In the final chapters, the Bible reads:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth...God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall their be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away..."Behold, I am making all things new." (Revelation 21:1, 3-4, 5)

We can all participate in this by having faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, who died in our place. This faith is a result of God's grace. The Bible says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9). Faith is simply trusting that God's plan to deliver mankind was effective, and trusting Jesus as the only way to find restored relationship with God. 

Erin and I have responded to this good news by admitting our sinfulness to God, trusting that Jesus' atoning sacrifice paid our penalty, and following Christ in faith every day. This blog will hopefully be a snapshot of this life for us to share with others as we find our way home.