Tag: Salvation

Lottery Odds Or Eternal Assets

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What kind of dreams are you pursuing? How sure are you of your chances of finding the joy for which you are looking?

Some people strive desperately to “get rich quick.” They will spend valuable income on a lottery that has incredible mathematical odds against a win. The miniscule chance of monetary gain is slim beyond understanding. But in an attempt to grasp at a fantasy, people do what is imprudent.

Perhaps lottery players feel that the small amount of money they put into the game of chance is negligible. They decide it is “no big deal” to pay small amounts for such a gamble. But isn’t every penny we have a blessing from God? And does not a whole bunch of little amounts spent regularly add up to a large amount? This principle of caring for each asset provided to us applies not only to gambling, but to all the ways we spend our money – and our time.

What if we moved from slim chances to eternal surety? What if we quit being obsessed with the temporal and truly sought to see the everlasting, as far-fetched as it might at first seem to a mind pulled from God? What if we actually believed what Jesus Christ stood and on a mountain one day and said to real human beings one day, “…Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20, ESV)? Could it be true that we can accumulate (lay up) assets in another world (heaven)?

Many people focus on Matthew 6:19 to the neglect of the verse I just mentioned. We tend to focus on the “don’t” instead of the “do.” We somehow get turned off by the “Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth…” (Matthew 6:19, ESV) – forgetting that the next words out of our Savior’s mouth assure us that we can currently be building a mass of heavenly wealth that cannot be lost!

I like, too, how Jesus connects the building of heavenly possessions with scientific truth. My treasure in the next world cannot be destroyed by living creatures, corroded by chemical reactions, or stolen by evil intentions. The assets accumulating in Heaven are one hundred percent safe. There is no gamble, because Jesus is protecting that wealth. You talk about a secure bank and secure investment! My treasure does not need to be kept under lock and key or safeguarded by high level passwords; your true wealth is “kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4, ESV).

In other words, the treasure I am building by investing in God’s work is not stored in this world. It is somewhere else – where God abides. It is safe! And better yet, I am safe, too, until I get there! The Bible says we have been born again “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed…” (1 Peter 1:4-5). No one can steal my true wealth, and no one can prevent me from getting go the place where God and it resides! Amen!

I have been traveling for a number of weeks, each Monday afternoon, to a Christian school in the area. I pack up my laptop, projector, my Bible, and head to the gymnasium/cafeteria to speak to nearly one hundred students in grades six through twelve about Christian apologetics (a reasonable, intelligent defense of biblical Christianity).

Each week, I speak my heart out, using every ounce of God-given passion to help these teens recognize the validity of the Bible and Jesus Christ. Counting on the Holy Spirit, I press forward, despite a few disgruntled and uninterested faces. Nonetheless, I watch many students suck in truth that they have never before heard. I sense God’s Spirit working, and I give it all I’ve got.

Yet there are times when I wonder what I am doing. The enemy tries to discourage me, saying, “What are you doing in a little gymnasium/cafeteria each week speaking to a group of teens in a small Western Pennsylvania school?” And I begin to ponder in my selfishness, “What prestige is there in this?” and “Who else would do this?”

Then God gets hold of me. He whispers that someone does this who is willing to be obedient in the smallest of things and invest in eternal treasure. Those who play the lottery gamble away little bits of money here and there, but I invest eternally little bits of time and effort every Monday afternoon. It may not seem like much. It is not glamorous. It does not bring me fame. But it is eternal investing, and I got to see a glimpse of that treasure just a few days ago.

A sixth grade girl in a pink hoodie approached me after one of my lessons about the reliability of the Old and New Testaments. I was packing up my projector when she stopped me with tears in her eyes and said, ‘Hi.” I responded, and she proceeded to say, “I gave my life to God on December 14 (a Monday afternoon!) because of your talks here, Mrs. Prindle.” My exclamation as my eyes lit up was, “That’s wonderful!” and “That makes everything I’ve done here worthwhile!” Then I gave this young girl a big hug.

The truly amazing part is that this sixth grade student had been a professed atheist. Her fellow students and teachers were aware of her lost condition. And yet, Jesus got hold of her one Monday afternoon! Now she is telling those same people about her new relationship with God.

There will be another person in the eternal New Heavens and New Earth because of a regular Monday afternoon investment. I refuse to gamble away my time and resources in this fading world. I will invest in eternal assets. I will hug precious people in Heaven who are somehow connected to me by the true investments Jesus has enabled me to make.

Let’s live like Moses did: “He thought is was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.” (Hebrews 11:26, NLT)

A Warning with an Astonishing Promise

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We simply do not have forever to seek and find God. The implication of His straightforward message is clear, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6, ESV). Obviously, then, there is a time that He may be found; but that time has an end point. Likewise, He remains near in His willingness to receive sorrowful people repenting of sin; but He stays close in this way for only a season. Two future time frames appear on every human horizon: 1) a person’s own death, and 2) God’s full revelation of His final wrath. Since we can escape neither event, we must be prepared for them. The only and glorious provision for safety is seeking God while He is ready to be found. If we need to cry out in repentance, now is the time to call. More important than clean dishes, a televised sports event, completed homework, a dusted dining room, dinner out with friends, a brisk walk, or any other impending task is the responsibility of calling out to our God who – for this moment at least – can still be encountered as One ready to receive us.

And do not be afraid to seek Him now. For this is His promise, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7, ESV). How beautifully the words ring out that a wicked person – one who is guilty of sin – and an unrighteous person – one who is troubled by his vain pursuit of sinful ways – can both return to the Lord to find compassion! We expect our treachery has no cure, and we fear the reaction we so commonly find in other humans. But, no! When we forsake sin and turn toward God, He covers us with mercy and tender affection. Moreover, He welcomes us back in such a manner that the Bible describes as “abundant pardon.” The Hebrew root of the word pardon is forgiveness backed by the idea of “lightness” or “lifting up.” The burden of guilt is removed, and we are once again raised up by God. We can walk freely with a spiritual and emotional spring in our step, for God has forgiven us.

He pardons us abundantly, not sparingly or with a grudge. The same word used here for “abundantly” is used in Genesis 1:22 to describe the multiplication of sea creatures in the ocean and birds in the sky following God’s initial creation. Can you imagine? Can you picture the innumerable fish in the depths of the sea? The untold amount of microscopic plankton filling the waters? The countless little birds and butterflies in the skies above us? Those realities are to remind us of the amount of forgiveness – enough to cover every sin – which God offers to those who cry out now.

Does the compassion of God to us sinful people seem incomprehensible? It surely may be to us, but this does not negate its reality. When you think it’s too good to be true, you need to read God’s reminder to us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9, ESV). Yes – it is true – I do not understand the depth of His forgiveness. My mind cannot wrap itself around such an offer of hope. Yet, there it is. The reason I don’t quite “get it” is that God’s thoughts and ways are infinitely higher than mine. He is altogether perfect, the Definer of what is. I will trust that what I cannot understand remains real, for the Maker of human reasoning capacity is greater than human reasoning.

Seek Him now; call upon Him while He is near, because the opportunity will not last forever. He will abundantly pardon. It seems too good to be true, but is is not. It is the way of God.

Pondering Stephen Hawking’s Statements

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I am pondering the profoundly sad conclusions of Stephen Hawking, the brilliant physicist. Although God has given to him a valuable brain, Mr. Hawking has chosen to disregard his Creator and, therefore, His Creator’s unfathomable plan.

As reported by Liz Goodwin on May 16, 2011, at “The Lookout,” a Yahoo News Blog, Stephen Hawking said, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.” Given all of his scientific musing, I cannot understand why Hawking does not recognize that computers are always the result of design, and so the metaphorical “computer brain” must also be the consummation of design. Humans contrive computers and build them of earth’s content, and the devices stand devoid of soul or consciousness. God created people and the universe out of nothing, and He deposits in His grand creatures, humans, a living soul. A computer shows similarities to a brain (although it is far less superior than the human organ) precisely because the CPU is designed by people whose minds are made in the image of God. God created human minds, and His creatures make computers. Hence, we trace God’s hand in the technology. Computers being the obvious result of intricate human planning, why cannot Hawking see that human brains must also be the result of intricate divine planning?

Of course there is not an afterlife for broken down computers . . . because there is no “now” life for computers. Mankind alone received at creation the “breath of life” from God. However, the “human computer,” as Hawking may like to refer to it, has life now. People (and their minds) were made to live. God has prepared for them an afterlife. Evidenced throughout history is man’s innate desire to live. Always, people have generally had a great aversion to death. Carlos Eire (2010) quotes Pierre Chaunu,

    The death of any human being is an outrage; it is the outrage par excellence, and all attempts to diminish this outrage are contemptible, no more than opium for the masses . . . Death is the unacceptable. The annihilation of one memory cannot be compensated for by the existence of the universe and the continuance of life. The death of Mozart, despite the preservation of his work, is an utterly evil thing. (p. 1)

Even the atheist philosopher, Bertrand Russell, admitted to a need for “safety” regarding annihilation. As Eire (2010) also quotes Russell, “Brief and powerless is Man’s life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built” (p. 14). Eire then adds his own thought, “Safety in despair: if that is not a leap of faith, nothing else is” (p. 14).

We humans long for eternity because we were made by an eternal, transcendent God. The Bible declares, “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV). Having been made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26), we have a slight grasp on eternity – we sense it and we long for it. When we call on the God of the Bible for salvation, He grants to us eternal life. While we cannot yet know the experiential reality of that fact in its fullness, we begin to operate in a hope that “blows our mind.” One day, when we stand in the presence of our Creator, the perfect will come, and the partial will be done away (I Corinthians 13:10). We will begin to see clearly the amazing, true nature of eternity. For now, we trust the “imperishable seed” that has been planted in us through the Word of God (I Peter 1:23, NASB).

As far as heaven being a “fairy story for people afraid of the dark,” I am not so much scared into Heaven, as I crave what I know is the greater reality. Just because the idea of everlasting life in a perfect place seems too good to be true does not make it untrue. In this life we often say, “[This or that] is too good to be true” because this world is, in fact, a sinful mess. We find ourselves held within a realm of brokenness and incompletion because of sin. We must believe in and live for a home of righteousness that is infinitely greater than the present universe in its collective state of rebellion against God in order to realize what is actually “not too good to be true”! Ironically, genuine fear should come into the picture only when dealing in damning reality, not made-up tales. What should justly haunt humans is the very real existence of Hell, a place of complete separation from God and all that is right. Heaven is not a fairy tale, and Hell is to be feared.

When Stephen Hawking was asked what humans should do to lend meaning to their lives since we are all destined to power-down like computers, Hawking said, “We should seek the greatest value of our action.” This is the point that confuses me the most. If, as Hawking posits, nothing of our existence survives the death of the body, the value at its highest point evaporates. For, no matter what earthly good someone achieves – whether medical advances for the sick, accruement of great wealth for family, the provision of more entertainment for bored masses, the enhancement of personal rights, or any other earthly thing – all of this comes to naught quickly for both the one who acts and the one who receives. The paradigm of the atheistic person leaves no room for anything lasting in the case of any individual person. The “greatest value” of any action amounts to nothing in just moments, hours, days, or years.

On the other hand, the simplest of obedient acts for the sake of Jesus Christ and His kingdom leads to the proliferation of eternal things. When I deal in eternal investments – prayer, human conversations, study of the Bible, kindness to others, generosity reflecting God, teaching others of His Truth, etc. – I get a return on my action that is currently unimaginable to me. The greatest value is not any finite amount, but rather an infinite reality. Matthew 6:19-20, II Corinthians 4:16-18, and I Peter 1:4 are just a few of the places in God’s Word where the reality of eternal investment is made clear.

Stephen Hawking has great knowledge of math and science. Sadly, he has suppressed the truth. I say this standing on the authority of the Word of God. Romans 1:18 makes clear that those who reject God and His Gospel are those who actively “suppress” or “hold back” the Truth. Truth is in front of us, revealed generally, through all God has made (Romans 1:20); and it is available especially to all who cry out for it, as Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6). He stands ready with His Word to answer those who will quit pushing back, with tired arms, the obvious Truth. I pray even Stephen Hawking responds to His Holy Creator and is made new by Jesus and fit for Heaven – the place that is not too good to be true (II Corinthians 5:17 and Revelation 21:1-5).

Reference: Carlos Eire, A Very Brief History of Eternity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010)

Swordtails and God’s Sleeve

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When I was in middle school, I had an aquarium full of tropical fish. One of my favorite types of fish was the orange swordtail. The difficult part of adoring these particular creatures is that their young are born live, and the adult fish eat them. In order to protect the precious little baby fish, I would have to separate the fry in a rectangular net on one corner of the tank. Catching the tiny, agile babies is not easy.

The fact is that I had to get personally involved in the protection of the new swordtails. When one of the females was pregnant, I knew I had to get off the school bus quickly and run into the house to check on the situation each afternoon. I certainly could not design an eye-catching poster to hold up in front of the aquarium that warned, “Swim behind the castle little fish . . . swim!” Fish cannot read. It was pointless to kneel down in front of the tank and yell loudly, “Hide behind the plant . . . hurry!” Fish cannot hear us. The only way to help the swordtail babies was for me to roll up my sleeve and dip my arm into the sometimes algae-ridden water full of slimy fish and all their waste. Yes, if I was to save the fry, I had to invade their world.

Similarly, God crashed into our world to save us. When we were overcome by our sin and had no way to escape the curse, our God entered this space/time continuum. We are helpless without His personal intervention. He rolled up His sleeves, and entered a world of pain, sorrow, and mess to rescue us by His own hand. He put on human flesh and endured all the discomfort and longing earthly life brings. Then – in one particular season of time – He suffered more spiritual, emotional, and physical pain than we could ever imagine, as He willingly took on the sin of the world at the Cross. With His own body – with His own being – He saved us.

The great prophet Isaiah asked, “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1, NASB) What poignant words! What critical consideration! All of life boils down to this . . . do we believe the message of the God who revealed His own arm in the mission of saving us? This question is paramount, for its answer differentiates biblical Christianity from all other religions and worldviews. Whereas the various religions of the world involve the work of humans to one degree or another in their salvation, true Christianity says that God saves – and the rolling up of our own sleeves is useless. His holy, strong arm is the one that redeems us from the pit of sin and hopelessness.

I can see the devil and the powers of Hell shaking in their boots as God Almighty begins to roll up His sleeve! Jesus, the God-Man, comes to redeem His people! As the tiny swordtails were placed safely in the net by my own hand, so we are drawn out of the kingdom of darkness and placed safely in the kingdom of God by God’s own hand.

The question is, “Do you believe this message?” The Hebrew word for believe in Isaiah 53:1 is the root from which we get the widely used term, “Amen.” Belief means that we truly agree. We stake our very life on it. We hear the message and we say, “So be it!” It is right! The arm of our strong and gracious Jesus has been revealed! When He rolls up His sleeve, I am safe!

Rest, Not Religion

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Salvation is rescue
– not reward.

Heaven is given
– not earned.

Obedience is reaction
– not action.

God’s burden is easy
– not oppressive.

Worship is natural
– not forced.

Joy is relational –
– not conditional.

Forgiveness is real
– not fairy tale.

Jesus died for all your sin
– not just some of it.

He asks for all your heart
– not just most of it.

God gives rest
– not religion.

Talk to Him today
– not tomorrow . . . before it is too late.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Matthew 11:28-29 (ESV)

Upsetting the World

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After being imprisoned in Philippi for sharing the Good News of Jesus, Paul and Silas proceeded to Thessalonica and were accused of something most peculiar. A mob gathered to come against Paul and Silas and said of them, “These men who have upset the world have come here also” (Acts 17:6, NASB).

What a wonderful accusation! The apostles were guilty of upsetting the world. Oh, that we would be known for the same, as this world certainly needs shaken. The world system is inside-out and headed in the wrong direction. It is on a fleeting, selfish, and deceptive course toward destruction. We need men and women who will follow God in swimming upstream, against the flow of sin and confusion.

Ads of all kinds attempt to convince people that more things and expensive things are necessary to be respectable. This notion flows from the false assumption that the respect or envy of other people won through materialistic efforts holds the potential to bring real joy. The glitz of fancier modes of entertainment pushes people to believe contentment is found when we have more time and ability to laugh mindlessly and to avoid reality as we deny the core questions of the heart. Recently, a television commercial portrayed a grown woman as amazingly excited to discover seven people were searching for her online. Does it really change our lives to know a handful of other mortals is looking for us? Can self-centered living bring peace?

When Jesus saves people, He turns them inside-out; He makes them new (II Corinthians 5:17). On this earth, Jesus begins to prepare His people for the new world He is someday making. Jesus begins to shape individuals who are no longer content to waste hours, days, and years accumulating things that distract us from the pursuit of God. Jesus molds men and women who radically race toward what is broken in order to bring healing. Jesus transforms people into those who embrace the greatest paradox – that in giving our lives away to God, we gain everything (John 12:25).

As a Christian, I ought to feel the friction of my travels in a direction opposite the flow of the current, unrighteous world system. When I undergo new birth in Jesus, every fiber of my being ought now to sense that sin is to be battled vehemently.

Our Jesus is coming back to make a home of righteousness (II Peter 3:13). In other words, He will invade again the space-time continuum to make a world that is as it ought to be. Obviously, right now this world is far from being as it ought to be. The earth is broken (as seen in natural disasters and the second law of thermodynamics), bodies are broken (by disease, disability, and aging), relationships are broken (by selfishness, impatience, and unrealistic expectations), and hearts are broken (in ways innumerable). But, the Maker of the universe will miraculously remake the universe. Only the God who made everything from nothing can make wholeness out of brokenness. The fixing of this world will come by no human endeavor. It will take the invasion into history of our God . . . and He will do it!

Meanwhile, Jesus remakes people one at a time as He redeems us from sin. And then He calls us to “upset the world” – to live radically different from this vanishing, sinful flow. Jesus has the power to overcome brokenness in your life. Sin pulls us away from wholeness in our hearts. Sin also set into motion the tendency toward disorder and disintegration we see in the natural world; scientists refer to this deterioration as the second law of thermodynamics. When we shake a puzzle box and then drop the pieces to the floor from a few feet above, the pieces land randomly – scattered all about. The more we shake the box and the higher from which we drop the pieces, the more randomness and separation we observe.

Picture your heart as those puzzle pieces. Left to sinfulness without Jesus, our hearts – our lives – fall shattered, making no sense. However, if Jesus shakes your heart, the unexpected happens – the pieces fall out and are fully connected! He overcomes the natural, and forms the whole picture, causing things to make sense! He fixes us – against every plan of the enemy and every apparent triumph of wrong.

We need to reflect our Savior in shaking the world in which we live. We need to pursue the wholeness Jesus intends. We need to go against the flow.

Upset your world with a heart of service instead of a heart of power, private integrity in place of facade, kindness in the midst of attack, value of prayer and Bible study above entertainment, truth-telling though it cost much, giving of resources in the midst of selfishness, gentleness though surrounded by harshness, forgiveness when revenge is easier, sacrifice of time for those in need, and love of God above love of all else.

May Christians be accused as Paul and Silas were – of upsetting this world.

Need a Better Word than the Word of Guilt?

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Many people are familiar with the biblical fact that Cain killed his brother, Abel. The physical act of murder being a sin most people do not commit, the story is sometimes incorrectly dismissed too quickly. This account has everything to do with me – and you.

First, God makes clear that from the start Cain did not have faith in His holy Creator. Hebrews 11:4 (NIV) declares that it was “by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain did.” For purposes of space and time, I choose not to diverge here in a detailed discussion of why Abel’s animal sacrifice was of faith, while Cain’s offering from his crops was not. However, the status of the hearts of both men is what was critical to their giving. This is always the case. Physical actions and spoken words brought from a wrongly motivated heart are ugly in the sight of God, and often in the sight of men. Clearly, of the myriad of things that might have motivated Cain, faith in God was not it. What a curious and critical insight. Many motivations of the heart stand wrong before God, and only one stands right – faith (Hebrews 11:6).

After having acted wrongly from his heart in regards to his offering, Cain was warned by God that the practice of sin leads to further practice of sin. In fact, God clearly informs, “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it (Genesis 4:7). Instead of heeding God’s warning, Cain chose to focus on his discontent and the perceived reason for his discontent – Abel. Mind you, the true source of Cain’s unrest was his wrong standing with God. Had he run to God in repentance rather than to man in frustration, things would, no doubt, have turned out differently.

Standing in a field, with jealousy and the restlessness of rebellion against God in his spirit, Cain allowed sin to move from a crouched position to an all-out attack stance. Sin was no longer at the door; its damning fingers now crawl all over Cain’s back. He murders his brother.

And so do we; for, Jesus proclaims, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, . . . But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment'” (Matthew 5:21-22). The anger and discontent and jealousy in our hearts that leads to anger toward others is in the sight of God subject to spiritual judgment just as murder is.

Wow. It seems a hopeless situation. So sad is it that God said to Cain, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). And so it is with me. The blood of Abel cried out loudly about Cain, “You are guilty! You are condemned!” The results of my sin cry out loudly the same thing, “You are guilty! You are condemned!” Can you hear it? It drives us insane if we understand its implications. Hopelessness is all that stands before us if this is the final and strongest cry.

Enter Jesus! Blessed, wonderful, loving Jesus! Hear the Word of God, “But you have come to . . . Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22a, 24, emphasis mine).

Did you hear that? The blood of Jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel! Abel’s blood cried out the horror of guilt and condemnation, but Jesus’ blood proclaims forgiveness! So powerful is Jesus’ blood to cleanse the human heart that the original languages tell us His blood simply “declares” its power, while Abel’s blood “cried out.” My friend, when your lack of faith, your sin, and your humanly-wrought disaster cries loudly your condemnation, let the blood Jesus shed on the Cross decisively and authoritatively declare, “You are forgiven.”

Do you need a better word than the word of sin and guilt? Jesus is the Word you need.

Jesus Can’t Be Your Example Until He’s Your Savior

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Recently I perused some children’s books that had been labeled as “Christian.” While reviewing these works, I was reminded of how subtly the truth can be undermined.

One of the children’s books was a survey of major stories of the Bible. Each two-page summary of a Biblical event was accompanied by colorful drawings and a quick prayer to summarize the heart of the message. Most unfortunately, the author missed the main point of many of the Biblical accounts.

As I read through the pages dealing with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, I was gravely disappointed to realize that the book did not refer to Jesus’ work as our Savior. It recommended that children look to Jesus as an example about how to forgive others and how to reach out to others, but it did not mention the fact that Jesus died on the Cross for our sins. In fact – to the best of my examination – the book never mentioned the word “sin.”

How tragic. What would be even more catastrophic is if adults reading the book did not realize that sin was not mentioned. This inconspicuous removal of anything related to the sinful nature of humans and our need for redemption is eternally harmful.

The message the powers of darkness would like us to believe is that we can simply follow the example of Christ and other “holy” people. The lie is that Jesus is only the role model that all of us should employ when making decisions. To naturalists, He is mistakenly a fully self-actualized human, to new age believers He is wrongly assumed to be a person genuinely in touch with His divinity and having reached the higher plane; but – in truth – He is God come to earth in flesh to save humans from sin.

Weary people – who are bound by sin, and burdened by the wrong thoughts and behaviors that we cannot escape on our own – need a Savior! We do not require a fine example – or even a perfect example – of how to live; we need a God who can enable us to live. Once the Savior delivers us from our sin nature, then – and only then – can we begin to live rightly.

The apostle Paul said it wonderfully in I Timothy 1:15 (NIV), “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” This, my friends, is why Jesus came. He came to endure the wrath of God for our sins that we might be free from the sin curse.

It may not be fashionable in today’s culture to seemingly downgrade the human condition this way, but it is certainly the truth. And every person who feels the weight of sin knows another example of goodness is not what they need.

Jesus simply cannot be my example until He is my Savior! To be bound by sin is to be spiritually dead. Dead people cannot follow examples. Dead people need life. God – through Jesus – gives dead people life. After He does, then these people can do right.

The crux of the matter is spelled out simply in Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV), “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”

My prayer is that weary sinners find new life in Jesus as the Savior. I also pray that God will cause us to see where truth is lacking, or only half-proclaimed. People’s lives depend on it. God, please help us.

Why the Wilderness When I Want Happiness?

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Avoidance of pain is currently upheld as one of the greatest of aspirations. “What can God do for me that will make my life better, easier, and more palatable?” we ask. Isn’t a happy life a natural outcome of salvation?

Perhaps we need to go back to square one and be reminded of salvation’s essence. In Biblical terms, to be saved means to be delivered from sin’s power and consequence. First and foremost, we are sinful people who need drastic deliverance from our bent toward evil. The problem is not our material discomfort or our lack of satisfaction; the problem is that our very nature – and our actions – offends a holy God. God’s sacrifice of His own Son for the sinfulness of us brings our deliverance. A person who trusts in the atonement of Jesus is covered with His righteousness. That is deliverance. It is a pronouncement of being right – despite who we are – because we trust in Jesus.

Now, let us go back to the original question, “Isn’t a happy life a natural outcome of salvation?” Maybe we should be asking a different question, “Isn’t our salvation – our deliverance – the most important thing?” What could be more important than my hell-bent soul finding deliverance from sin? What is more vital than the eyes of my heart being fixed intensely on the God who saves me? What is more critical than my direct journey to the home of ultimate righteousness God is preparing for me?

In God’s estimation, there is nothing – simply nothing – more important than our deliverance. In fact, when God miraculously delivered the Israelites from slavery to Egypt, He chose to send them the long way to the Promised Land – through the wilderness. Why such a difficult path to traverse? Exodus 13:17b-18a makes clear, “God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, ‘The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’ Hence God lead the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea.”

The wilderness would be difficult, with challenges galore. However, the short route through Philistia meant a direct turning back. God knew His people would be too quickly tempted to go back to bondage in Egypt, and they would then never reach the Promised Land.

So it is. The wilderness of our lives can be sadly difficult. Truly, only God Himself knows why we must travel the path we do. But, one thing we know for a fact: the avoidance of pain is simply not more important than our full deliverance. I will travel this wilderness path, since I know it means I will not turn back. I will see God one day in the place He resides.

Being Good Does Not Save Us

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Here is a question, “Why did God destroy the earth by flood in Noah’s day?” Answer: “Mankind was very, very bad.” Here is a second question, “Why did God spare Noah and his family?” Typical answer, “Noah was a good man who obeyed God.” Let us get to the heart of both questions and both answers.

First, it is true that God destroyed the world by flood in Noah’s day because of evil. Genesis 6:5-8 says, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” The LORD was grieved that he had made man on earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air – for I am grieved that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”

God chose to exhibit the reality of his divine justice because of wickedness. Evil always destroys; it is the absence of God’s goodness. We ought to be thankful that God demonstrates how serious the issue of sin and evil is, for it inevitably and ultimately brings death (Romans 6:23). We are mistaken to believe that Noah was spared this judgment simply because he was obedient or “a good man.” No man or woman is good by nature; we are sinners. There is no amount of good we can do and no proper way in which we can perform that earns the favor of God. We are very selfish by nature and – without the power of Jesus – quite capable of horrible evil.

Let me demonstrate that it was not the inherent goodness of Noah that saved him. If we remember when the flood subsided and Noah and his family were finally able to exit the ark, there were eight people in existence: Noah, his wife, his three sons, and his sons’ wives. These eight people – Noah and his family – put their feet on the ground and then Noah built an altar. The Bible tells us, “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: ‘Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood” (Genesis 8:20-21a).

Just look at that description of the only eight people in existence on earth at the time: “every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.” This description sounds very familiar to the one God gave of all of humanity before he sent the flood! Yes, even Noah was a sinner by nature; even Noah had evil inclination. We ask then, what was the difference? Why did God spare Noah if he was just as much a sinner by nature as all the other people who were destroyed by the flood?

The answer is found in Genesis 8:20-21. If you read those verses again above, you will notice that Noah built an altar and offered a burnt offering immediately after exiting the ark. It was the pleasing aroma of the sacrifice that prompted God to say that he would not destroy the earth in this way again despite man’s nature. Why would the burning flesh of an animal please God? These Old Testament offerings were pictures, or a foreshadowing, of the soon-to-come offering of Jesus Christ himself for the sin of mankind. Noah knew God, and He knew the promises of God. Noah believed that the Messiah would come, and he offered this burnt offering in faith. He was looking ahead to the coming of Jesus! Noah was demonstrating his belief in Jesus as the one who can appease God the Father and bring us into relationship with our Creator.

Jesus was Noah’s salvation! Self-righteousness, good character, or self-effort could not save Noah or us. Only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, can save a man or woman from sin and death. Noah looked forward and believed that Jesus would come. We look backward and believe that Jesus did come. Thank God, both we and Noah look ahead to the Second Coming of that same God-Man, Jesus Christ, when, as Hebrews 9:28 proclaims, He will appear with full salvation. We will then enjoy the new heavens and new earth, a home of righteousness.

Make no mistake about it, though, Noah’s belief in Jesus Christ sent him into action! Because of his belief, Noah was willing to do God’s will. He, no doubt, paid a dear price for building that ark. He and his family worked day in and day out doing God’s will in a rebellious world. His belief prompted real action. In fact, real belief in Jesus Christ always prompts action; there is no other way to believe.

“Preoccupied”: A Poem to Help Us Understand the Question, “Am I Ready?”

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PREOCCUPIED

Planned a party.
Now I’m waiting
for you to arrive.

Others present;
talking, laughing.
But you
I have not yet seen.

Though I’m with them,
my mind keeps drifting
to thoughts of you.

I hear your voice,
I see your face,
as I imagine
your arrival.

They keep begging me
to join in
with abandonment.

I cannot.

You are all
I really think of.

Please come.
Please come very soon.

This is no real party
until
I am right beside you.

This poem is weighty. It can help our hearts discern their true status. God’s Word says, “So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” (Hebrews 9:28, NIV, emphasis mine)

Many people ask sincerely, “Just what does it mean to be saved?” Stunningly, it means much more than most imagine. Notice Hebrews 9:28 tells us that while Jesus died for many people (in fact, for the entire world), He is only returning for those who are waiting for Him! Just as Matthew 7:13 whittles down the road to life to only a few travelers, while the road to destruction remains wide; so Hebrews 9:28 confirms and delineates the criteria.

What does it mean to be saved? Deny it however much we want in order to try in vain to produce a sense of security, the answer is clear . . . it means we are absolutely preoccupied with Jesus!

As the host of the party in the poem cannot put first in his heart or mind other people or activities, so the truly saved person cannot put first in her heart or mind other people or activities. Expectant waiting for the One we love the most packs full every moment!

Are we “looking out the window” for Jesus to come?

Are we paying more attention to our television, our cell phone, our ipod, our social time, our facebook account, our children’s activities, our hobbies, or any combination of various distractions “at the party”? Or are we so in love with Jesus that His Word and precious time in prayer with Him are nearest and dearest for us?

He died for the sins of the world, but He is only coming back for those who are waiting for Him.

Are you waiting . . . ?