Thursday, November 10, 2011

Matter of Perspective


"The Message that points to Christ on the Cross 
seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, 
but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, 
and most powerfully as it turns out. 
It's written, 
I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots.
So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age?
Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never 
had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using 
what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—
to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation."
1 Corinthians 1:18-21


When confronted with the option to believe there are other ways to be made right with God outside faith in Jesus Christ, we must understand that a perfect God would only need one way. The trouble with rejecting Christ's words that no one comes to the Father except through Him, aside from the mere rejecting of Christ's words as if that weren't already a grievous enough error, is this, to make the proclamation "Surely God couldn't send someone to hell that has never heard the name of Jesus", is right in line with saying, "God wouldn't send me to hell either". If this be the case, from what then, is our salvation?

At first this all seemed foolish to me. From the depths of my depravity a voice of sympathy cried out. "Think of the implications!", it said. "Think of the people!", it exclaimed. "To redeem so many through just this one name?!" Soon the gravity and scope of the situation overwhelmed me. Surely there must be another way, so I relented. But Oh, wretched deception! For delusion had slipped in under the pretense of sympathy and concern for others ... but Ahh the lie! In my selfish sin I cared, not for others, but sought only to keep close those things that gave me the most carnal pleasure. Lord give me grace. If I had genuine concern for the unredeemed I would drop my idols and go exclaim this gospel with every ounce of my being. But the selfishness of my heart says, "What?!? ... just let them keep their sin, and I'll keep mine... find another way God, cause we don't want you, we just want our STUFF." 

To believe any other way is to have a far too high opinion of ones own righteousness or far too low an opinion of the Lords righteousness, but most likely just a dangerously and unhealthy dose of both.

2 comments:

  1. Just another instance of how we are constantly lied to by the tempter in ways that reveal our understanding of God as if He were made in our image. If we, as followers, return to an understanding of God as He really is, We. Would. Tremble.

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