“How
long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him...” (1 Kings
18:21)
Most people in North America know a little bit about Jesus,
some of his famous sayings, and some of the main themes of the Bible. Today I
want to talk about one of the themes which Jesus emphasized repeatedly: the
message of salvation is URGENT, and you should not delay your response to it.
If you are familiar with the words of Jesus, but you have
been waffling between two opinions on him, I want to challenge you to commit
your life to Jesus Christ today.
If Jesus stuff is all foreign to you, I want to encourage
you to give Christianity a fair chance, and soon. I don’t care if you never set
foot in a church. I just want you to be saved.
Time is short. You may not have several more decades to hum
and haw over whether or not to become a Christian. As much as it’s unpleasant
to think about, you could die walking out of your house tomorrow morning for
all we know. Then your chances are gone.
Look, I didn’t always have this opinion on Christianity –
only a few years ago I would have rolled my eyes if I read something like this.
But after that, God stepped into my life in ways I had not expected or
imagined. And he opened my eyes to the good news in his word, the Bible. Now
that I believe eternal life is possible through Jesus Christ, I would be an
absolute idiot not to share that with everyone I know. You may still think I’m
an idiot – that’s fine. I’ll still put my neck out and tell you about Jesus
because I love you anyway – because I know God, and I know that HE loves you
anyway.
To the Noncommittal
Maybe you like a lot of what Jesus says but you have bought
into the caricatures of “fundamentalist” Christianity touted by popular public
figures. Maybe you think of yourself as too intelligent or progressive to
believe in Jesus in a literal way. Maybe you have even gone to church your
whole life but have never taken that leap of faith to accept Jesus as your lord
and saviour. Maybe you want to have your church life but you don’t want to
embarrass yourself by actually surrendering your life to Jesus. Maybe you think
you have too much to lose.
Jesus has some important things to say to you, and I pray that
you’ll listen to him.
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and
whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man
profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:25-26)
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I
would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither
cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich,
and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou
art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked…” (Revelation
3:15-17)
You think you have a lot to lose, but you don’t… You look
around you and see what you think is wealth, security, happiness, even
righteousness – all of it is temporary if it’s not built on the Rock of Jesus
Christ. All of it could vanish and will vanish. Once you realize that, you
realize how much you need God.
To the Scholar
You want to know everything, test everything, and most
importantly, appear to the world as a rational scientific mind. I get it. You’re
afraid that would all disappear if you gave your life to Jesus Christ. I get
it. First, that’s not entirely true – see my last blog post. Second, don’t let
that stand between you and Jesus Christ because in the end even your degrees
and scholarly persona are temporary.
Be careful that you are not like those the Bible described
as “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:7)
Rather, use your scholarly abilities to
find the capital “T” Truth.
Jesus said, “[You] Search the scriptures; for in them ye
think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will
not come to me, that ye might have life.”
(John 5:39-40)
Don’t put your trust in something that doesn’t last. Put
your trust in Jesus Christ.
Choose Soon
Among the themes of the New Testament is the notion that
Jesus is coming back at a time we will not expect. The Second Coming of Jesus
is something that has been misappropriated by false teachers, mocked by popular
culture, and ignored by the people who want to have some words of Jesus but not
the bits that would make them sound like weirdos. Let’s hear what Jesus said
about his Second Coming:
“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming
of the Son of man be.
For as in the days that were before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark,
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all
away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,
and the other left.
Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be
taken, and the other left.
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth
come.
But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known
in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have
suffered his house to be broken up.
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye
think not the Son of man cometh.”
(Matthew 24:37-44)
This sounds like an urgent message to me. Even when normal
day-to-day life goes on all around us, people getting married, people doing
their jobs, Jesus is going to come back to rescue his sheep. You want your
salvation to be assured by this time, otherwise you will not be safe when the
(metaphorical) floods come. We don’t know if another millennium will pass or if
this will happen today, so Jesus says to be ready!
Concluding thoughts
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, my friends. He’s
standing at the door and knocking, and you just need to hear him and let him
in. (Revelation 3:20)
You don’t have forever to make this decision. It’s a
decision that you should not take lightly, and the Bible says you should count
the cost of discipleship (Luke 14:27-33). But do not delay.
