Romans 1

I’m doing something a little different today. For some reason as I read just a few verses in Romans I felt drawn to it. Now this isn’t a new occurrence. Every time I read Romans I’m drawn to it. It’s one of my favorite books. But today was different. Today I was drawn to it for a different reason. I kept thinking ‘I can make a blog out of just one section of this.’ Only…when I looked over it to see what blog post I wanted to write…I got nothing but being drawn to Romans 1. So I’m not going to try and make a post out of it. I’m simply going to make Romans 1 the post.

 

Greeting

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh ⁴ and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, ⁶ including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

⁷ To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Longing to Go to Rome

⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. ⁹ For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you ¹⁰ always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. ¹¹ For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— ¹² that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. ¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. ¹⁴ I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. ¹⁵ So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

God's Wrath on Unrighteousness

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³² Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

 

On the journey together

The path stretches ahead, long and winding. Slow and gently rolling at times. At other times it twists and turns, climbs and drops, doubles back on itself and even has knots tied in the path that I must traverse to reach my Savior.

I once thought it was an easy path. One that all I had to do was take a long road through a meandering countryside where the weather was perfect, the sun was shining, there were big white fluffy clouds in the sky, and there were plenty of other travelers along the way.

I was wrong.

Trials and tribulations. That’s what we’re promised. Nothings fair, the road’s not wide and smooth, the path isn’t free of rocks and kinks, the weather isn’t all sunshine and pretty clouds at the perfect temperature. The weather comes in spurts of blizzards and hurricanes interspersed with sunshine. The path is narrow and hard to see at times. Sometimes I can stand up and walk, sometimes I crawl. I have to dodge branches and brambles. Sometimes I must wiggle through knots in the path that are pulled so tight I don’t think I’ll be able to get through them. And the few other travelers along the way are hard to find among the shadowy figures that line the sides of the path, telling me they’re going to the same destination I am but I know from the direction they’re walking that they’re on a different path even though they can’t tell it.

Alone, I continue my journey. In one hand I cling to the map that is the Word of God, with the other I reach toward Heaven begging my savior to take me by the hand and lead me where He wants me to go. The path is difficult at times but it’s manageable. But oh how I wish I had someone to share the journey with, someone to help me study the Map, to figure out the harder areas of the path.

Then I round a bend in the trail… And there standing on the path is another traveler. One that isn’t just off the trail but right in the middle of it. I can clearly see this traveler. There are no shadows to obscure my view. And what I see gives me joy, gives me hope. This traveler has the same Map of life that I do. This traveler is standing with one had stretched toward the Lord as I have. And I know.

Here is a fellow traveler.

We’re headed to the same destination.

I didn’t expect to see anyone else on my path. I’d long since given up hope of finding another. But here was an unexpected gift in this rocky path I’m traveling.

The other traveler holds a hand out to me. For the moment I forget the mountain, forget the twists and turns in the path. I reach out and link hands with this traveler. I didn’t foresee this other traveler joining me on my journey but I’m glad they did. I expected to continue my journey alone but now I’m not.

And right there on the path the Lord created a miracle for me. He gave me a gift I never thought to be given. Without warning, without much time passing He forever linked my heart and my fellow travelers together. He joined us as man and wife.

This isn’t just a fellow traveler. This is now my husband. The surprise of the gift I’ve been given, the magnitude of it takes some adjusting. I thought I would be forever alone on this path and the Lord provided not only a fellow traveler but someone that is now a part of who I am.

Together, hand in hand we continue our journey. The twists and turns are made easier, the road a little less bumpy simply because I no longer travel alone. I know the way hasn’t gotten any easier but it feels as if it has simply because I no longer have to face it alone.

Onward we go, traveling down the path, making our way through the brambles and the storms. As we walk we talk of life and Christ, of our journey, of where we’ve been and where we’re going.

Steadily we keep going. Encouraging each other.

I’m going along just fine, stumbling here and there, taking the weather and the twists as they come. The aloneness that once bothered me is now a distant memory. My husband, my companion, the other half of me is here to share in all the ups and downs of the paths. He shares my joy in the sunshine and the easy stretches in the journey, he helps me over the rocks, he leads me when I can’t see the path for the fog.

I send up prayers of thanks with every step. The Lord has blessed me on my journey. And I wonder how I ever made it on this path alone. Where I once longed for others that were taking the same trip I am, heading to the same destination, now I look at my husband, grasp his hand a little tighter and am grateful I’m no longer alone.

Sometimes we stop to visit with the figures along the side of the path hoping that ‘this one’ might be join us on our path…only to be disappointed time and again. So we go back to stumbling down the path again. Then we round a bend in the path and there before us our rocky road is headed straight up a mountain bigger than Mt. Everest, covered in thick layers of ice, in the midst of a blizzard that obscures everything. I can faintly see what looks like a series of knots in the path, pulled so tight I can’t see a spot to wiggle through.

Maybe it’s the blizzard obscuring the openings, maybe it’s the mountain but something brings me to a halt. I stand on this path that I didn’t choose, seeking my Savior that I want more than anything and I know I’m about to fail. The temptation to look back and see if I can see the stretch of path that was all sunshine and easy going just a few steps back beckons. I don’t want to look back. I don’t want to go back. I like the path I’m on.

Something inside warns me that this is about to get very, very difficult. My heart cries out to my Lord. Silently. Begging Him to clear the path. If only the path would stop here, if only I could stay in this place forever. But I can’t. I want to keep forging ahead, growing closer to my Lord. But the temptation is there none the less.

I take a few steps forward my hand stretched toward Heaven. And I see that my hand is still entwined with my husbands. And I’m reminded. I’m no longer on this journey alone. My husband lightly squeezes my fingers, our hands stretched toward Christ together. It’s a reminder I badly need as I clutch my map tightly to my chest. I’m not alone on my journey. We’re in this together now.

 I put one foot in front of the other, my steps matching my husbands as we continuing down the path. It’s hard but somehow it’s not as hard because I have we’re together. I clutch my map tightly to my chest and share the struggle of making our way over the difficult stretch of path with my husband.

A rock I didn’t see trips me and I stumble. Those aren’t small rocks on the path. They’re large and round, mixed with slick mud that tries to pull me in and hold me in place. I struggle to gain my footing and feel my husband lift me back to my feet and help me through the difficult stretch. On down the path we go. Mud latches onto our feet weighing us down, slowing our steps.

Icy wind blows up out of nowhere and slams against me with every step. It blows through my clothes and bombards me until my fingers are frozen and I can no longer feel my feet.  I look at my husband and see he too is struggling against the wind. He squeezes my hand, then wraps his arm around my shoulders. We huddle together and keep going. Now we must yell to hear each other and our teeth chatter with every word but we speak of Christ and encourage each other. We know our destination will be worth the struggles we must go through to reach it.

I lean into my husband and keep stumbling forward.

But as that mountain looms before us, as those knots in the path grow ever closer my steps grow slower, my feet hit a patch of ice and as I slide back down the path my emotions take over. And my flesh begs to demand of my Creator what He was thinking. The questions flit through my mind to wonder why He gave me this path.

My husbands arm tightens around me, stopping my backward slide. He pulls me back into place beside him. I wipe snow off his face and thank him. We stand there…looking at each other, as the storm rages around us, and remind each other that this too shall pass. It’s just a difficult section we must get through. We open our map, somewhere along the way we have lost one but we know its okay because we are no longer two travelers but one, joined through Christ, and that we no longer need two separate maps. We study our map together and are encouraged. We know that the Lord has us and this difficult stretch of the journey in His hands, that He’s in control of us and the storm around us.

Encouraged, we close our map and continue our journey. The rocks and mud are still there, the icy wind still blows but we have each other and we have Christ. So onward we go. Thorns grow up in front of us, slowing us even more. They tear at our clothes and  I once again want to question Christ but I’m encouraged by the feel of my husbands hand around mine and  as  I push the thorns aside I push the questions away with them.

It’s not my place to question my Lord. And I keep going.

Slower now. My teeth are chattering from the cold, snow is sliding down my neck, mud has coated my feet. But the path keeps going. It’s like an escalator. I can’t stop it, can’t stop my forward momentum I can only go forward. Placing one foot in front of the other, struggling up the slick and icy path. Through the swirling white I can just make out enough of the path to see that before I reach the knot I must climb straight up the mountain. Just to the left of the path there’s an easier way, it gently moves over hills that slowly go over the mountain, but here in front of me is a sheer cliff that I must scale.

But  I don’t have to scale it alone. I look over at my husband and see that his struggles are as rough as mine but we’re here together and somehow that makes the cliff a little less sheer. But still it’s there and we must scale it.

So scale it we do. I cling to it with bare hands and feet that are weighed down with enough mud to make me wonder if someone isn’t holding onto me, pulling me back. But I keep climbing.

I can hear my husband climbing beside me, feel his hand on me helping me climb. I reach over and take his hand, pulling on him because I know the mud is clinging to him just as it is to me. And we continue up the mountain.

This isn’t a mountain I wanted to scale. These aren’t the trials I wanted to face. Anger starts to take hold as I try and shake some of the mud off my feet. I lose a shoe but the mud hangs on. I claw at the rocky surface of the sheer cliff, trying to gain a hold that will keep me from sliding on the icy path. I tell myself I can’t get angry. It isn’t allowed.

I’m supposed to be thankful for everything that comes my way. But…the flesh battles the spirit. The anger wants to win. Hand over hand, one footstep at a time, I climb the cliff. I stay on the path. It’s so narrow now that I can feel open air on either side of us. I can sense the deep void of nothingness which I know isn’t really nothingness because lining my path is a broader path. The easy way. The way that runs right alongside where I’m at.

But I’m not on that path. I’m on this one. And I want to be on the one I’ve been placed on. Only today, in this moment, as I lose three fingernails to the sharp rocks cutting into my hands, as my feet slip and slide and are long past feeling numb from the cold and the ice, as my flesh and my spirit do battle against themselves. Today…I fight anger at the One that placed me here.

I shouldn’t feel it. I can’t allow myself to feel it. It isn’t my place to ask questions or to demand answers. I’m not allowed to blame my Maker for the path He placed me on. And the guilt sets in. Because I don’t want to ever be angry with Him. But the battle keeps raging. The snow turns to sleet. It hits me with the fierceness of knives, it cuts through me and lands blow after blow against my heart.

And I raise my hand.

I beg for forgiveness.

Beg for help.

And once again I see…

My husbands hand wrapped around mine. He squeezes my hand, somehow sensing the turmoil inside me, sensing the storm that rages in me with the fierceness of the storm that batters us. And I’m reminded again that through the difficult stretches I’m no longer alone. I apologize again to my Lord and thank Him for the blessing He gave me when he gave me my husband. Difficult as the path may be I remember that it’s so much easier now that I’m no longer alone.

My husband tells me I would be okay if I had to travel the path alone and I doubt that I would be. He reminds me that I have Christ and that’s all I need but he doesn’t know how much I need him. How much I have come to depend on him as we’ve struggled over the difficult stretches of the path. I tell him I would be okay because I know deep down that if I didn’t have him I would continue the journey alone but I still doubt that I would be okay without him. I need him here, on this path with me. I need him to see me through the rough patches. Because without me quite knowing how it happened I now depend on him with every step.

We stand in the storm and talk about how much easier the path is now that we have each other and then we face the mountain again. It’s still there, still looming around us. We look at our feet and see that we are balanced on a small ledge just big enough for the two of us. We laugh because it’s either that or cry. Here is a brief reprieve from the sheer cliff we’re scaling and we didn’t even see it until it was time to climb again.

And so we start our ascent.

Because we’re on this path. And there is no alternative. We must keep going. Christ is with us and we know that. He’s there…we can feel him. And we know that He has a plan for this storm being in our path. That there’s a reason He has placed us on this cliff.

It’s a cliff I’d rather not be on because at the top of this cliff I can see the knots I know we must try and find a way to wiggle through. And worse…I can know see something huge and dark and threatening looming there. It waits for us as we keep climbing. I want to stop. I want to stay hanging on this cliff forever. Going backward isn’t an option; hanging on the cliff with the threat looming over us isn’t an option, even though I’d gladly stay here forever if only I didn’t have to face that threat.

But as I look into the threat that’s waiting just ahead…I’m afraid. I don’t want to go any further.

But we keep going. As I climb I raise my hand toward Heaven knowing my Lord is reaching for me even though I can’t see Him. And I see my hand still held snuggly in my husbands. Together we reach for Christ. Peace is there but so is pain. The pain of the icy knives slicing into my heart, cutting chunk after chunk out of me. It’s shredding me and still I climb because I’ve been given no other option. I was placed on this path and I cannot get off. I don’t want to get off. But I don’t want to face the fog or the threat either.

And so the flesh and the spirit battle.

But I’ve found my Savior again. I can feel His hand on mine even while it rests inside my husbands hand. I can feel my Lord lifting me up, holding me because I know I’m rapidly approaching that place when I can’t hold myself up anymore. And I know that it’s not just me He’s holding up. I know that He’s holding my husband up right along with me. Because my husband and I are one, because we are on this path toghether. Even still the path has become too hard. It’s more than I can bear. And it keeps hurtling me closer and closer to the threat I can see looming, growing bigger and darker, at the top of the cliff. There’s no escaping the threat, no turning around, no avoiding it. I must keep climbing. I must struggle through the knots to reach the top.

And I must face the threat.

I know I won’t do it alone. I can’t do it alone. Already my legs are weak, my knees are buckling and my strength is about gone. Beside me my husband slows too, I know without looking that he is depending more on our Lord. That gives me courage to face what’s coming even though I know my courage is gone. Somehow even as I grow weaker in body I gain strength from knowing my husband too is relying on our Lord to see us through.

It won’t be long now before I have nothing left to climb with and my Lord will have to carry me. I have no strength to get through the knots, no ability to scale the last of the cliff, and I know that I have nothing to fight the threat with.

I lean against my husband and cling tighter to my Lord. Somehow, somewhere, on this path that has thrown difficulties at me and now looms above me threatening me…somehow this man that was once a stranger has no become not only a part of me but he has become a part of my relationship with Christ. And as I lean into my husband and let my Lord take my weight I know that they will see me through. That Christ will see us both through. Because I can feel my husband leaning on Him just as much as I am.

And I know…

The Lord is the only thing keeping us on the mountain now. He’s there and He’s holding us as we hold each other. He will carry us to the top, battle the threat for us, and see us safely over the mountain.

 

Only every day

Children are a blessing. They’re a gift from the Lord. A miracle entrusted to us. From the moment they are conceived they are wondrous miracles that we often take for granted.

Last week I had the privilege of spending several days with my sister, her son, and her brand new baby. There’s nothing like holding a brand new baby. The way they snuggle against you, the little sounds they make, the way they feel in your arms, the faces they make. They quite simply are amazing.

When my youngest son was born my mother said she thought my favorite time in a child’s life was birth to six months. She might have been right. I enjoy my children at every stage but there’s just something different about those first few months. And there’s something beyond amazing about those first few weeks.

I told my sister the other day that I think the newborn stage should last for a year. Although I’ll admit that for me a year with a brand new baby wouldn’t be enough. Because I’d never get tired of a newborn. They’re a lot of work but the joy more than makes up for it.

That could be said of children at any stage of life though. They are work but the joy they give us more than makes up for any work they create.

As I carried my three week old niece through the store I prayed for her, I begged the Lord to save her. I pleaded on her behalf. As I carried her, snuggled her against me, I couldn’t help the pain that made my soul ache.  I looked into those innocent little eyes and ached for her. I begged the Lord to make her one of His elect.

I do the same for my children and for others but in that moment as I held that new baby there was just something tugging at me that made me pray on her behalf, to beg for her future salvation.

Last night one of my daughters said…’you don’t pray for me to see things the way you do, do you?’ That hurt even though I knew she had no idea what she was asking…no idea what was at stake. But I did. She was talking about my belief in the Lord and the way I see Scripture. My answer to her…only every day.

Only every day.

Every day I pray for their salvation. Every day I ask the Lord to save them. Every day I pray and beg on their behalf. And it’s not enough. Because although they don’t know what’s at stake I do. I know what the alternative is. And every day isn’t enough. Every hour isn’t enough. Every minute isn’t enough.

Only every day leaves too much time open. Too many hours that could have been spent pleading for their salvation.

Because salvation is the Lord’s choice. It’s His place to save them or not as He wills. But as one of His people it’s my place to pray for their salvation. And they’re my children.

Only every day was the answer I gave my daughter but…

Only every day will never be enough.

What if you needed a reference letter?

I’ve recently spent some time helping to collect and put together reference letters for someone close to me. These letters were basic in what they required, they needed to only tell a little about the person in question, tell who was writing the letter and how the person effected the writers life. Nothing big. Nothing major. But the letters were very important.

What if the Lord required us to collect reference letters if we are to belong to Him? What if we had to have a stack of papers from people we knew and interacted with before we could gain access to Christ?

We don’t need any such letter like that because Christ is all the reference we need.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:27-28

Christ’s sheep hear his voice and He knows them. No reference letters needed. He also tells us…

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23

True believers in Christ don’t need reference letters because we already belong to Christ. We are chosen to be His. And when He calls to us…when He calls us to Him…we hear His voice and we follow Him. Because He already knows us. But those that aren’t His don’t have that. They aren’t His. They will be turned away no matter how much they may cry out to Him begging to enter heaven. He doesn’t know them because their profession of faith in Him is only that…a profession.

They went into the world and they did all these things in the name of God, in the name of  the Lord, in Jesus’ name, They did these works in His name believing that that was what was going to get them into heaven. Or at least believing that those works were required because they were ‘believers.’

I was in a ‘church’ building once that had spent months collecting money to send to a certain mission organization. The day came to collect the final offering. They were still well under the goal that the leaders of the ‘church’ had set for the collection amount they wanted to reach. The offering plates were passed and everyone was encouraged to dig deep, to donate to this wonderful cause. I don’t remember what was said but I know the implication was there that God expected them to donate, and I know there was plenty of pressure from the ‘church’ leaders that day, and in the weeks leading up to that final day, for the congregation to give large sums of money to this collection. The assumption was there that you would donate all you could.

For those people, like me, that didn’t believe in funding that particular thing…and I couldn’t have given much at that time if I had believed in it…if you didn’t plan on giving anything…well, you knew better than to say anything because the reaction from the leaders and the congregation wouldn’t have been nice.

After the Sunday service when they made that final collection they held a celebration lunch. All of the ‘church’ was invited. While everyone made their way to another area to prepare for the lunch the mission offering was counted. The final tally taken.

When the time came for the total amount collected to be announced instead of telling everyone how much was raised and what a good job they did and how grateful they were…the preacher announced that they were still $10,000.00 short of the goal and that they were going to take up another collection. Everyone was told to dig deep, to give all they could and then give just a little more. After all they were doing this for God. This money was going to a mission organization that was doing God’s work.

And the congregation gave again. Checks were written, people dug money out of their pockets, their purses, and their cars. They gave more money because they were told to. They gave more money because this was for an important cause, it was for God. It was to do God’s work.

They did it because they thought they were doing it for God.

‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

They were doing this in in the Lord’s name. I saw this first hand that day. The people of that ‘church’ gave because they believed they were doing a mighty work in His name. They believed they were doing it for Him. And so they gave…and gave…and gave again.

But Scripture tells us that did them no good. It got them no closer to Christ. And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Whether these people gave to this cause or not, whether they did any of the other things this ‘church’ was supporting, whether they went out an built houses, or dug wells, or any of the other millions of things ‘Christians’ do in the name of God made no difference on their salvation. There wasn’t a single thing any of them might have done to earn the right to be known by Christ. No amount of money given would have done it. No amount of work would do it.

Whether or not they were known by Him didn’t rest in what they did or didn’t do. It rested in their faith in Christ.

“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; Matthew 15:8

They claim to be His, they claim to know Him but their hearts do not belong to Him. They do not belong to Him.

On the day that the people He speaks of stand before judgement no amount of crying out to Christ, no amount of begging or pleading will get them into heaven. If they showed up with stacks and stacks of reference letters those wouldn’t get them in either. Nothing anyone wrote on those letters would gain them entrance into heaven.

But what if they were required? What would your reference letters say? Would the people in your life write things on your letters that would show you were regenerate, that you belonged to Christ? Or would they show something totally different?

Would they say something like…

Dear God,

I’ve known this person for years. They’ve been a good friend to me and to others. We have enjoyed the same hobbies and activities and are members of the same ‘church’. I know this person to be a very involved member of the ‘church’. He/she is on several committees, they help with the food pantry and teach Sunday school. When they aren’t at ‘church’ I understand they work hard at their job, and enjoy their family. I know this person read their Bible because they knew Bible verses from memory and could tell the stories from the Bible. Please take all this into consideration when determining whether or not to let them into heaven.

Thank you

Would that be enough to satisfy Christ? Here is God, an all-powerful, sovereign Lord that came to earth as a human to die so that we could be saved. What would you ask in return for your life? If you suffered for someone, were tortured for them, died to save them…would knowing the stories of the Bible and serving in a building be enough to make you feel they truly appreciated what you did for them? Would it be enough to keep them in your good favor?

Or would you feel like they were going through the motions?

As I’ve helped collect letters for this person in my life I’ve read over them. I’ve read what people had to say about this person. I’ve heard what they said to and about this person when discussing the letters and this persons impact on their lives.

And you know what? Other than the parts of the letters that specifically address the reason why the letters were being written most of them could easily be reference letters to be handed over to Christ, to gain access to heaven…if such a thing were required.

Because this person lives out the teachings of Scripture to the best of their ability. And the comments from the people in this person’s life show that. There’s nothing in any of them about going to ‘church’ but there’s plenty in all of them about the help this person gave to the writer and others. They speak of this persons faith, not in terms of what they did in and for a ‘church’ building but in how they lived their life, how they treated others.

Thankfully we don’t need reference letters to gain access to heaven. Christ is our reference letter.

But if we did…

How would yours read?

Our days are numbered

Someone close to me, a professing Christian, once disputed whether or not a persons days are numbered. I said something to the effect of…our days were numbered before we were born, the day we die was set long before we took our first breath. There is nothing we can do to change that. This person stood in front of me and said ‘yes, unless you’re murdered. Yes, unless you get in a car accident. Yes, unless you fall down the stairs and break your neck.’

The more I tried to explain there was no unless…our days were set before we were born, and were actually set long before that…the more this person argued that there was an unless. We may be supposed to die when we’re 60 but if we get pneumonia and stop breathing then our days were cut short. And on and on the debate went until I said…okay.

I gave up. It wasn’t worth it anymore. This person couldn’t see something I clearly saw in Scripture and it wasn’t worth continuing a conversation that was rapidly approaching an argument.

I gave up. I left this person to their unless. No matter how hard I tried to explain my reasoning, no matter how hard I tried to explain, they just couldn’t see it. So I let it go. I gave up. I mentally threw my hands in the air and walked away from the conversation.

This person that was important in my life, that had in fact had an effect on my own faith, couldn’t see something I considered so basic. Something that Scripture plainly said.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.  Psalm 139:16

How this person couldn’t understand that I still don’t know. In your book were written…the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. What in that isn’t clear? What of it is hard to understand?

If that isn’t clear enough the NIV puts it this way…

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

It’s there. Plain as day. Black and white. Easy to read. Everytime I look at Psalm 139:16…there it is.

Our days are numbered.

There are other verses that speak of our days being numbered. Matthew 6:27 says…

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Luke 12:25…

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

But this person was so sure. So set. So convinced that there was an unless. There is no unless. Our days are numbered. If we’re murdered today it’s because that was the way the Lord had it planned. That was the method He used to end our life. If we die in a car accident that was the Lord’s plan for our death.

No unless.

Just the end of the number of days we were allotted.

But try as I might I couldn’t convince this person of that. I couldn’t get them off the thought of unless. Our days are numbered unless…

Is the Lord not soverign? Is it not within His power to stop someone from harming us? Is it not within His power to keep us out of an accident? Is it not within His power to keep us from falling down the stairs?

I’ve heard of accidents that left the first responders shocked that someone survived them. They tell the person there’s no way they should have lived through the accident and here the person is standing in front of them unharmed. There was no unless that day. That person’s days weren’t up yet, it wasn’t there time to die. So they didn’t. The Lord kept them safe when they shouldn’t have been.

My grandmother used to tell me that when my day to die came there was nothing I could do to stop it. That if I stayed home because I might get in a car accident then if it was my day to go an air plane would fall out of the sky and land on top of me. As a child I think those statements held part worry and part morbid fascination. What child truly believes they’re going to die? Certainly not me. Death was an abstract concept. People spoke of death but I, like most kids, didn’t grasp the full concept. And I certainly didn’t think about my own death.

As I grew older the idea of death became more real. I began to understand it a little better and eventually I began to fear it.

Somewhere along the line I lost that fear.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21

Now the only concern I have over death is the pain my loved ones would feel at my departure. I’ve made peace with the fact that my days are numbered. My Lord has my life in His hands and that includes my death.

But as a child the thought of avoiding a car accident only to be smashed by an airplane was a bit…worrisome. Car accidents bring pain. And I couldn’t fathom being crushed by an airplane falling out of the sky. Did airplanes fall out of the sky? I know they do now…but as a child…I’d never heard of such a thing happening until my grandmother said it.

So the seed for knowing my days were numbered were planted in me in childhood, long before I ever began to grasp the Truths of Scripture.

And then came the day that this person, who should have known our days were numbered better than I, stood before me all but ready to do battle over…unless.

Hard as I tried there was no getting past the unless with this person. I wanted to. I truly did. I wanted to help this person see this small Truth. It’s not big. It’s not hard to understand. Many people speak of ‘the days we’re given’, ‘the days of our life’ or other statements that mean the same thing. I thought for sure this person, who had heard my grandmother say those same things I had heard her say, would be able to understand.

But they couldn’t.

Finally in frustration and sadness I mentally threw my hands up and let it go. I left this person with their belief in unless. That day…for me…that was all I did. I let them go on believing in unless.

But looking back…knowing what I know now…there was more to it. There was an underlining issue that I couldn’t see at that time.

When I said our days are numbered, what I meant was the Lord has assigned me a certain number of days. He’s already decided my end. He made the decision for my life. He set the course. He wrote the plan. He is in control.

He is in control.

And there was the big difference. There lay the problem.

This person was saying…God gave us a certain number of days but if a bad person does something to cut those days short than we die before our time. They were saying…God gave us a certain number of days but if an accident happens and we die then our days were cut short. They were saying…God gave us so many days but if we’re careless and we fall down the stairs and break our neck than we loose out on some of those days He allotted for us.

What this person was saying was that God gave us so many days but that circumstances outside His control could cut those days short. In effect this person was saying that man had more power than God. They were basically saying that God might have a plan but man could override it. Man could change the plan. Man could make the choice to commit murder, drive a car into a ditch, or carelessly fall down the stairs and therefore cut their allotted days short despite what God had planned.

They were saying man’s choices could override the plan of God. Man could choose to do something that would change the plan God had planned.

So while I was standing there trying so hard to show this person that the Lord had planned our days and assigned the final moment we would draw breath this person was standing there believing that man can affect the plan of God.

This discussion happened years ago, back when I didn’t realize what I was seeing in Scripture. Back when I didn’t know that people see Scripture in either a man centered or God centered way.

What I didn’t know then was that the discussion I thought centered only around our days being numbered held a deeper difference than just how we saw that. And the sad thing is…I didn’t see that that difference all came down to God or man centered until I was writing this post.

That single discussion with this person has affected the last several years. Ever since that discussion I have tried very hard not to discuss anything Scriptural with this person. I avoid discussions like that if at all possible because that day…for me…I understood that I couldn’t see things the way this person did and that to try and show them how I saw it would create an argument. So I stopped discussing anything Scriptural with this person.

I could talk about the basics but only if I kept it very superficial because to go beyond that would create strife and differing opinions.

I understand why now…have for a while…but until today I didn’t fully understand what had happened during that conversation. It wasn’t about the topic…it was about God vs man.

Our days are numbered because Scripture tells us they are. Our days are numbered because the Lord planned our lives and our deaths. Our days are numbered because to say they’re changeable would be to take God’s sovereignty, His power, His divine nature away from Him.

 

Redefining Christianity

Imagine walking into a bookstore and browsing the shelves. Maybe you’re there to buy a certain book, maybe you just happen to be there and you’re walking the aisles looking at the books for no real reason. Whatever your purpose for being there you find a book you want, buy it, and take it home.

When you get home you sit in your favorite spot, examine the book a little better, and then you start to read.

If you aren’t a book reader then maybe you’re online, looking through your favorite websites and you come across an article that sounds interesting. Even though it’s long you settle into your chair and start to read.

There in front of you…in your book, or on your computer screen…is the story or article as the author wrote it. All laid out in black and white. You can clearly see from the very beginning that the writer had a purpose to the story or article. You can understand where they’re going with it. You might like exactly what they’re saying or maybe you think…if I had written this I would have written it this way. But there it is in undeniable script, plain for all to see, exactly as the writer wanted it to be.

If you call someone over and have them read it they will see it exactly the same way you do because you can’t misinterpret what is said. It’s plain for all to see. Scrolling down to the comment section, or looking up reviews online, will show you that all the other people that read it got the same thing from it. If it was a news article about tornadoes in Iowa there won’t be comments on a dog saving a toddler from choking. If it’s a book about the civil war the reviews on it won’t tell you that it’s a great instructional book on learning to play golf.

Those things just won’t be there because all of the readers got the same information from what they read. Whether they liked it or not they will have understood what it was about and they won’t see something in it that wasn’t there.

But the Bible seems to do just that to people. In my home right now there are at least ten Bibles plus several New Testaments. If I went out to the vehicles I could come up with a couple more Bibles. There are a variety of versions to choose from…King James, New International, New King James, English Standard, and probably one or two more. It doesn’t matter which Bible I pick up, which version it is, when I read it…it always says the same thing.

It doesn’t change.

Last night I spent a couple of hours with two different Bibles in my hands. What I read last night will be the same when I pick those Bibles today. The words won’t have changed, the message won’t have been altered. The letters on the page will all be in the same order, they won’t be all mixed up and turned around to say something different or nothing at all.

Where it said…Enter by the narrow gate…it will still say enter by the narrow gate. It won’t have changed to 'come through the wooden door' or 'walk over the downed fence'. Nor will it have turned into…

Gate narrow the by enter.

Retne yb eht worran etag.

Both of the sentences above say exactly what the original did…enter by the narrow gate…but I wrote the first one in reverse and spelled all the words backward in the second. Something so small makes big changes. It confuses things. It mixes them up. It takes something that was easy to read and makes it hard or impossible to read.

And it confuses the message being delivered.

If every time I set my Bible down the words I was reading changed and mixed up I would be a lot less inclined to read it again tomorrow or next week. If I was reading about Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus and laid the Bible down just when Paul hears Jesus if when I pick my Bible up next time to take up where I left off if I start reading and I find myself in the middle of Abrahams life I may not be real inclined to read my Bible.

Or maybe I was reading about Moses and the Israelites fleeing Egypt and I got to the parting of the Red Sea and had to put it down. When I go back expecting to pick up where I left off instead of Mosses I find an article on how to grow poison ivy I’m not real likely to keep reading. But worse than my disinterest would be my shock and confusion. What happened to the Scripture that was supposed to be in my Bible? Where did it go? And more importantly...what’s wrong with my Bible?

I think I’d be less surprised if I opened the Bible and saw…

Sldfln weourelnr jwoeitufsldhf  woutflskdn sdlkguorftgn  ejrtoir tgheort tyhre   threos th  th I ther theoi theiowa hjtoaiujn. Wortu, woetur, thweoinl, wsleirunseyr sheroein driue, sehrtoeindf ,trbn ahfeirn siernhlo.

At least if I saw nothing but a jumble of words I would assume the problem was with my eyesight or brain but if the Scripture was all mixed up or if it changed from Scripture to gardening articles I would be left in complete confusion.

Here I am holding the Word of God in my hands, expecting to read the history of God’s people or instructions for how I’m supposed to live my life and instead I read about growing poison ivy then something is seriously wrong.

The Bible never changes. It’s always the same. The words on the page don’t get mixed up or say something one day then say something else the next day. And yet…that’s exactly what some say it does.

I grew up in and out of Baptist ‘Church’ buildings. I learned about God at my mother and grandmother’s knees. The Bible was something I’ve been exposed to all my life. Unfortunately I’ve also been exposed to the belief that everyone that reads the Bible gets something different from it. Not only that but I was taught that if you read the same verse 100 times you can get 100 different things from it. What you see in it this time you may never see again.

I now know that this is only slightly true. It is true that there are some things that may seem more relevant today than tomorrow. I may get more meaning out of one thing than another today.

But…Scripture isn’t changing. What’s being said isn’t changing. What’s written on the pages of my Bible isn’t changing.

God isn’t changing.

My mind is simply applying more significance to one thing than to another. Even when I do that though I still see the same thing in Scripture every single time I read the verse. It’s there, written in black and white, the same way every time I open the Bible to that particular verse. It doesn’t change.

Yet there are many that are doing just that. They are changing what the Bible says. Whether they know they’re doing it or not they are changing it, changing what the Lord has written down for us, to suit themselves. Someone I know says that God is love. That’s it. That’s His sole description. This person sums up all of what God…what Christ…is in those three words ‘God is love.’

To come to that conclusion they had to completely change or ignore the many verses on God’s wrath and vengeance that are in Scripture.

I once heard about a man on an airplane that was talking to the person next to him. When the plane landed as they were finishing their conversation this person told the man that they believed God is whatever each person wants…’and I believe God’s a very nice woman.’

 I don’t remember where I heard that its possible it may have been in a story or a joke. I can’t say for sure if this was a real encounter between real people or not but it has stuck with me all these years. And honestly it doesn’t make any difference if it was a joke or real because it’s truth either way. It’s truth in the simple fact that so many people do see God that way. Whether they come right out and say it or not. Whether they think God is a man or a woman, Spirit or human, they have in their heads an idea of what God is and most of the time it isn’t the God of the Bible.

In the same way when…if…they read the Bible they take from it the things that support the idea of who and what God is to them. They have an image in their minds of what God is like and therefore they see only what they want to see.

If God is love then He can’t be angry, vengeful, or full of wrath so what happens to the verses that says He is? They ignore them, skim over them, or just plain can’t see them. They can’t handle the thought of God being wrathful so they attribute the Old Testament to being irrelevant to today. It doesn’t matter. It’s just stories, just history. It shows what life was like before Jesus but God isn’t that way anymore. Jesus changed everything. God is no longer like that toward people.

Those are real statements…real beliefs that I was taught while growing up. Most likely my grandmother, who was a preacher’s daughter, was the one that said them. I grew up with the idea that the Old Testament was there for our entertainment and to show us what God used to be like. Wrath included. It’s past tense. It doesn’t matter.

God as love is only one example of what people do to support the image of God they have in their minds. The idea that God is love and only love seems to be a big part of the belief that most if not all professing ‘Christians’ have today. And most preachers support that belief. Fire and brimstone sermons have become a thing of the past. Sermons that make people squirm in their seats because of the truth’s they deliver are rare.

Just as rare as the Christians that want to hear those hard Truths.

If a person doesn't like the idea of hell being real...it isn't. It's only symbolic. They remove hell from the life of a 'Christian' because they don't want it to be a real place. They change or twist Scripture to get it to say what they want it to say. They explain away the verses that say hell is real.

But those aren't the only false beliefs held today. They aren’t the only lies that are masquerading as Christianity today. There are so many different beliefs. Whatever a person believes, whatever they want God to be, that is what He is for them. And for some…God is a woman despite the fact that Scripture clearly states otherwise. For others they don’t believe in creation. They disregard the book of Genesis.

To disregard Genesis is to remove the beginning of all things. It takes away God as the creator. And when you do that you take away the entire basis of Christianity. If God didn't create the world, if He didn't create man then you remove from Christianity the power of God, the right of God to do with His creation what He sees fit.

In today’s society of anything goes those beliefs have carried over onto God and Christ. When man is who and what defines what is right then man changes God to be the way he wants Him to be.

I remember as a child my mother and grandmother wouldn’t go to a ‘church’ building if they didn’t have a dress…something they rarely owned…because women were to wear dresses in ‘church.’ That was a belief held at that time, where we lived, in the ‘church’ buildings my mother and grandmother attended. Women wore dresses. It was that simple. It was expected. At best they were looked down on if they didn’t, at worst they weren’t welcome in the building. Somewhere along the way that changed in most ‘church’ buildings. Most likely because the leaders discovered that expecting women to be in dresses during services was keeping people out of those services so they relaxed their standards. Now we have come as you are services where any form of dress is okay. That includes immodest clothes that shouldn’t be allowed.

But anything goes…in beliefs…in services…in dress. And no one will say different because  to do so would be to risk losing someone from the congregation or it may 'turn them away from God'. And so…the standards are relaxed. They are no longer defined by God, no longer defined by what the Bible says, now standards are defined by what man wants and what man says.

And man gets what man wants because he has so changed what the Bible says that the disciples would not recognize ‘Christianity’ today. That is because today anything that includes God or Jesus in the belief is labeled as Christian. Men that gave their very lives for Christ would not recognize most of ‘Christianity’ today because there are so many definitions of what Christianity is.

When in fact, there isn’t. Most of the beliefs masquerading as Christianity are misunderstandings at best and outright lies at worst. And yet they are labeled as ‘Christian’ because it’s what the people want. To call them lies, false teachings or anything else would be to make the people that hold to that particular belief unhappy.

I know someone that says they are pagan. This person has told me that their belief allows them to believe in anything they want. They can, and do, essentially write their own belief system. They make it up. They choose what they want to believe in and what they don't want to believe in. There are no standards, no absolutes, no this is the way pagans believe. It's up to them. It's anything goes.

So much of Christianity today is that very same way. Christianity should be defined by the standards set forth in Scripture, the real standards, as they are in black and white. Here it is. This is what we believe. This is what the Bible teaches. You either believe this way or you aren't a Christian. That's how it should be...but that isn't how it is. Instead Christianity is a broad term that covers so many different beliefs and a 'Christian' may choose what they believe. They may have to switch 'church' buildings if they change the way they believe. But somewhere out there is a 'church' that shares, or will accept, whatever they believe. And that church will label them as 'Christian.' That 'church' will assure them that they are still going to heaven. That 'church' will support them in their belief and will tell them that what they believe is okay in God's eyes.

And they'll change what the Bible says to reflect those beliefs.

Some of those changes will come only in the things said and taught. But others go to the extreme of actually changing the Bible to suit their beliefs. I understand now that you can get a 'Bible' that is gender neutral. Because people don't like the distinctions the Lord placed on men and women they have actually changed the Bible so that it reads in a way that takes those distinctions away.

To me it sounds a whole lot like 'Christianity' is following in the same beliefs as the pagan belief. To be a pagan...at least the way the type that the person I know is...means believing in anything you want, setting your own beliefs, making your own standards. This person has told me numerous times that they should write up a book with what they believe in it so if they ever needed it  to gain religious exemptions they would have it.

Modern 'Christianity' has done the same thing. Right down to rewriting the Bible to be what they want it to be.

It would be the equivalent of buying a book at the bookstore, not liking the way it reads, and rewriting it so it becomes the story you want it to be.

Do you see anything wrong with that?

It's exactly the same kind of wrong that happens in 'Christianity' today. Whether a person truly rewrites the Bible or simply changes the verses in their minds to fit what they believe, they are making a new 'Christianity.' One that suits the beliefs, desires, and ideas of the person. It is not Christianity. It is not about Christ. It is about man. 

And they keep doing it. Keep getting away with it because anything goes. Even when true Christians speak out against what they're doing it isn't enough to stop them...and it never will be because Scripture warns us that it will happen. We can't stop it even if we tried. 

And so it keeps happening, 'Christianity' keeps getting changed and redefined. Scripture keeps getting changed and mixed up to suit the ideas of men that do not, or can not, believe the Truth. 

 

Hell is real

Hell.

Most people don’t give it much thought…if they believe in it at all…and when they do it’s little more than a passing thought. Scripture teaches us that hell is not only a real place but it is a place of torment.

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”  Matthew 25:46

And throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Matthew 13:50

 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  Matthew 25:41

The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Matthew 13:41-42

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Matthew 10:28

And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ Mark 9: 43-48

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 2 Peter 2:4

So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Matthew 13:49-50

Those are only a handful of verses that speak of hell. Time and time again Scripture warns us that the wicked, the sinners, the idolaters, murderers, liars, sexually immoral will all be punished in hell. It tells us that hell is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, that it is better to cut off your hand and pluck out your eye than to be thrown into hell.

There must be horrible agony in dismembering your body in such a way and yet we are told it is better to dismember ourselves than it is to be thrown into hell. My mind shies away from even the thought of doing that kind of harm to myself. And yet the pain of it would be nothing compared to what those in hell face.

Hell is such a horrible place that our minds can’t comprehend the horror of it. Nothing on earth comes close to what hell will be like. Try as we might our human minds simply can’t fully grasp how utterly awful hell will be.

Johnathon Edwards gives a chilling and sobering image of what hell is like in his sermon Sinners in the hands of an angry God. Here’s a small sampling of what he had to say about hell.

And the reason why they don't go down to hell at each moment is not because God, in whose power they are under, is not exceedingly angry with them, as He is with the many miserable human beings now tormented in hell, and who there feel and bear the fierceness of His wrath. Yes, God is a great deal more angry with the great numbers that are now on earth; yes, doubtless with the many that are now sitting in this congregation, who feel completely at ease, than He is with many of those who are now in the flames of hell. It is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that He does not let loose His hand and cut them off. God is not like them, though they imagine that He is. The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames now rage and glow. The glittering sword is sharpened and held over them, and the pit has opened its mouth under them.

He described it way better than I ever could. Hell is without a doubt a place of unrelenting torture and fury. It is the one place all people should be willing to do anything to avoid and instead most of them go about their way without giving it a thought.

But think about it they should. Everyone that has ever, or will ever, live will reside in one of two places for all eternity. Heaven or hell. Hell or heaven. There is no other eternal option. There’s no plan b. There’s no escape clause. You either go to one or the other.

Everyone believes that they will go to heaven. In that same sermon Johnathon Edwards said...

Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it.

They believe they will go to heaven…or whatever their version of heaven is. When was the last time you heard someone say ‘I’m going to hell when I die.’ I’ve never heard anyone say such a thing. I guess there could be some out there that do but they are few among the millions that believe they will one day reach heaven.

But Scripture tells us otherwise.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13-14

Wide is the gate and easy is the way that leads to destruction. Easy is the way that leads to hell. And the gate is wide open. But the gate that leads to life…eternal life…is narrow and few will find it.

Hell is a very real place. It is where the Lord will unleash all His wrath, all His anger, on those that did not make it through the narrow gate.

Does that scare you? It should. It should have you shaking where you sit. It should make your heart cry out in anguish. It should terrify your mind, grieve your heart, and pierce your soul. If your salvation rests in a prayer you said asking Jesus into your heart you should know it’s a false salvation. There’s more to it than that.

Hell awaits many a professing ‘Christian’ that believes their salvation is secure. But even for the regenerate, for those that have repented and tested themselves, for those that have found themselves to truly be in the faith…we should all be terrified. We should be weeping and praying, begging the Lord on behalf of all those that are bound for hell. We should hurt for every person that will ever find themselves in hell.

Can you imagine the cries of anguish that must fill hell every second? Can you imagine even a tiny measure of the wrath the Lord must unleash on those in hell? God who out of his wrath destroyed everything on earth except eight people and the animals they put on the ark has more anger…more vengeance…to unleash than we could stand even for a moment. It would be too much for us to bear for even a single second. And those cast into the lake of fire will experience it for eternity.

We should cry out for those that are right now on a path of destruction. We should hurt and beg and intercede with all we have on their behalf. Because even if they don’t know what’s in store for them…we do. And we should try with all our might to intercede for them.

Abraham did that for Sodom. He asked God time and again not to destroy the righteous with the city.

Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. ²⁸ Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹ Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” ³⁰ Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” ³¹ He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” ³² Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” ³³ And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. Genesis 18:27-33

The Lord saved Lot because Abraham interceded. How many times might Abraham have felt like he was questioning God in vain? But he continued. Just think what Abraham’s perseverance meant for Lot.

Hell’s torture should hurt us so much that we are willing to intercede for those that are headed there.

Imagine you saw someone standing next to a cliff they couldn’t see. At the bottom of the cliff is a raging forest fire destroying all in its path and on the way down are all the wild creatures trying so hard to escape the fire. The animals are tearing at each other, fighting, attacking anything they can reach out of their desperation to escape.

And here…just above all that…is someone that has no idea of the danger they’re in. With one foot resting on solid ground they are unknowingly dangling the other over the side of the cliff. There they stand precariously balanced between safety and destruction. From where you stand there seems to be nothing keeping them from falling off the cliff. One more step, one wrong move…any movement at all…may send them toppling over the side.

What would you do? Would you call out to them? Would you warn them? Would you run to them and grab onto them, pull them away from the cliff?

Now imagine you did all of those things and they laugh at you. They tell you that they’re standing on sure ground. There’s no cliff, there’s no fire, no wild animals. They’re safe. They don’t need your help.

But you know they do. You can see the danger they’re unaware of. You try again, tell them that the danger is there, that it’s real.

And they laugh at you. They push you away and go walking along the edge of the cliff, that one foot coming down just on the edge of solid ground…but the ground is crumbling.

That is where so many people, many of them professing ‘Christians’, are walking. They won’t listen to warnings, they won’t hear a word about the solid ground they think they’re on, they just go on walking along the cliff only one misstep away from tumbling into the inferno below.

And those of us that can see the danger are left watching them literally play with fire and are unable to do anything.

These people…friends, family, strangers…unless they are regenerate are balanced on ground that is in danger of giving way. They may claim to know Jesus but their lives show that they love the world more than they do Christ. And when we try to warn them of the danger they’re in they brush us off, push us away, get angry and refuse to listen to what we have to say.

If we could really see the inferno with flames and angry arms outstretched…waiting…grabbing at those we know and those we don’t know…what would we do to warn them of the danger they were in?

We can’t save them. Nothing we do will pull them away from the danger. All we can do is warn them. And wait. Our prayers can intercede for them but only the Lord can save them from the danger. Only He can open their eyes. Only He can show them the danger waiting, so close, to grab them.

But…what would we do to warn them of the fire they were so carelessly playing with if this was the scene in front of us?

Because it is in front of us. Every day. People all around us are playing with just such a fire. They’re playing with the wrath of God. Carelessly, selfishly, and mostly unknowingly, dangling just above that inferno whose flames are licking the bottom of their foot.

Hell is real. It is the place where the Lord will unleash more anger than we could handle. There are people we love that will experience that very anger. They will suffer the wrath. We can’t save them from it; we can’t save them from the hardness of their hearts and their unbelief. Only the Lord can do that. But we can pray for them. We can intercede for them. We can beg the Lord to save them. Because even though they may not know the danger…we do. Hell. Is. Real.

It is there and it will be the eternal home of many, many people.