First was, “I Love Complicated”, what a crazy thing to say
about wanting to know how to find God…
Next, I wanted you to see that inside of you is a compass
that points to things we all, in spite of our background, says that we know what is right, even if it is
skewed…. A Good Hard Kick In The Shin...Then we visited the front page of the newspaper Dating Jesus?...
Now, let’s stagger into another thought along this path of fuzzy ramblings…
Let me say this before I ramble on… I am sorry for the times I’ve personally complicated life for those within as well as those without the faith. I can only say that I was sincere and believed that I WAS leading others in the right way. And despite my failings, God has been faithful, I am so thankful and blessed by this fact.
Now, onto deeper waters (well as deep as a short man can
go).
What would you say if I told you that if you want to go to
heaven you must learn to juggle to go to heaven? If you can’t learn to juggle or are without
the means physically, then you will just have to find some way to enjoy
hell. Did I really say that, enjoy hell?
Let me use these two thoughts as a spring board to begin our
quest for deeper water.
First, no one, and I mean no one, will, if they make hell,
enjoy themselves. The other simple
thought is that those who talk of such things like having parties in hell, have
no concept of what total chaos, pain and confusion are. Add these and other things I have no idea how
to describe and put them in a glass and no one would even take a sip, let alone
guzzle it. One touch of a hot piece of
metal against your flesh and you would be crying out to momma. Hell, even if I am wrong about the fire, is a
place described as torment. I’ve gotten
a glimpse of torment as I watched a cancer patients struggle so hard to breath
that their facial expression was crushed by their all out effort to gain one
more sip of air for their fluid filled collapsing lungs. The face was gruesome but it does not hold a
lamp to the things hinted at in hell by writers much more skilled than I.
You may think me archaic to talk of hell, but despite the
fact that I don’t like the topic doesn’t make it any less a reality. As a matter of fact, I don’t like roller
coasters, I have an aversion to them even though my younger days were filled
with rides, smiles and screams of joy.
Today I only shutter and nearly fall over dizzy when watching one at an
IMAX theatre. I just don’t want to pass
along false information. To borrow one
of my favorite writers’ book titles, “Hell is Real: But I Hate to Admit It.”
Moving on, let’s get back to juggling…
Can you juggle? Well,
imagine as I said earlier, what if God required you to in order to enter heaven and you
couldn’t juggle. No matter how much you
tried you didn’t have a chance. What would you say to that requirement? Then, just for laughs sake there came along
a messenger, he/she told you that you could choose any professional juggler to
do your juggling for you and you would be admitted into heaven based on that
juggler’s ability. To the first you may say
“foul”, but the second you might breathe a sigh of relief. I was sitting here realizing it has been
nearly 20 years since I juggled, I was never great and would not have had a
career doing it, but it was amusing to the attendees at the local ball parks
where I was an umpire. It occurred to me
when I started typing this juggling illustration I have used many times that if
I was to face God, I now would be disqualified because I am “out of practice”.
Hmmmm… that bothers me.
Does that bother you?
Let’s do a little thinking, just for the sake of my comfort
if not yours. I think down deep inside, all
of us want to go to a “better place”, we want our loved ones to go to a “better
place”, but what does it take to go to a
better place? In other words, what
do you think God requires for you and I to be admitted into heaven? God says about himself “I am holy” (recorded
by Peter, the one called St. Peter, but I am not sure he’s at the gate though). Peter proceeded this phrase by one of comparison,
“be holy…” then “for I am holy.” Wow,
holy. Websters defines “holy” as “religious
and morally good”.
Again, I say… hmmmm…
that bothers me. I wonder again, does
that bother you?
Morally good, that is something that you and I can identify
with and most of us have done a good job, we’ve probably kept most of the
rules. But have we kept them all? Did we always do what mom and dad
wanted? Did we ever stretch the truth
(lie) before? Not a blatant everyone
gets hurt lie, but you know, just one to keep things calm in a tense
situation. I could go down the list of possibilities,
but it’s futile if you think about it, we know we’re not perfect morally. Maybe good, really good, but not perfect, you
see all of us have an idea of morally good, but compared to God, who is
perfect, we fall short of his “holiness”.
Now, you may already see my line of reasoning and are all
set to counter it with “you’re just trying to trick me/us.” But what if I’m not trying to trick you? Truly what good would it do me to guilt you
or shame you into following something or someone. You’ve been down that road, maybe it was a
preacher or some TV evangelist or maybe your goody-two-shoes neighbor. It may have been a date, a
girlfriend/boyfriend, salesman or multilevel marketing program. Regardless, if it feels like you’ve been taken
down the road it doesn’t feel good. I’ve
been taken, and I don’t like it any more than you.
Do what you wish with what I am about to write, i really
care about you and I don’t need any more enemies than I already have. So don’t take my word for what I am about to
share and for certain don’t shoot the messenger.
Holiness = juggling. Professional
juggler = Jesus. Not being perfect = sin
(that is God’s term, not mine).
And the answer to the dilemma? Be willing to admit you’re not perfect, Jesus
was, his death on the cross was the ultimate payment for your sin and ask him
to forgive you and give you heaven in exchange for your limited life here on
earth. One second after you leave here
(die) you will be glad you did, even eternally grateful.
Don’t complicate things any more than you have to, it’s
relatively simple (or at least I think it is), this way of getting to heaven is
the most fair, most complete and the most reliable. Jesus said it himself, “I am the way, the
truth and the life, no man comes to the Father (God) except by me”
You see…
Christianity, Jesus is truly the fairest option…
...Everybody is welcome (no matter who you are, what you
believed, where you were born or what you’ve done)
...Everybody gets in the same way (there are no “elitists” or “more
spiritual” way with secret doors chants or rituals)
...Everybody can meet the requirement (Jesus makes you
righteous when you simply ask him to forgive you)
One last thought, this one if from a murderer who met Jesus
on a trip, it was his own transformation that he was explaining and inviting
others to share, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is by believing
in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring
your faith that you are saved. As
the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew
and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives
generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
His name was Paul, you may know him by his
religious name of St. Paul. By the way,
he hung with that other “saint” guy, Peter, as a matter of fact, they both
believed the same thing….
Till next time….
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