Monday, February 27, 2017
537 - The Last Thing I Do
Spirituality
Column No. 537
February 28, 2017
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
February 28, 2017
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
The Last Thing I Do
By
Bob Walters
“Can’t I just tell Jesus I believe in
Him when I’m about to die?” – Common sentiment I re-heard recently, spoken by
someone close to me.
There is good news and bad news in
this all-too-familiar position on what so many people philosophically,
intellectually, socially and practically do with God, Jesus, faith, religion,
Christianity, etc. on their walk through life: Put Him off.
The good news is fairly small and
amounts to this: the hopeful allowance that Jesus, someday, might be real after
all. That is certainly an ember to work
with.
The bad news is far broader, starting
with everything one misses in this life by isolating Christ away for the
next. Aside from fueling a bonfire of
this life’s vanities and facilitating a self-centered, faith-bereft shallowness
of human purpose, it is tantamount to looking at, say, marriage as the last
possible option to maintain a convenient relationship rather than seeing it as
the first-rank commitment of self-sacrificing, life-enhancing,
partnership-building love.
Saving Jesus for the end of life is
like running a car with the fuel tank perpetually approaching empty. As long as the car is still running, why fill
up the tank now?
I can’t think of a single Christian I
know well who doesn’t have these “end of the line” folks in their life. They are our kids, siblings, parents,
neighbors, workmates and acquaintances.
They might be an effective leader or the person cutting our hair. We know them well enough to discuss
soul-level issues, and love them enough to want to cry out to them – Today! – on behalf of the glory of God
and the love of Jesus.
“Don’t miss this!” we think, say or
plead. “Why should I worry now?” they
shrug.
This is different from dealing with
vocal atheists and anti-Christians, though we most likely encounter them daily,
too. “Jesus at the end” isn’t
specifically denying or debating the existence of God or the fact of Jesus, but
it certainly amounts to a vacuous referendum on the daily utility and joy of
God’s love and our salvation in Christ.
These folks wonder, “Why change when today’s ‘life’ is just fine?” The car
is still running.
As we discussed here last week, anyone
can experience beauty, love and hope; the car continuing to run is a beautiful
thing. But its scope is so very limited
compared to the full-tank performance of the beauty, love and hope of God in
Christ through the Holy Spirit speaking into our daily lives. When life today gets ugly – and invariably it
will – God’s beauty, love and hope are still here; they grow stronger and save
us today.
Another obstacle, of course, is
reluctance to identify as “one of them,” or rather, “one of us,” as a believer
whom outside-the-faith folks think are a tad weird. After all, we believers see things we can’t
prove except by sighted, experienced faith.
And it is very possible to hear the Jesus story without seeing the
light: think of the Pharisees with all that their Jewish scripture told them
about God and Christ, refusing to accept Jesus.
Jesus today is worth as much as Jesus
eternally. Wisdom asks, “Why wait?”
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