Monday, March 6, 2017
538 - Hey, Wait a Minute ...
Spirituality
Column No. 538
March 7, 2017
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
March 7, 2017
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Hey, Wait a Minute …
By
Bob Walters
The
Ten Commandments, Old Testament precepts, obedience, mankind’s sin nature and wondering
about heaven are all great grist for any Christian’s mental mill.
But not one of them can save us; only
Jesus can do that.
Christians study, pray, listen,
read, watch, act, serve, praise, worship and love … and then argue about
whether this or that biblical concept, doctrinal theory or religious practice
opens the true and unique and unshakeable door to understanding life’s biggest
question: “What am I supposed to do right now?”
And life’s second biggest question,
“What happens next?” (after we die).
Just recently I’ve witnessed each of
the above mentioned Christian mental bits generate quarrelsome heat between
believers, and I mean real sincere believers whose lives are devoutly ordered
by their trust in Jesus, love of God and love of others.
Each time, I’ve thought just afterward,
“Hey, wait a minute. The point is never
‘What I think’; the point is always, ‘Jesus Christ is Truth.’” And I put that capital “T” there on
purpose. Jesus is Truth. Jesus is my savior. Jesus is Lord. Love God and love others. Worry about that and it’s amazing how quickly we enter the realm of the “peace that passes all understanding” (Philippians
4:7) rather than the arena of perpetual dissension over things that don’t truly
matter.
OK, maybe they matter some; but they
aren’t Jesus. Focus on Him.
In this age of global networked mass
communication it is easier than ever to grab a rhetorical club and beat one’s opinionated
way into conflict over politics, social priorities, academics, entertainment,
sports, science or of course, religion. Mankind
has become expert on many useless things, and forgotten critical things … like
God.
The culture-wide mistake is plugging
religion into the realm of personal opinion rather than accepting Jesus Christ
as the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth for He is God. Christians make the same divisive mistake in
church, finding opinions to fight about that contradict the inspired biblical
direction of Jesus.
Obey the Ten Commandments? Sure, it’s
a start. But Jesus said love God, love others and follow me, not “Make a
list.” Old Testament precepts tell us
who God is and what He does, and who we are and what we do. But the New Covenant in Christ tells us,
definitively, in grace, where we are going and how to get there: by Jesus, not
works.
Sin nature? It is all around us and in us, but frankly I
care less about whether we are born with it or grow into it than that Jesus,
for sure, is my only shelter through it.
‘Gotta go see The Shack movie to learn “the real story” of God and heaven? No, see it as a sweet but theologically lopsided
springboard into productive discussion of biblical realities of a fallen world,
a loving and righteous God and the
Holy Trinity.
And remember, in a world of confusion,
Jesus is sufficient as Lord and Savior.
Don’t fight about that.
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