Good Monday morning! It's once again Garfield's favorite day, Monday the 13th. If you have a problem with superstition, specifically the number 13, and you have a problem with your job or workplace, Monday the 13th is certainly a day to dread. However, we are not worried about those things here. Monday is a day of new opportunity and possibility. The mail comes again after a day off, businesses open up once more after the weekend, and the kids get to go back to school! Glad I don't have to do that last one there...
Today, more from that great 3rd chapter of John. This verse has that age old criticism on the Christian faith - it's too exclusive!
"There is no judgment against anyone who believes in [the Son]. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son." John 3:18
This verse is seen as not nice for those who do not believe in Jesus. However, this verse should be just as famous as what Jesus said in John 3:16! Not only do we have eternal life for believing in Jesus, but we also face no judgment! The other part of the verse is what bothers the unbelievers - if you don't believe then you are already condemned. Okay, let's make an analogy here. If a person has an incurable condition that has been known to be 100% fatal within the next few years, then that person is considered terminally ill. If that person decides not believe the doctors the condition has not changed, only the person's belief is affected. When the terminally ill person uh, forgive the pun, terminates, then we see that the person had already been judged, no matter what he decided to believe. Jesus came to earth and told us that the Law has already condemned us for being born of Adam's line. We can choose to believe his diagnosis and accept his cure - which is believing in Him - or we can choose to ignore the condition and die eternally.
Of course, there will be those who call that unfair. They think that we should be able to ignore the condition and still have eternal life in Heaven. Ain't gonna happen! We have the terminal illness, original sin, from Adam's rebellion against God. If God's standard is perfect, then none of Adam's children can be saved by keeping the Law for we are all born in violation of that law. This is not an exclusion, it's simply a fact that we have this terminal condition. What is the cure? Believe in Jesus. How unfair is that? Jesus paid the price for our sin, and all we have to do is believe that he paid our tab. We should have to climb 6 fourteen-ers (mountains taller than 14,000ft), tunnel under an ocean, do a tap dance in an active volcano, and get the secret of quiet contemplation from an old squid under the polar ice cap to be saved (How's that for exclusiveness!). Instead, we believe in Jesus, and no one is excluded from doing this, and we gain the grace that comes from Christ alone. Yup, sounds pretty unfair to me! I accept grace and I urge all those who still do not believe in Jesus to do the same. Repent of your sin, trust in Jesus to forgive you, and accept the grace that is available to all of us whosoevers. We know eternal life is available from John 3:16; now we know that the price has been paid from John 3:18, no judgment! Accept that grace today.
Bucky
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