Sometimes I wonder why I bother to write these messages. Does anyone read them? I wonder and sometimes feel a little discouraged. I thought about that this morning. And then I thought about how Jesus left glorious heaven to come to earth, spent three years preaching, teaching, and performing miracles. He was constantly on the move, going from village to village. Israel is a tough geography, and all this travel was done on foot…who knows how many miles Jesus logged in His short life. Hundreds, probably thousands of miles. He never had a home of His own. He likely owned nothing more than the clothes He wore. Some of the people who followed Him gave up on Him—so He lost friends. His own family didn’t believe in Him. He had plenty to be discouraged about. But He never was.
From our human perspective, Jesus should have been super-discouraged. From our view, Jesus’s life could be considered a total failure. He had no possessions. No home. His own brothers and sisters rejected Him. The people in his hometown tried to kill Him. The leaders In Jerusalem were constantly plotting ways to destroy His credibility and reputation. When that didn’t work, the leaders simply decided to eliminate the Jesus problem: kill Him. Jesus was arrested. He was falsely accused. And, even though He was declared innocent of the crimes—publicly declared innocent—He was still killed. And His death was the most shameful and horrific death possible—hanging naked on a cross, with nails painfully driven through His hands and feet, stretched out for everyone to see and mock. There’s more…when He ascended into heaven and the church first started, there were only 120 believers. After all that, only 120 people stuck with Jesus. Sounds like a total failure, right?
NOT FOR A SECOND. Jesus didn’t come to earth to live a wonderful life, telling people about heaven, congratulating them on how good they were, and suggesting a few minor improvements. He came to earth to rescue people from going to hell. Most people don’t like to think they are on their way to hell. Most people think that since they are moral or kind or generous or whatever—that’s it, all is good. That wasn’t what Jesus taught because that’s not the Truth. The Truth is that God loves you and me a whole lot…more than either of us can comprehend. And yet, God is also holy. Sin stands in between holy God and sinful humanity. Jesus is the bridge between the holy and the sinful. He came to take care of our sin problem. And He did, on the cross. He took that death for all who will believe in Him. Don’t be deceived. 1) Hell is real. And 2) the cost of entry into heaven is not being good, being nice, or doing good things. The cost of entry into heaven is faith in Jesus Christ alone, the Son of God.
Truth is not determined by humans. God established truth. The Bible says the way to heaven is narrow, the way is hard, and not many find it (Matt 7:14). I find encouragement in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection – but more than that, I find hope. I pray you’ll find hope too, through that narrow way: Jesus. If you need a Bible or prayer, let me know.
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