Its a Dangerous Life
How dangerous it would be if Jesus, though He is the only Way to the Father, chose to draw one to Himself through a child offering a child-filtered version of what it takes to be saved, and to draw another by learning that there are “Four Spiritual Laws,” as Campus Crusade would say, and another by a dream of a man dressed in white inviting them to follow, and another by having a demon cast out, and another by finding, after many years of “taking communion” with no real sense of the reality of Jesus or any of His claims, Jesus encountering them during the meal in a way that cannot be denied as real, and another by an untraceable set of convictions and loving responses that have no date attached to the “decision”.
How dangerous would it be if Jesus, desiring that His people meet with each other and with Him, invited some to fellowship through the myriad of human inventions we currently call “denominations” of the “church,” even though some of those churches, and some of those denominations, and some congregations, are filled with error and abuse and religious spirits that are worse than those He confronted in His days of earthly ministry?
How dangerous would it be if Jesus, with the intent that His people would preach the truths of His Kingdom to the ends of the earth, chose people to begin that process who had not been to seminaries, some couldn’t even read or write, and who were still doubting Him, denying Him, and confused about much of what He had said to them about His Kingdom?
How dangerous would it be if Jesus, with the continued intent that His people would preach the truths of His Kingdom to the ends of the earth, chose people who were confused about the difference between the human invention we call “church” and the eternal order He called His Kingdom, who, for 20 centuries have been preaching salvation from hell instead of submission of lives to a King Who is a Savior, and not realizing the change of targets that had occurred, which people include you and me and people we don’t like or trust.
Well, that’s how dangerous it really is. Brace up. Be awesome. Reformed theologians comfort each other that they won’t get everybody saved because Jesus only came to save a few. The gate is narrow, they say, quoting Jesus from what Luke wrote in 13:22-30. Jesus was not talking about being born again, there, though, or He would not have talked about “striving” or “struggling” or “making every effort” to enter the gate. No one can come to the Father for new birth by striving or struggling or making every effort – only by accepting the invitation of the Son.
The striving is the work of entering the Kingdom – the place where Jesus is obeyed. Brace up. Strive, by the power of the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, to be obedient and to be successful at the projects He gives you the privilege of joining Him in. Enter now, inherit later. Be awesome!