Monday, May 1, 2017
For you have been born again, but not to a life
that will quickly end. Your new life
will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say, “People are like
grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was
preached to you.
In 1897 America’s
premier folk-author, Mark Twain, published a statement to announce that he was
quite alive and well; this is what the ad said:
James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was
seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his
illness; the report of my death was an exaggeration.[ii]
It seems just
about everything Mark Twain ever wrote was with his tongue pressed firmly
against his cheek. Even reports that he
had died gave him great opportunity to bring a ragged barb of humor to his
readers.
Peter
brings this same edge to Scripture, comparing the life cycle of flowers and grass
to humans. The grass withering and the
flowers fading are pictures of old age on the precipice of eternity. But, standing in opposition to the grip of
death is the Word of God; Peter says it is Good News of eternal life which
stands firmly with God forever. And any
report of Scripture’s demise is more than an exaggeration; it is laughable!
And therein
blooms the choice of the ages: to accept
the truth that it is Good News,
or reject the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus as an exaggeration of deluded
people. In reality, this is the choice
facing anyone who has ever heard the Gospel of Good News, to take a leap of faith and entrust
these few short years of flowered existence on planet Earth, AND the
possibility of life beyond the fading, to a God they’ve never seen. That’s more than a big question; it is the
question to end all questions.
Ultimately
everyone makes a choice. The challenge
of the Gospel is that, nobody gets to remain neutral when it comes to Jesus Christ. Here’s the way Jesus put it:
Anyone who
isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually
working against me. Matthew 12:30(NLT)
So the
choice to not choose is
a choice nonetheless; if you ignore Christ you have chosen against Him. And, according to the Gospel, to choose
against Christ is to choose the withering and fading of all hope of eternal
life in favor of a living death, separated from the Creator eternally.
But the
choice for Christ, to acknowledge his grace in dying on the cross for our sins,
is a choice for resurrection and life eternal.
For You Today
If
you have never accepted that grace of Jesus Christ, you can do that with a
simple prayer from your heart. Confess
your sins to God and receive in exchange for your sins Jesus’ life. That’s quite a deal; you have the opportunity
to trade your sentence of eternal death for his gift of new birth and eternal
life.
And it really
is Good News! And THAT
is not an exaggeration at all!
NOTES
No comments:
Post a Comment