Recently, I watched a documentary called "The Gates of Hell" In this documentary the people went to the places that are said to be the entry places to the Underworld. One of the things they wrestle with in the film is the existence of Hell, the Devil, etc. They say if you believe in Heaven there must be a Hell. If you believe in angels there must be demons, and If you believe in God then Satan must exist as well. When the filmakers talked about Hell they went on and on about how it is the place to punish the wicked, a place to punish those that have sinned against God.
Now while I have no qualms agreeing with the existence of Heaven or Hell, I do take offense to the idea that if I am not good enough there resides a place for me in the Lake of Fire. First off let me state I am a sinner and everyday I myself fall short of God's glory. I fail, I am in no way deserving of the love that God freely bestows upon me. I really think about how I fall short, and I am amazed that God would take the time to love me as I am.
Hell does exist and so does Heaven, they are literal places that we will spend an eternity. The rule probably should be like this: Good people , nice, well meaning moral individuals of the world go to Heaven. Bad people, mean murderers, vile, disgusting dregs of society go to Hell. This idea seems simple enough but this type of thinking leaves out something. It says it is either black or its white. It would probably be true if we served a God that just choose who was good and who was bad. If God just choose to reward the good and punish evil.
In reality God did the exact opposite instead he rewarded the evil and punished the good. Why? Okay before you cry heresy hear me out. I stated in the begining that I fall short of God's glory daily as do you. We are indeed the evil in the equation while Jesus Christ is the good. We never suffered an agonizing death upon the cross for our sins, but Jesus who was good did. Why? Why did God want to restore us? What makes you or I of any worth to God?
God is love, He desires to have a loving relationship with us. The volcanoes may be making more room for the inhabitants of Hell but there is not enough oceans in the Sea to contain the grace that flows to us from Heaven above. Jesus bled and died on the cross of Calvary because God loved us soo much; He was willing to let his Son agonize for our sins. We do not deserve the love of God he pours out from Heaven but thank God He does. So instead of worrying about being good enough to get to Heaven we should instead be glad His grace flows down and willingly accept this grace.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Dinner for Schmucks
This mornings service really made me think today. We talked about how the Romans had different class system. Basically there were the well to do people, and then the poorer among them. The poor people were not invited to sit at the table with the aristocracy of the day.
When the apostle Paul heard that this practice was being done during the Lord's Supper It upset him. Paul wrote that He hears there are divisions among you, and even though it is hard to believe to be true, there it is. (1 Cor 11 The Msg) He was upset mostly because Christians were basically excluding those that were or a lower class. It is almost like the title of the new movie with Steve Carrell "Dinner for Schmucks" I mean basically the poor were invited to the Supper but really only to be looked down on. They had to come late while all of the good stuff was gone because the wealthy of that day came early and ate and drank it all.
This got me thinking about how we as Christians today tend to look down upon others. Maybe we invite them to church or give them a tract and say come but we never really invest our lives in thiers. We fulfill our "duty" but thats as far as we are willing to take it. Or we may look down upon the culture in which we live as if we are better because we are Christians. We think, we are above those that are downtrodden around us. Many times as Jesus said "We spend so much time looking at the speck in our brothers eye that we miss the plank jutting out of our own eye." We think by going certain places and avoiding others that we are holy and "set-apart". It seems when we look at Jesus example the places he frequented were places where those that needed him most would be. Maybe instead of judging those around us and looking down on them we should be offering a seat at the table next to us, because as Natalie Grant sings "There's No Such Thing as Perfect People"
When the apostle Paul heard that this practice was being done during the Lord's Supper It upset him. Paul wrote that He hears there are divisions among you, and even though it is hard to believe to be true, there it is. (1 Cor 11 The Msg) He was upset mostly because Christians were basically excluding those that were or a lower class. It is almost like the title of the new movie with Steve Carrell "Dinner for Schmucks" I mean basically the poor were invited to the Supper but really only to be looked down on. They had to come late while all of the good stuff was gone because the wealthy of that day came early and ate and drank it all.
This got me thinking about how we as Christians today tend to look down upon others. Maybe we invite them to church or give them a tract and say come but we never really invest our lives in thiers. We fulfill our "duty" but thats as far as we are willing to take it. Or we may look down upon the culture in which we live as if we are better because we are Christians. We think, we are above those that are downtrodden around us. Many times as Jesus said "We spend so much time looking at the speck in our brothers eye that we miss the plank jutting out of our own eye." We think by going certain places and avoiding others that we are holy and "set-apart". It seems when we look at Jesus example the places he frequented were places where those that needed him most would be. Maybe instead of judging those around us and looking down on them we should be offering a seat at the table next to us, because as Natalie Grant sings "There's No Such Thing as Perfect People"
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