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2020/12/09
John 14:6 [NIV]
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The world objects to being excluded from God. People who reserve the right to ignore or deny God can be furious at those who presume to deny them access to Him. This is the burden the disciples of Jesus face when they share the gospel – the Good News of redemption from sin and separation from God. It comes across the great divide as judgmental and exclusive: join us or go to hell.
The problem is, Jesus puts his disciples in this situation. ‘… for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved’. Some believers choose to run with it and build walls between them and those who disagree with them. They become blind to the barriers it puts in their way when they try to share the Good News. I have learned to count on this: whenever God seems to put a barrier in my way, he wants me to stop and listen.
Jesus also said to the crowds, ‘If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world’. Those who insist on building walls between themselves and others get heartburn over statements like this. ‘If they don’t listen to us, won’t they go to hell when they die?’ Not necessarily. Those who build wall and barriers will ultimately have to seek Jesus Himself on the other side of their walls. That is where he will be as he continues to reach out to those who will die in their sins without Him.
The solution to this conundrum is simple: Love. Period. The only one who could ever be responsible for my salvation is Jesus. That is the burden he took upon himself when he came into this world. If I truly love others as God loves me, God will empower me to speak about Jesus effectively when He prompts me to, because He will also be speaking to the listener. What happens next is beyond me. All I have to do is continue letting God’s love shine through me.
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