In the past year or so, I have heard and read comments from folks who openly mock God, the Bible and anything having even a remote connection to Christianity. At first my eyes would just widen with that universal look of unbelief...
Well... something like that anyway...
I've read articles where Christians question "scientific discoveries" and such. Responses would equate the Bible with "fairy tales" and God with a "genie in the sky". When I hear this kind of responses, I think back to how I was raised with a healthy "fear" of, or respect for God. I knew exactly what "reverence" looked like from a behavior aspect. I stop to think how much different the upbringing of these folks must have been, but continue to wonder why they hate God so. I recently heard a program on the radio that shed a little light on the subject.
Most of us would agree that the most "well-known" verse in the Bible would have to be John 3:16, right?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (King James Version)
In a world of "tweets" and bumper sticker theology, many seldom get beyond that verse. Some of us are familiar with the verse that follows it:
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. John 3:17 (KJV)
Memorizing that verse along with the preceding verse would ALMOST put a person in the realm of "saint-hood" by modern standards. Lets take it a bit further and switch gears to the New Living Translation:
"There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son. John 3:18 (NLT)
Here is where we get to the meaty part...
And the judgment is based on this fact: God's light came into the world,
but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. John 3:19 (NLT)
When I got to about here, it started to make sense. Let's add the next verse before we expound on what was being said.
All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. John 3:20 (NLT)
How many of us like to be called out for wrong-doing? Whether we like to admit it or not, none of us wake up in the morning hoping that our poor choices are going to be anounced over a loudspeaker or shown on a big screen at work or at church. Man's nature is to please himself and to try to present himself in a favorable way. This includes trying to "hide" those things about ourselves that others might not approve of. Also, when others try to limit what we find pleasurable, it is our nature to resist.
Why?
... people loved the darkness more than light... At the risk of over-simplifying, many people resist God because they fear their life choices will be limited. They don't want to be held accountable to moral absolutes of "right" and "wrong". Can you boil it down any further? Paul did for Timothy:
2 Timothy 3:1-4
New Living Translation (NLT)
The Dangers of the Last Days
3 You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.
We have to make sure that we don't develop an "us/them" kind of mindset, looking down our noses at those who choose to
"...hate the light and refuse to go near it...". We must remember, as Paul cautioned:
Colossians 1:21-23
New Living Translation (NLT)
21 This includes
you who were once far away from God.
You were his enemies, separated from him by
your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled
you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought
you into his own presence, and
you are holy and blameless as
you stand before him without a single fault.
23 But
you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don't drift away from the assurance
you received when
you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it.
Without God's grace-gift of Jesus, we would all be a hopeless, pitiful lot. To borrow a phrase from a wrestling personality...
Believe dat sucka!
