Too far gone

It was my selfishness, arrogance and rebellious heart that nailed my Jesus to the cross. I was born this way but that's no excuse. I also chose this way.  Because I cared more about my own feelings and status in life, God was an afterthought or an inconvenient truth I tried to ignore. 

When Jesus set His eyes on the cross, He was motivated by love:  His love for the Father; His love for me; His love for you.  He didn't have to do it but He chose to die the most horrific death so that I could be restored in my relationship to God the Father through Him.

In the last hours before Jesus died on the cross, one of the men crucified next to Him said two things. Firstly he said to another criminal being crucified with them "We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong" and then turning to Jesus he says "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."  This man who knew he'd done wrong and was being justly punished, turned to Jesus.  And Jesus response? "Jesus answered him, 'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.'"

In this, my last blog where I discuss reasons to not believe, I address the question of someone feeling they're not good enough to become a Christian, or that they've done too much bad stuff, or maybe just one really bad thing for which they feel like God hates them and would never forgive.  The awesome news from the Bible is that no matter what you've done, no matter how low you've stooped or how far you feel you've fallen, in Jesus it's not about your performance, it's about Him.  When he went to the cross and died for your sins and mine, that included anything and everything.  The Bible puts it this way:

For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate his love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves.
Now, who of us would dare to die for the sake of a wicked person? We can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person. But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!
And there is still much more to say of his unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in my sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God. So if while we were still enemies, God fully reconciled us to himself through the death of his Son, then something greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, and because we share in his resurrection life, how much more we will be rescued from sin’s dominion!
And even more than that, we overflow with triumphant joy in our new relationship of living in harmony with God—all because of Jesus Christ!

Jesus' interaction with the criminal on the cross next to Him shows that even someone who considers themselves the worst in the world, are just one step away from forgiveness and a new life if they will just reach out to Him.  I've heard it preached a few times that no matter how far you feel you are from God, He's right there with you and all you need to do to get to Him is to turn around.  That's not "turn your life around," that's simply turn around to face Him.  Look to Jesus and He will give you full forgiveness and restoration. No-one is ever too far gone.

Different Paths to God

So, when I posted my list of 10 Reasons Not to Believe, I called this one "All Paths Lead to God."  I've changed the title a little to say there are "Different Paths to God." I think this conveys the idea better; that we don't all find God the same way but have different pathways that get us there. Now I'm going to say something controversial for an orthodox Christian, which is that I think individuals do follow different paths to find God.  But before I get burned at the stake for being a heretic, please let me explain...

I have a good friend who is an atheist. She's a good, kind person and just happens to be an atheist. Now in the past couple of years she's started to open her mind a little that there's more to life than just the physical things we see.  She's starting to grasp that just maybe there's a spiritual element to life too.  I have another friend who didn't see the need for God, that religion was the opiate of the people, and who was a humanist atheist. But then he was struck by tragedy in his life in a big way.  He now has a softer stance on God. He's by no means a church-going Christian, but would probably describe himself as agnostic now.  These are two real-life examples of people I'd say are on the start of their journey to find God.

Now I could give my example of how I came to be a follower of Christ, or I could point you toward other "testimonies" of people seeking and finding God. The story of Nabeel Qureshi is particularly cool (check out the link). There are many, many stories of how people have sought after God, been pursued by God or plain just surrendered to God. All were very different paths.

So it's obvious to me that God uses different means and methods - different pathways, if you like - to get us to Him. But in the midst of these observations, Jesus says two very controversial and troubling things: (1) "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." and (2) "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Now, I need to be clear that these things were said by Jesus. They're not claims made by a religious order after some church meetings, they're not revelations from hours of meditation and self-contemplation, and they're not even the words of a prophet.  These are the words of Jesus, the God-Man, who claimed to be God Himself and proved it by dying on a cross and then coming back to life. They're either true or they're not.

The ramifications of what Jesus said, then, are twofold:

1. The path to God is narrow and not a lot of people look for it and find it.
2. Jesus is the final gateway to God.

So, you may go through different pathways in your search for meaning and for God, but ultimately the only way to actually find Him is through Jesus. My prayer for You is that you do seek Him and that you find Him.

As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says,

“In the time of my favor I heard you,
    and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.