Salvation is God's matter

454 salvation is god's businessTo all of us who have children, I have a few questions. "Has your child ever disobeyed you?" If you answered yes, like every other parent, we come to the second question: "Have you ever punished your child for disobedience?" How long was the punishment? To put it more bluntly, "Have you told your child the punishment will never end?" Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

We who are weak and imperfect parents forgive our children for disobedience. There are situations in which, if we deem it appropriate in a situation, we issue punishment for an offense. I wonder how many of us feel it is right to punish our own children for the rest of our lives?

Some Christians want us to believe that God, our Heavenly Father, who is neither weak nor imperfect, punishes people forever and ever, even those who have never heard of Jesus. They say, God, be full of grace and mercy.

Let's take a moment to ponder this, as there is a huge gap between what we learn from Jesus and what some Christians believe about eternal damnation. For example, Jesus commands us to love our enemies and even do good to those who hate and persecute us. Some Christians believe that God not only hates his enemies, but literally lets them burn in hell, mercilessly and relentlessly for all eternity.

On the other hand, Jesus prayed for the soldiers who crucified Him: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." Some Christians teach that God forgives only a few whom He predestined to give them before the world was created forgive. If that were true, then Jesus' prayer wouldn't have made such a big difference, would it?  

A heavy burden

A Christian youth leader told a group of teenagers a morbid story about an encounter with a man. He himself felt compelled to preach the gospel to this man, but refrained from doing so during their conversation. He later found out that the man had died in a traffic accident on the same day. "This man is now in Hell," he told the young, wide-eyed Christian teenagers, "where he is suffering indescribable torment." Then, after a dramaturgical break, he added: "and that's weighing on my shoulders now". He told them about his nightmares he has because of his omission. He lay in bed crying at the horrible thought that this poor man would suffer the ordeal of hellfire forever.

I wonder how some people manage to balance their faith so skillfully that, on the one hand, they believe that God loves the world so much that he sent Jesus to save it. On the other hand, they believe (with a stunted faith) that God is so frighteningly clumsy at saving people and must send them to Hell because of our incompetence. "One is saved by grace, not by works," they say, and rightly so. They have the idea, contrary to the gospel, that man's eternal destiny depends on the success or failure of our evangelism work.

Jesus is the Savior, Savior and Redeemer!

As much as we humans love our children, how much more are they loved by God? It's a rhetorical question - God loves you infinitely more than we can ever be.

Jesus said, "Where among you is a father who, if his son asks for a fish, will offer a snake for the fish? … If then you, who are evil, are able to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11,11 and 13).

The truth is just as John tells us: God really loves the world. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (John 3,16-17).

The salvation of this world - a world that God loves so much that He sent His Son to save it - depends on God and only on God alone. If salvation was dependent on us and our success in bringing the gospel to people, then there really would be a big problem. However, it doesn't depend on us, but only on God. God sent Jesus to do this job of saving us, and He did it.

Jesus said, “For this is the will of my Father, that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6,40).

Salvation is God's business, and the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost do it really well. It is a blessing to be part of the good work of evangelism. But we should also be aware that God often works despite our inability.

Did you feel guilty about your failure to preach the gospel to someone? Pass the burden on to Jesus! God is not clumsy. Nobody slips through his fingers and has to go to hell because of them. Our God is good and merciful and mighty. You can trust him to stand up for you and for all people in this way.

by Michael Feazell


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