- Mon, Jun 17, 2013
- Doctrine and Theology
Does being like Jesus mean not talking about Hell?
These days you’ll often hear people say something like, “Instead of condemning people and threatening them with Hell, we should be like Jesus and love them.”
These days you’ll often hear people say something like, “Instead of condemning people and threatening them with Hell, we should be like Jesus and love them.”
1 Corinthians 10:31 tells us, “When you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” If you watch or participate in sports, do it for the glory of God.
I think sincerity certainly does count for something. But I also believe it counts for less than we think it does. There are sincere people, for instance, who don’t believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven.
In If God Is Good, I share a story that John Stott tells in his book The Cross of Christ about billions of people seated on a great plain before God’s throne. Most shrank back, while some crowded to the front, raising angry voices.
“Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?” snapped one woman.
Romans 12:3 says, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.” This is what humility is—it’s recognizing who we really are.
One of the things I love most about Christmas is that it’s all about giving—with the ultimate gifts being Christ’s incarnation and His atonement. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
Five days ago a friend and author, poet, artist, speaker and professor Calvin Miller exited this world and entered a better one. The first time I met Calvin, I told him how his classic Singer trilogy had shaped and influenced me and charged my imagination as a teenager, a brand new Christian in the 70’s.
A reader of my blog asked, How does a believer keep his motivation? I understand the motivation of the new believer, but how does one stay motivated in day-to-day living, year after year?
Someone can say they disagree with John 1:1 or that interpretation, but they are disagreeing with what the Bible clearly says. We know this because Jesus’ deity is evident not only in this verse, but also repeatedly in the gospel of John.
The eye represents what we see. The hand represents what we do. What I think Jesus is saying here in Matt. 5:27-32 is, “Deal radically with what you expose your eyes to. Deal radically with what you handle and do, the places you go, and what you touch.”