Free Pass

A professor at a prominent university welcomed his students on the first day of class with a gift. He said, "Everyone in this class is valuable to me. I want everyone to be able to learn freely, without the fear of failure this semester, so I have a gift for you all. Everyone will receive an A for this class. You don't have to do anything to earn it and it won't drop, no matter your involvement or participation in the class. You can take this gift and slack off and learn nothing, or you can take this gift and use this class to learn as much as you possibly can, rise above, and become the best you can be, without the fear of failure looming in the back of your minds. It's up to you what kind of student you will be."

Upon first hearing this story, I immediately thought back to my years of college and what I probably would have done with the free A. That would have most likely been my last day to show up for class and I would have spent my time sleeping in, hanging out with my friends, or doing work for other classes. Who wouldn't take advantage of a free A!?

Unfortunately, this is what most Christians have done with their salvation.  God looked down on us and loved us enough to give us a "free pass" to heaven if we accepted Christ's gift of salvation. Knowing our sinful nature, He set up this gift to where if we accepted it, it could never be taken away, despite our involvement in Christianity, despite our desire to share it with others, despite our sinful behavior. We've taken our "free pass" and chosen to sleep through the rest of our lives and to act as the world around us acts. Or we've chosen to pursue other dreams, goals, or hobbies that we deem more important or more pressing.

But what is more important or more pressing than the fact that people are dying around us every day and going to hell?

Let's get honest for a minute. How many people can you think back and say that you honestly helped them find and accept Jesus this year? Count them up.

On average, 55.3 million people die every year.

What kind of difference did you make in those 55.3 million people? How many of them do you think knew Jesus?

But maybe you weren't living right for most of this past year but recently you've decided to live for Jesus. Maybe you've decided to tell more people and live more boldly for Him. I commend you.

So, again, how many people did you tell about Jesus today?

151,600 people will die today.

How many people have you told about Jesus this hour?

6,316 people will die in the next hour.

Even as you read this blog, nearly 2 people die every second.

Our time on Earth is important. We were placed here to bring glory to God in our actions and to tell the lost about His gift of salvation. Think back over your day today and count up everything you did that you could say to God: "I did this, this and this today to bring glory and honor to You and I told these people about your gift to us."

I'm just as guilty. I fly through life without remembering why I'm even here most days.

We aren't here to graduate school, get a good job, get married, have kids, get a promotion, own our own company, or make a lot of money. Those things aren't necessarily wrong, but they aren't our purpose. We wonder why so many people feel lost and worthless and confused about their place and purpose in life when the reality is JESUS is our purpose. His glory & His story. That is why we are here. If you spend your time on Earth chasing all of those other worldly goals, you'll wake up every day feeling empty inside because Jesus is the only one who can fill that space. We were made for Him and He is the only one who can satisfy.

“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1

So what kind of college student are you? Would you take the A and slack off, accomplishing nothing? Or would you take the A and rise above, decide to learn and become better? How we respond to this gift shows our true character. You can take advantage of the gift and become lazy, or you can take the gift and become productive.

The choice is completely yours.

Take your "A" and do something great for Jesus. Take the incredible gift of salvation that He so graciously gave to us and become better. Live for Him.

Share it; tell the world.

"Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone."

Mark 16:15

It's all in the relationship

A lot of people turn to Christianity when they're hurting because it gives hope. Likewise, many people turn from Christianity when they're hurting because they have this misguided view that a "Christian's life" should be perfect and without pain because they claim to know Jesus.

I don't have the answers or the arguments for those people right now, but I do have something relevant.

In reading through Psalms these last few weeks, I've noticed the extreme ups and downs David goes through as he writes. I have identified in his pain and rejoiced in his prosperity. I think what I like most about this is that it shows the absolute humanness of David. It puts him on my level. He becomes relative through his human life.

In Psalm 38 verses 9-11 David pours his aching heart out to God. He's in such distress and feels that his friends and family have even given up on him. His internal pain just seems so unbearable. But just 4 verses later (verse 15) he professes his belief in God by saying that he trust that God will help (answer) him and that He is waiting for God's help.

This blows me away for a couple of reasons. David's pain and troubles make him very relative rather than just a "Bible character." And when people are in pain, they tend to only see their pain - nothing else. And the fact that David is describing his lament one minute but trusting and waiting on God the next seems so unlikely for a selfish human being to do. But that's what I love about it. David was a real man seeking God. And David had real sins, real problems, real pain. But he still looked to God. He never let the pain of sin and life take his eyes off his savior. And that to me is admirable. That gives me hope for ME.

The other thing I love about David is that when God did answer him and help him, He always gave credit to whom it was due. I think that so many times in our Christian walk, things are looking bright for us and we lose sight of the fact that they look so bright because of Jesus. We want to focus on the fact that we obey all the rules and we are good people and we have made such a good life, oh yay me. When in reality, everything good in us is because of Jesus.

It's so sad to me that it is so easy for us to lose sight of how desperately we need Jesus when things are going right in life. Life is so fabulous and we don't need God or even think about Him until someone close to us dies or we have a huge test or we're in financial trouble. As soon as something insanely bad is happening we remember that we need Him or we blame Him. The thought hurts my heart so deeply.

Christianity isn't a crutch. You can't pick it up when it benefits you. There are a lot of fakers out there but don't let them fool you. Christianity is all or nothing, It's a relationship, similar to a marriage. You're in or you're out, there's no "half way." You truly believe or you truly don't - pretending doesn't count. Attending church doesn't meet the requirements. Believing is the only way to Heaven and a relationship with Jesus is the only hope of a fulfilling life, even in the hard times.

That's what David had. A relationship with God. That's what takes David from being a simple sinner like the rest of us to someone we read about in the Bible and look up to. The relationship David had with God makes him seem not so relative to us anymore. But the best part of this is that we are capable of everything David was. We are just like him. Simple, sinners. But we become capable of so much more when we pursue an incredible relationship with God. He had a relationship that was so close that he felt completely comfortable spilling his aches and pains and fears to a holy God. A relationship where he completely trusted God's timing. A relationship that acknowledged the greatness of the God he served and uplifted and praised Him at all times, not just the good times. And we can have it too.

God sees your pain. He knows you're hurting. He has a plan and all you have to do is call on Him and trust His timing. You might still view the Bible as something that doesn't relate to you at all but in all reality, if you'd give it half a chance and read it - really READ it, not just pick a "popular" verse from here or there - you'd see that everything you deal with in your everyday, ordinary life is paralleled in this incredible love letter from our incredible God. Life won't always be easy to understand or explain, but we do have hope through our amazing God. And you have access to that hope if you choose to accept it.

Out of everything I've learned in the last few years, the most important thing I've kept with me is that it's ALL about Jesus. And if it's all about Jesus, the smartest thing you'll EVER do in life is to take Him up on His offer to have a personal relationship with you.

Get in the Bible and get to know Him like David did.

You'd be stupid not to.