We have a Creator — Jesus Christ. I would not want to allow the impression that He conforms to our expectations. Jesus Christ never made himself popular. Quite the contrary, He is a “stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” This is on purpose. Jews and Gentiles all stumble over Jesus Christ. The “Jews seek miracles, and the Gentiles seek wisdom.” He never positions himself to be acceptable — most of his disciples walked away when He said you must “eat my flesh,” and “drink my blood.” We partake of this today in Holy Communion. If He wanted to appeal to our intellect, why would He say something so difficult? If He was “reasonable,” then faith would have no place.
Humility before God is necessary, and Faith is humbling. That’s the fundamental point of faith. Eve’s sin was deciding she could judge whether or not what God said was true. Satan tempted her with independent knowledge — mankind wants to determine truth for himself. That’s pretty hard considering how finite we are in comparison to all of time and the universe and languages that we don’t speak or math we cannot comprehend.
Faith relegates one’s intellect to the proper relationship with God. No one can judge whether or not God is true or whether or not what he says is truth.
As Paul said, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that He rose from the dead you shall be saved.” This act of faith places a believer under the Almighty. Humbling? Yes. That’s the point.
When I was a young man I had a hard choice to make — to serve God or not. And part of the struggle (for me, then) was unappealing Christians (which sounds silly now) along with normal doubts and questions. I think God allows that on purpose. The point is this: I was not joining a fraternity — I was humbling myself before my Maker. Every other consideration was worthless.
It is the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us of sin. One must be born into His family in the same way that children are born into any family. We don’t “join” a family — we are born into one.
Nothing outside of Jesus Christ — the Savior Creator of the universe — saves us from the ingrained nature of sin we were born with.
Believe because God is calling you to faith in His Son.
Everything else is left behind.
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