Dear Unbelieving Reader,
Malcolm Muggeridge, former agnostic, once said man has “educated himself into imbecility.” True though his words were at the time he said them, I don’t think he could have possibly fathomed the depths of imbecility man would reach just a few decades later.
Those of you who deny God or who define Him as being someone who would allow you to behave whatever way you wish in this life without risk of repercussion and still wind up in heaven one day know that it is such “educated” beliefs that have actually rendered you incapable of seeing the One True God, having become your own god. Beware. In possessing such beliefs you grant yourself an intellectual freedom which places no restrictions whatsoever on your behavior. If you allow yourself to entertain the thought for even one moment that you just might be wrong, that maybe your definition of who God is should He exist just might be wrong and who He actually is is as the Bible says, you would most certainly take your opinions, your beliefs and the words with which you express them much more seriously. If God is real, if He is who the Bible says He is, not who you say He is, if Jesus is real, if He is the Way, the Truth and the Life as the Bible tells us He is, there is certainly no hope in yourself or your beliefs. There is no hope apart from Him.
You cannot deny the reality of sin in this world. There is, after all, as Muggeridge also points out, more evidence to support its existence than that of anything else on the face of this earth. And you cannot deny the reality of sin in your own heart. I am most certain you believe yourself to be a good person, and by the world’s standards perhaps you are, although some who know you and/or have interacted with you might argue to the contrary. But regardless of how you measure up according to the world’s standards, you are not a good person by God’s standards. No man is. Not you, not me, not anyone. We all sin and fall short of good by God’s standards because He is the standard. If you look at your heart and are honest about what you see, you will know the darkness that lies within. You will know what you are capable of regardless of whether or not you act on it and that is what matters. The world considers you bad only if you act upon sinful inclinations, and it is conveniently continually redefining sin to the point that almost nothing is actually considered sin anymore. Except calling sin what it is – sin – that is. But God looks at the heart and judges it, and by this standard no one is good.
There is more to this world than what the eye can see. Just because you cannot see God in human or other form in front of you does not mean He is not there. Just because you cannot see Jesus sitting at the right hand of God in heaven does not mean He isn’t. You believe every day in things you cannot see, things you cannot prove strictly and exclusively with your own senses. It really isn’t a stretch at all to believe in God. There is far more evidence of Him than of all the things you place your trust, your faith, your belief in every single day. If I were to ask I imagine you would say you believe in yourself. If you’re like most humans, though, you would have to admit you have let yourself down more than any other person or thing ever has. Yet you will continue to believe in yourself until the day you die, I’m guessing. The truth is you do not have the power you think you do, you do not possess the wisdom you think you do, you do not have the goodness you think you do, and any thoughts you possess to the contrary are merely delusions, coping mechanisms your brain has developed to avoid the reality of who you truly are.
One of the greatest gifts God can give us is knowledge of ourselves, of who we really are, warts and all. After salvation itself, it is the greatest gift He’s given me, and by His grace, He continues to do so every day. It is painful, quite painful at times, but without this knowledge I wouldn’t be the person I am today, the person I hope to become tomorrow and beyond, and I wouldn’t have anything beyond this life to hope or look forward to. You haven’t come to that knowledge yet, knowledge of who you really are, but I pray sincerely that you do and you do so soon. Life here on earth may be but the blink of an eye when compared to eternity, but any time we are given here is more than sufficient to come to knowledge of, belief in and surrender to Jesus Christ. But we have to come to knowledge of ourselves first. Apart from that, we will never know Christ. We will be unable to see Him because we are blocking our view.
Jesus loves you, each and every one of you, so much so that He died for you so that you could live and live with Him for all eternity. Stop spending your days searching for excuses not to believe. Stop refusing to even contemplate that He just may be who He really claimed to be, just what that really means, and that you really do need Him. Be humble enough, honest with yourself enough to look Him square in the eyes and see Him for who He really is. If you do, the day will come when you will be eternally grateful you did. And don’t tarry. Most people in the world today sense that humanity and this world do not have much time left, that we are on a fast track to self-destruction. And they are correct. Time truly is running out. God is patient and long-suffering, but He will not wait much longer. Judgment is coming upon a Christ-rejecting, sinful world. Seek Him while He still may be found.
And if he is 