A Faith Riddle

Which is easier to do:  trust in Jesus for salvation, or trust in Jesus for tomorrow’s crisis? 

There are many reasons why we might say it’s easier to trust in Jesus for our salvation.  For one, many of us think about salvation as a one-time deal, getting a ticket into heaven, which we hope is still way out in the future and about which we have only vague notions and occasional thoughts.  In the day to day flow of life it can easily become obscured. 

Ignorance Is No Excuse

In our legal system we often hear the phrase, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”  While we may get by with a warning or reduced penalty on a first offense, we are not, therefore any less guilty of breaking a law simply because we did not know about it.  Probably in most cases, we had at least some responsibility for learning what the law required or prohibited before we actually broke it. 

Who's Responsible?

Everyday…we want to know who to blame. 

Whatever it might be, whether it’s a crime, act of terror, political scandal, financial rip-off, medical malpractice, or scam, we want answers.  Who was responsible for this, what’s being done to bring those guilty to justice and how can it be prevented in the future?  Along with these a host of other related questions arise, such as: What other factors contributed to this happening? Are there others involved? What systems failed that should have prevented it?  

Coming Judgment?

Recently, Sherril and I had the stimulating experience of being with a small group of young people from our church.  (For us, young means being in your thirties!)  They were discussing how they had seen a decline in morality in our culture, citing such things as sex and violence on TV and in the movies, foul language and dishonesty.