For my friends

Most people know that the Earth is round. It’s been proven so with satellite images. Indeed, planets in general, share this basic characteristic. If someone wanted to go back to the old way of thinking and try to believe that the Earth was flat, he would have a pretty hard time. No one around him would help support this lie. Sure, he could live in a world of make-believe, but what would be the point? The Earth is round, and there’s nothing anyone can do to change it. Even a worldwide nuclear holocaust probably would not change it.

So there are things in the Universe that are unchangeable. Some people are unchangeable, although not usually 100% so. God is unchangeable. Oh, you can evoke certain feelings in Him. You can pray and get a response. But His Word makes it fairly clear He’s the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. So while I hate to compare Him to a giant rock in the heavens, He is like a planet in that sense…except that even those heavenly bodies are not eternal the way that He is. He created them and He can destroy them.

So if we can’t change God, why do we feel the need to question His nature? It’s like questioning why the Earth can’t be flat. Part of the nature of God is that He’s holy. Holiness means completely free from sin. You know how if you’ve got a container of white paint, and you put just a drop of any other color in it, it is no longer a pure white paint. It is now a tint. Well, in the pallet of God’s holiness, no drop of sin is acceptable. His holy nature can’t abide it. That’s just the way He is. Why else would He send His own Son to die in order to atone for all our sin and wash away every spot of it from us? Desperate situations require desperate measures.

People don’t understand why a “good person” might go to Hell. Well, some people are so sinful that it’s like pouring a whole bucket of black paint into a tray filled with white. You know, I’m thinking murderers, rapists, politicians, reality TV hosts. But if that person sincerely accepts Jesus and His atoning sacrifice, it is as though every trace of that black paint is removed and you have all white again. This is a supernatural act of God; we can't cleanse ourselves any more than we could actually extract black paint once it's been poured into white. But Christ’s blood “washes whiter than snow”. The once evil man is now acceptable to God. (That does not mean that he doesn’t need to pay for his crimes in the natural world, according to the laws of the land.) But someone else has a little drop of another color added to his white tray. (It could be any color, if we say that all but white is sin in this less-than-perfect metaphor). This man is GOOD! He gives money to charitable causes. He feeds the poor. He helps old ladies across the street. In fact, he doesn’t do a thing for himself. But what’s his sin? It’s refusing to acknowledge the truth of Christ, and the price He paid for our salvation. This one sin taints the entire paint tray; it is not white. This person is not holy in God’s eyes because only Jesus Christ can make us holy and acceptable. Without Christ, God can’t forgive this person, and he will be lost.

Holiness is just a part of God’s nature. We can’t change it. Asking “why” will not change it. Stomping our feet at the perceived injustice of it all will not change it. God simply asks that we receive His Son. (Romans 10:9-10, Revelation 3:20, 1 John 1:9). And yet people act as though this is some kind of torturous ordeal. He doesn’t even ask that we be circumcised anymore! Why do we make things so much more difficult than they need to be?

But wait a minute, you say. I did not mention the need to repent of our sins. It is a decision you make when you accept Christ. It doesn't generally happen overnight. We don't always even know what sin is present in our lives. This is a gradual process that you take on with God, and in His love and grace, He helps you. If you are an avid reader of my blog, you know that I have sin issues. Everybody does. Getting those issues resolved is about much more than just pleasing God. Usually sin affects our health (physical or emotional, as well as spiritual) in negative ways. Once you realize repentance is a gift, you feel how much better off you are. But I don't expect anyone to believe me unless they experience it for themselves.