We’ve all met people who could not or would not say, “I’m sorry. I was wrong.” For whatever reason, they are bent on having things their way. They are bent on being right. They just will not give in.
Sometimes that is the case between people and God. Do you know someone like that?
I tend to think of folks in terms of saved and unsaved. I tend to think of the unsaved as folks that do not believe in Jesus, or perhaps they don’t believe Jesus is God. After I read the following, my mind jumped to yet another perspective.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
John 3:19-21
Some folks believe God exists the same way Satan believes God exists. They just don’t want to acknowledge Him. They don’t want to worship Him. They hate the Gospel.
As Christians, it would be easy for us to assume that folks that had heard of Jesus and knew about Him would of course worship Him. We may easily tend to assume that those that don’t believe either haven’t heard or just do not think He is God, but that is not the case.
So why do some folks – those who believe that Jesus is real – reject Him as their Savior? Like the verse says, they love walking in darkness. They don’t want their deeds reproved. Perhaps they do not want to acknowledge they have done something wrong.
They are condemned folks. Instead of accepting Jesus as their Savior, they’d rather go on as they are. The love what they are doing, and they want to keep on doing it.
I have also met some folks that held back on accepting Jesus as their Savior because they really think they can have all the “fun” they want up to right before they die. They may not have the same mindset of hate as the first group, but they still love walking in darkness more than they love Jesus. Ultimately, they’ve still rejected Jesus.
We might as well admit it; some of us were those folks at one time in our lives. That thought actually danced through our minds. Then one day we woke up and realized that some folks die in an instant and without seeing it coming. They did not have time to repent.
Either way, putting off the decision or just ignoring God is simply playing with eternity. No one is promised tomorrow. If you haven’t already, make a decision for Jesus today.
LIFE APPLICATION
Key Focal Verse:
We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
1 John 4:19-21
Today’s challenge is to ask yourself, “Who do you know who is letting pride come between them and God?” Have another talk with them. Encourage them. Remind them that we are all sinners, and that Jesus died for all our sins.