I have always had great admiration for the gospel of John; more because of its beginning in comparison to the other gospels. John divulge on some very deep yet simple doctrines which many Christians actually do take notice of but do not ultimately fully grasp. Like the prophet Isaiah said they "hear but do not understand" and see but not fully comprehend the gravity of these things. John explains in the 13th verse of the first chapter how those who believe in Christ are actually made children of God, born not of the will of a natural father but by the will of God. Many of us see this mystery and rejoice at this scripture and hope for that day when it will finally be manifested- when we will be sons of God completely and we will enjoy in him. But do we really get it really or are we just playing inside a small locker when the Kingdom is actually a billion times bigger than that locker?
This reminds me of a scene from the movie Men In Black II. In this scene an agent and his partner meet some little creatures which live in a very small locker. To these creatures the locker is all they know- it is the whole world to them. They worship the agent because he left them with an illuminating watch and this irks his partner as he feels that someone should tell them that the world is much bigger than that, there's so much to be explored out there. The agent leads his partner to a door which when he unlocks reveals the chilling truth: they are also in a locker of their own and there are much more gigantic creatures than them out there- their world as they know it is just a tip of the iceberg. Josh Harris in his book Kissing Dating Goodbye tells a story of how his parents bought his younger brother a bicycle for a birthday present. They put it in a box and wrapped it nicely before presenting it to the birthday boy. When they finally presented it, the boy was very excited and unwrapped the present quickly but seemed confused when the bicycle finally emerged. The boy thought about it for a while and then to his parents disappointment started playing with the box. It took the Harris family a few days to finally convince the boy that the actual present was the bicycle and not the box. I can't help but realize that a lot of Christians are actually playing with this box and neglecting the bicycle- playing with the box in the locker. Ignorance is their main killer in this instance.
Ignorance is a very dangerous phenomenon which mostly springs from laziness or foolishness- hence the scripture that says my people die for lack of knowledge. I honestly don't think Esau would have sold his birthright if he knew exactly what consequences that would have had for him. So the reason why we find ourselves in bad situations which are contrary to what scripture says about us is because we have somehow lost and neglected the crux of our calling. It is sad to step into a church and hear a preacher go on for 80 minutes about church politics and utter rubbish, judging and bringing his congregation down instead of building them out. In a way we're not that different from Esau in that we're so ignorant, yet we claim that we're not- and indeed we're not for Christ has redeemed us from that kind of life but our conduct brings us back to that state because of our negligence. We are "gods, sons of the Most High" yet we're in danger of dying like mere men.
Yes, indeed we're gods! This is the message that the introduction to the book of John actually conveys but our ignorance suppresses us and keeps us in the dark. If we actually think that salvation doesn’t benefit us anything then we’re very much mistaken, for “the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.” (HCSB, Heb 10:6). God has reserved for us an inheritance unto which we’re suitable heirs and we ought to believe that. We don’t have to work for it, believing is key for without faith we cannot please God. But how do we believe without knowledge, and how will we know if we are not told- but haven’t we been told about this good news? “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world.” (HCSB, Rom 10:18). Ignorance is what has prevented us from our true potential. So since we have heard this ignorance of ours resembles that which Isaiah referred to when he said: Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? (Isa 53:1) Of course Isaiah was referring to the children of Israel and in the next topic we will look at the ignorance of the children of Israel- how they failed to hearken to the words of their prophets.
No comments:
Post a Comment