No Light

A friend thinks and says she is a Christian, yet her words and actions do not match. This week I had opportunity to share with her some of the most basic Christian teachings, so basic that a young child who knows Christ would understand and receive them. I was given a polite brush-off.

This morning’s devotional reading is about just that. Paul writes to a young pastor and tells him that he needs to preach the Word of God and convince, rebuke and exhort his congregation with all longsuffering because,

The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. . . . But you be watchful in all things. (2 Timothy 4:3, 5)

Doing a quick count, I know at least a dozen people who fall into this category. They are churchgoers and “good” people, but they deny the fundamentals of the faith and in some cases are annoyed by solid biblical teaching.

The prophet Isaiah says that to recognize such teaching, pay attention to what the person says. He wrote, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). That is, false creeds fail when examined under Scripture’s divine light and the person who speaks them cannot speak truth because God has not given them the ability or light to see it.

What I notice is that these dozen or so people never say anything about entering the kingdom of God through the new birth and through Christ’s narrow gate. They do not talk about walking on His narrow way. They will talk about loving God and humanity, but their definition of love is all about benevolent feelings and nothing close to the sacrificial love described in Scripture.

Also, false teaching always bases salvation and favor with God on human effort. They ignore the depth and danger of sin and stress instead that all humans are “basically good” so there is no need for repentance, forgiveness, and submission to Christ. After all, doesn’t God love everyone? They do not understand the concept of judgment, nor the need of Christ’s death on the cross, nor the necessity of believing in Him.

I once thought that if I just told them what the Bible says, they would see their error and turn to Christ. How naive. Sin is so rooted in the human heart that the Bible says,

There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. . . . There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:10-12,18)

I read this and weep. I know that it applies to my friends, but I also know that apart from the grace of God it applies to me too. I have learned that my question should never be “Why doesn’t God save them?” but instead I wonder why God saved anyone?