Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Rebecca Song’s blog. It has been updated and republished with permission from the author.
My heart hurts. It aches, because I know something terribly true.
In John 14:6 it says, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
The simple truth is that without Jesus, there is no way to salvation. There is no possible way without Him, and that is what kills me.
It kills me inside because I know there are people who are the nicest people around, and they still won’t be able to go to heaven without Him. I know people who are fighting for other people’s lives, freedom, rights, and without Jesus, they still won’t be able to obtain an eternal life of goodness.
“What a heavy pill to swallow! To know that even with our best efforts in this dark world, nothing we do can open the heavenly gates when we die.”
This hurts because I know I cannot make anyone believe in Jesus, nor be free from offending people with the gospel. I cannot make anyone take this wonderful gift.
Without receiving Jesus’ saving work on the cross, we are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). The Bible doesn’t dance around this at all. It gets straight to the point. That is why there will be some people who are so opposing to you and your faith (Matthew 10:22). That means the Christian faith cannot be a faith that strives to please people.
“While this gospel presents an unconditional love and all things lovely, it also comes with an unequivocal truth — a truth that is not favored by this world.”
The moment we are born, we are spiritually lost and separated from God. We live at a time when we want to equate love with acceptance of all things. But that cannot be the case. Our God is not a God who is tolerant to sin and its effects. The very nature of who He is is incapable of accepting sin. He is Holy (1 Peter 1:16). The penalty of sin is hell (Romans 6:23). We all deserve hell.
But then Jesus came in! God saw the chaos before it began and wrapped it all up in His arms to make a way for us to experience relationship with Him. He came down as Jesus Christ and provided an amazing gift — the perfect, sinless sacrifice. Jesus Christ laid down His life so we could experience what it means to be rescued from our sins.
So once Jesus died on the cross, our sins died along with Him. Three days later when Jesus rose from the dead, we rose with Him to a new life through Him. How crazy is it to know that what Jesus did thousands years ago is still relevant today. I pray this will make sense to all of our hearts. I pray that those who don’t know Him can come to see our spiritual deadness — our eternal damnation.
My heart hurts for those who have received Jesus, but fall into the trap of this world and don’t share the good news. We have the faith, so how can we keep it to ourselves? How can we not share the gospel and pray for people when we know for certain our friends and families will not be in heaven with us?
“How can we be okay with knowing the giver of life, and not want others to know him too?”
I pray that we can live this faith out loud, looking at our one true King. I pray that He will give you the courage to be bold — not worrying about people not liking you because of what you stand for. I also pray that you do all this in a place of love. Because sharing the gospel without having the grace of God is meaningless. The very core of it all was His love.
“and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)