What a blessing, what mercy and grace has been shown to us that our salvation is not dependent on what we know or what we do! Imagine the self-doubt that would rule each moment of each day if our salvation depended on what we do. We could never know whether we have done the right things, or whether we have done enough right things to guarantee admission to glory. Each day would be an endless stream of effort, and each night would be an endless planning session for the next day's work, combined with endless worry about whether we're making any progress at all. We would live our lives weary and worried.

And if salvation depended on what we know, the problems are probably even worse because we are so often and easily confused. Things we thought we knew perfectly 5 years [or 5 days] ago, we may now see in a completely different light. Some of the things of God are simply mysterious and probably unknowable by mere mortals, but how can we be sure that the things we consider unknowable will actually fall into God's categories of things that people don't have to know in this life? And there's always the problem that we cannot know what it is that we don't know, but maybe those are going to be the very things we are going to be required to know to get into Heaven. It's a nightmare, you know?

Many people foolishly cling to these "pathways to Heaven" because The Gospel seems too good to be true. Pride prevents people from relinquishing what at least appears to be control, thinking "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." [See "Invictus", by William Ernest Henley].

Jesus says "Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28. Aren't you ready for some rest? Don't you know some people who need to find rest? The answer is all in who you know.

Ambrose Ramsey | Pastor and Elder | Throwback from May 2016