I abhor them. Surely you do too (unless you’re the type to plaster them to the back of your bumper). Those little 3″ x 9″ pieces of heavenly vinyl that read, “Make your eternal reservations now— ‘smoking’ or ‘non-smoking’?” What a wonderfully alternative way to carry out Christ’s last words? How could that heathen not be convicted of his sinfulness when he can clearly read that God is your co-pilot?
Not only does that statement frightfully diminish the true concept of Christianity into a simple one-liner, but it does not even come close to correct! To say that God is anyone’s co-pilot suggests that you’re headed in the direction you were heading before you met your co-pilot, and you still plan to head that way, occasionally taking suggestions from your co-pilot. This one-liner, as most are, cannot fully encapsulate the new life a God follower is given. But unfortunately, it may very well explain the current idea of a Christian in modern America–that is, a person who wishes to live a good life and attempts this by choosing to adhere to those Christian precepts that do not offend him. But Christians are called to so much more.
A Christian realizes that his life is not only not now his own, but it never was his own. He understands that everything selfish in nature (which includes much more than we can comfortably admit) will lead to his ultimate demise. There is no need to wrestle with the quandary of why a good God might condemn people to Hell because he knows what has truly occurred: man was created with free will, which by its very nature contains the possibility of evil, he decided he would rather do his own thing than what he had been created to do, and ever since has been in a state that is unacceptable to heaven. By default man is condemned, and the transformation into the heavenly being that he was created to be is what God freely offers. The Deceiver has given man the idea that God damns people to Hell for “doing bad things” and we have run with it. But instead of looking at what causes us to do those bad things and asking the maker to fix the machine, we write it off as being “only natural.” What is “only natural” is the hell people will endure who are not acceptable to exist in Heaven. All humans proclaim they wish the world were a better place, but they cannot agree on how to come about this better world. That is where the problems arise. Imagine if God’s hand of restraint were taken off this mortal world. We would indeed bring about Hell on earth.
The secular society is constantly focused on “reaching your potential”, and I am beginning to think the church should take the same viewpoint–with a bit of a twist. Our potential as beings created by God is to be heavenly creatures. We are not yet in this state, none of us are. And no one can get in that state on their own; I think we can all agree on this. The only one qualified to refine a crude being into what he could truly be is the Maker himself, and none other. Good works cannot do it. A person committing good works with the idea that this is salvation will quickly tire himself out, and begin asking, “What is it all for?” But a transformed soul need not ask this question. He is doing these kind deeds to his fellow man because he truly loves them–he wants very much for their ultimate, not temporal, well-being. He does these things because they flow naturally out of a being that understands his utter Pride and selfishness and what he is truly meant to be, and he wants everyone to join him. His joy is not a child’s happiness after getting the candy’s he’s been begging for. No, this is real Joy, pervading through times of utter despair as well as those when happiness can be expected from any man.
Excuse my need for a rant. I had it brought to my attention that I hadn’t posted in quite some time, and so I found it good to write on something that has been a rock in my shoe. It is profane to reduce the saving grace of God to a one-liner, and it constantly makes me ask, “What are they trying to accomplish?” I don’t know. Perhaps they truly believe this is how things are. But I should think a better analogy than insulting God with eternal rights to your shotgun seat would be to imagine yourself blindfolded somewhere in a spaceship directed by God. My advice (with myself as the main recipient) would be to quit trying to take the controls and steer where you’d like in an unfamiliar territory. We really have no idea where we’re going, and that is why we must trust God to take us to the best possible place.
