I know of no other stage as drastically undermined as the one which would try to call individuals toward God. To prove it, just take a slight glance at our communities. Total disregard for having anything to do with God is justified by the masses because of the abundant negative story-flow about those of us who seek Him. Not only do the atheists hack at believers, believers take shots at other believers. So why wouldn't one who has determined not to approach this topic simply give a mere shrug while we duke it out for our churchy favorites?
In the midst of chaotic religiosity remains decent men and women who wonder if there is a God and, if so, what would be the correct path to take? I know a bit of this because I lived there. I was a below average church attender as a kid. My god was the baseball diamond by day and Gunsmoke by night. As I aged, I found myself wanting to know more about this God I had begun to know in my childhood and visited church after church during my college days hunting for some sort of spiritual hint. I just felt there was more to living than what was on my visible plate.
Obviously, God has changed my world of which I will never get over it. Yet, I continue to pull for the one who basically doesn't want to die without hope of full and remarkable eternity. Just as there is fruit from a seed that dies in the ground, I believe that there is a next life after the body folds in complete deterioration; just like the seed becomes a flower or a vegetable or a tree. Death...and then life.
So what about you? Interested? Numb and indifferent? I offer a bit of direction for those who are seeking Him today and for those who will think about God perhaps next year. In the last few verses of the first book of the New Testament an interesting charge is given by Jesus to the eleven remaining personally-trained disciples. These words are from the Savior to the original eleven; a concept destined for all generations of the entire world. Bible students know this portion of the Bible as The Great Commission.
17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Neighbor girl Julie Brown told my brother about this. Classmate Debbie Hilpert told me. We didn't realize that it was time that we be baptized. We just needed somebody to say. This wasn't really the topic discussed a lot at third base nor coming from Chester Good as he limped along his way down the streets of Dodge. This simple truth that Jesus told the eleven and then Julie and Debbie told the two of us just continues to roll through the ages (as has gone on for so many of you and your friends) as we pass the baton of this Matthew 28-17-20 text.
The simplicity of this stunning call to rebirth has been sabotaged by religious debate and prideful distraction. I am one who has practiced such argumentation to a fault. Therefore, direct your eyes to the plain words of Jesus and ask if you might be able to see the simple truth which has been blurred by accumulated religious habit; even by guys like me who mean well but know more about winning an argument than knowing the Son of God.
I believe that there are many who will read these words and wonder about being baptized into Jesus. I say that this would be the Spirit of God calling to your spirit. Yes, you should be. It is an indescribably exciting thing to learn that a person of age can be reborn. Nicodemus of John 3:3-8 had never heard of such hope either. But to be born again is an option that every person should take God up on.
Don't let the simple truth be blurred by accumulated religious habit of someone else...but rather seek the one named Jesus who will give us the Divine Guidance that we all desire.
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