In the dark

I was looking through our Netflix queue the other day and realized that I have a bunch of documentaries in there. They’ve been there for about 6 months. Some have been there for over a year. Why? Because I keep bumping up the more ‘entertaining’ films to the top so that they get mailed to us instead.

I do this mostly because Ben isn’t all that interested in hearing about another set of girls who were forced into sexual slavery. He doesn’t like to be reminded that there are truly poor people out there. He doesn’t like that awareness. I think he’d prefer to live in a bubble.

I know that there are times when I prefer the bubble too. But the bubble isn’t comfortable either. See, I already know about the slaves and the sick and the oppressed. I already know about the orphaned and the widowed and the hungry. I can’t shake it no matter how insulated I try to be. Honestly, there are times when I’d prefer to drool over that fancy Pottery Barn couch than consider that I am rich. That I have been put in a position to decide which is a better investment of the money that God has poured out to our family – the couch or a community.

It’s sort of like Jesus. Once you’ve been exposed to Him, you are responsible for making a decision. You can either choose to accept God’s gift to you by believing that He sent His Son to redeem you, or you can resist Him. Not making a choice IS making a choice. Taking the time to look into Jesus’ claim has eternal value. At least, I certainly believe so. By insulating yourself to His claims, you are risking an eternity without the One who made you, who knows you more intimately than anyone else in history, who loves you despite your flaws and weaknesses and occasional bad attitude.

Bumping that decision down your to-do list, in favor of more pleasant options, is risky. If you haven’t done so, consider spending some time soon looking into Jesus’ claims.

I resisted Him for years. I just didn’t want to consider that what He said could be true. Because then I’d be on the hook, so to speak. It would prove that I had a major responsibility that I needed to attend to. If it was true, it meant that I couldn’t stay stuck in my self-centered little world. It meant that I’d been wrong all those years. It meant that my mom was right, and at the time, I wasn’t really willing to admit that. I had been hoping that my search would come up void so that I could smugly sit back and continue my hedonistic ways. But what I found was so much more than I’d imagined it would be. It was good. It was awesome. It would change the course of my life on earth and beyond the grave.

If you’ve just read this blog, you can no longer claim to be in the dark. That argument won’t fly with God. He knows whether you’ve had enough exposure to Jesus to have made a decision. You won’t win a debate with God. So don’t risk it. Spend some time getting to know Jesus, His Father, and then let His grace wash over you and change you. You won’t regret it.