All living people likely fall into one of the
three groups listed below:
- People who are hostile to God
- People who are ambivalent to God
- People who love God
People who are hostile to God
This first group typically display hostility to
God because they don't like what He represents - an all powerful force who will
not allow them to live as they please - therefore the hostility. Their lie is
public expression of a lack of belief in Him or His sovereign nature. Otherwise
their hostility to God is paradoxical. Why be hostile to something that does
not exist? If you sit next to one during extreme turbulence on an airplane,
you'll understand why I call their lack of belief a lie. They fear dying and in
most cases refuse to deal with this subject unless it cannot be avoided i.e.
the death of someone close. Their hope is in the story of Saul who became Paul
- writer of the majority of the Bible's New Testament (see the Book of Acts)
People who are ambivalent to God
Probably the largest of the three groups. Some
are people who may have never heard the gospel but as the Bible says in Romans 1 - they instinctively know via nature that God exists. Many believe that God
is who He says He is - the creator of all things. Sovereign above all. However,
they care more about themselves than they do about worshipping God. When the
demands of God and the demands of their life are in conflict, they almost
always choose their way. If there is no conflict, they will acknowledge God in
their lives (i.e. asking Him to help them in times of need or crisis).
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in this group who believe (in error)
that they are in the group below (see the Matthew 7:21-22). They too fear dying
because deep inside, they know that the consequences for them are not good.
Their hope is the example of the vast majority of the people in the next group
below - most of who were once part of this group.
People who love God
Likely the smallest of the three groups (see the Matthew 7:13-14) These are people who have had a true life conversion somewhere
along the way, where they have come to know that a) they are born sinners b)
they will die someday c) upon their death, they will have to give an account of
their lives to God and d) that accounting can only be removed by accepting that
Jesus has already paid for their judgment. Most of these people probably came
to this realization through a crisis in their lives. Something that made them
realize that all of their own efforts at trying to solve their problems are
futile. However, once the acceptance of Jesus is made, it was like a "veil
had been removed from their eyes and mind". They no longer feared death.
Maybe they still fear how they would die, but not death itself. They have a
firm belief that as the Bible says…to be absent from the body is to be present
with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8) or to live is Christ, to die is gain
(Philippians 1:21). Their hope is in Jesus alone.
Where
are you within these three groups?