3/25/2019   4 Comments  (at the bottom of this reflection.)

Today's question:
"....everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?"

From John 11:

24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

Reflection from Don Kreski

This is a really interesting passage, at the heart, I suspect, of many of the divisions within the Christian church.
 
Let’s start by looking at a little bit more of the passage, using the New Living translation. In John 11:25-26, we see
 
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again. They are given eternal life for believing in me and will never perish. Do you believe this, Martha?”
 
I should tell you I attended a private, Christian school from first through eighth grade. When I was 12 or 13 years old, one of my teachers brought up this passage. Yes, you have to have faith, she said, but then she quoted James 2:19-20:
 
“Do you still think it’s enough just to believe that there is one God? Well, even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror! Fool! When will you ever learn that faith that does not result in good deeds is useless?”
 
She explained that Satan had seen God, believed absolutely, but rebelled nonetheless. I’ve remembered that lesson.
 
I remember sitting in a Bible study where a friend told me, “I believe, and I’ve been saved. Only God can save me, and now that He has, no human being can undo His work. I can’t even undo it myself.”
 
The implication was that, no matter what he did, how he sinned, how he might reject God’s teachings, he would go to heaven. After all, we’re all sinners, right? Not that my friend was a bad person, but I wondered then, and I wonder now, how often we as Christians brush aside what we don’t like in scripture, and figure we’re saved in any event.
 
I think of it, too, when I see people I know are Christian express hatred toward others, whether based on race, nationality, sexuality or some other division. Some of Christ’s teachings are hard to understand, but He said very clearly that we must take care of the poor, the weak, the sinner and the foreigner.  
 
The reality is, we all pick and choose which of Christ’s words we follow, which we ignore. We believe, yet we rebel, at least some of the time. We do what we want, and we comfort ourselves by saying, we are saved.  Can that be right?
 
So yes, I believe, and based on my belief, I hope God will give me eternal life. 

But I’m not so proud as to think God will be forced to save me no matter what I do. Jesus told me I have to love God, love my neighbor, love all of his teachings, and do my best to follow them. 

Comments

Julia Dulek
Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 11:02 am
Faith without good works is not a guarantee to heaven. If that were the case why would Jesus keep teaching to do good unto others? Faith and belief is just the start of the journey that lasts a lifetime.

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Irene Taylor
Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 6:00 pm
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and reflections. Bonhoeffer reminds us that discipleship is costly. He writes, "Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church disciple, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate." 

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Walt Dibbern
Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 8:00 pm
I think the promise of God for our salvation is powerful and ultimate. It cannot be changed by anything we do, it cannot be changed by our good --or not so good-- behavior.

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kay maloney
Thu, Mar 28, 2019 at 2:18 pm
Thanks Don for your reflection; My Dad used to tell me you can't just pick & choose what feels right and comfortable in the bible. You have to embrace all of it. Sometimes that's hard to do.

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About Today's Author

Don Kreski lives in Mt Prospect and has been a member of FUMCDP for about two years. He met his wife Barb in high school, and they have three grown children and a granddaughter.

​His hobby is reading history; he owns a small business offering marketing and publicity help to technology companies. 

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