The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about lost children being reconciled back to their heavenly Father. Is that what you learned?

25:25 Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.

The point of yesterday’s post:

Instead of telling someone to accept Christ and asking Him to come into their heart and life
so that they can go to heaven when they die, let’s put the emphasis on heaven coming to them!
Why? So that He can fellowship with them even as He leads us through this world to His world.
We can’t make it without Him–that’s the point!
Having them focus on a future heaven puts the em-PHA-sis on the wrong syl-A-ble.

Today, we will look at what happens when a person “accepts Christ,” but never follows Him. Let’s look at the Parable of the Two Sons from Matthew 21,

²⁸ “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
²⁹ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
³¹ “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.

Jesus told them that they were correct, in a manner of speaking. We should think long and hard about this passage when quoting a simple prayer for people to pray in order to be saved. Jesus wasn’t about promises; He was about obedience. It’s the only way to make it through this world without being caught in a web of deceit, trapped in a snare, or self-destructing because of a lie or a feeling. Jesus is the ONLY One who can get us through to the other side of life with minimal scarring and damage. We’re not talking physical here, but spiritual, relational, and emotional. It is our souls He wants to save; He will replace these physical bodies with much better versions.

There are two reasons that I see for Him wanting our obedience:

1. To keep us from destruction (we just talked about that);
2. To be His hands and feet on this earth. We are His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20).

A person who prays a prayer but has no intention of following Jesus will self-destruct. He also is useless concerning–and even harmful to–the Good News of Jesus Christ. To put it bluntly, they give real followers of Jesus a bad name, they clog our churches, and sometimes hold places of leadership in our churches, which causes all kinds of problems. Like I said, let’s put the emphasis on heaven coming to them in the form of the Holy Spirit. He wants to bring healing and peace to our souls; He wants sweet and intimate fellowship with us, and He wants to walk us through life to His life while we share His Good News along the way.

Let’s be about sharing THIS Good News.

Abba, I feel like I am just now getting a firm grasp on what to share with people concerning You and Your Gospel. For decades, I have been leading people to pray a simple prayer to be saved; fortunately, I have poured into most of those people the importance of establishing a close relationship with You. Now, when I share, it’s less about heaven and more about You. It’s less about a certain prayer and more about a conversation with You that goes on forever. It’s less about a one-time event and more about a daily walk. May You give me plenty of opportunities to share this Good News with people. Amen.