Not Automatic
I stood there in the bathroom with soap on my hands. Soap that was dispensed automatically. In an automatic world there is now a dispenser that tells me how much soap is enough, and a towel dispenser only gives me enough to wipe a finger or two. So why wouldn’t there be an auto faucet that turns on for me and decides what temperature is appropriate? I’ve seen them before.
I moved my hands up and down, back and forth, closer and further away trying to get the water to turn on. All the while soap was dripping from my hands. I tried everything. Over and over again. Then, I guess the man waiting behind me had enough. He reached around me and turned the water on by raising the lever.
Having a relationship with God is not automatic either. Going to church doesn’t determine your destination for eternity. Have you ever noticed at most funerals the friends and family assumes their loved one is in heaven? The Bible says this:
Enter through the narrow gate because the wide gate and broad path is the way that leads to destruction—nearly everyone chooses that crowded road! Mat. 7:13 (TPT)
So odds are, unless their friend, or loved one made a public confession of their faith in Jesus Christ and have asked for the forgiveness of their sins they aren’t in heaven. Sorry, but that is truth from the word of God. Not my words.
God wants to have a relationship with us. He gave us his only son to die for us which paves the way. God invites us and has done all but make the decision for us. He leaves that to us and our freewill. The relationship with God is not automatic. Your sins aren’t washed away automatically without asking Jesus to cleanse you. How you live after you are in the kingdom of God is between you and him.
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Phl. 2:12-13 (NKJV)
The above words are good words to live by, and to the man who helped me in the bathroom, “Thank you.”
Copyright © 2021 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.
