I was reading Luke 13 today. What strikes me is that Jesus seems to be saying you have to take a side: either you are with him or you are not.
In the parable of the fig tree, the fig tree has no fruit and the master wants to cut it down. Notice that it doesn't have bad fruit; it has no fruit at all. I take this to mean that it's not enough to do no evil. To God, bearing no fruit is no better than bearing bad fruit. Both types of trees will be thrown into the fire.
This makes me think about the professed agnostics out there. Even if it were possible to be an agnostic (I don't think it is in practice), in the end God won't take that as an excuse.
For us, it means it's not enough to do what I call the negative good: not stealing, not coveting, not cursing, not sinning, etc. To please God, we must do positive good: give to the poor, love our neighbors as ourselves, volunteer, build each other up, etc.
It is not enough to be emptied. We must also be filled by God.
P.S. For those of you who read this before Friday, I have a phone interview on Friday at 11:30AM. It's a job I actually want. But I still don't know what God wants for me. Pray that I will trust Him above all else.
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I agree that God hates for us to be lukewarm. But then I also think about the agnostics--those who do believe Jesus exists, but who have found the call to discipleship too hard a road, and so they don't choose it... I think the question I have is, what does that mean for us? How can we help them cross the threshold, what words can we say to show them that being with Jesus is so worth it... what more can we do but live our lives doing the positive good and striving for holiness, and keep proclaiming how good God is in our lives.
ReplyDeleteokay, well I don't know if this was a good response because I'm EXHAUSTED right now.
Wait. Agnostics are people who don't think that you can know whether or not God exists.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what we can do for those who find the call of Christ too hard to follow. Other than pray, continue to show them what it means to live saved by Christ, and trust they are in God's hands.