My Bald Experiment

Readers familiar with this blog may note a difference – not a big one, but a subtle one, with the picture on the right. This is the author’s picture, and whereas before it had a hat on, now it is bare-headed and completely bald. This is not by accident.

You see, I decided to keep my head completely shaved throughout the month of June, of which today is the mid-point. Why did I do it, you may ask? Basically because I wanted to. I’m not balding, although I have had a sizable round bald spot on the right rear side of my head since birth, and a smaller one on top near the front for years. I just wanted to see what being bald was like and if the look was for me. I’ve shaved my head before and grown my hair back, and also kept my hair extremely short, so this was not as drastic a move as it might otherwise have been. I’ve enjoyed having less hair when I’ve had those styles, and now I finally gathered the courage to go continuously bald for a while. That way, there’s enough time for me (as well as others) to get used to it and see if I (and they) like it on a more permanent basis.

Of course, the Texas heat made the decision easier. This June has happened to be one of the hottest on record, with temperatures over 100 degrees on more than one occasion. Having a shaved head does keep you cooler, I’ve found – but not enough to force you to go grab a blanket while everyone around you is sweating.

The bald life is certainly a different one. Having no hair on your head takes some getting used to, but it’s also a very nice, light, free feel at times. It takes some time for the comparatively pale scalp to acquire a tan to match the rest of your face, as well as for the skin of your head to get used to regular shaving with a razor. A funny side effect of shaving your head is that when there’s some stubble, it makes it dramatically more difficult than one may think to put on or take off a shirt, since the cloth tends to stick on the way over your head.

There’s obviously less upkeep, even for a guy. There’s no shampoo needed, no comb or brush, no gel or other products. But there’s still some upkeep in the form of having to shave every other day or so – but I already shave my face, so that fits in the normal routine.* Other than using a moisturizer to keep your scalp from drying out and making sure to use sunscreen if you go out in direct sunlight for extended periods (a bald head can burn easily), there isn’t much more to it. And there certainly are no “bad hair days” – it is what it is.

Reactions vary, as could be expected. Some family members don’t like it, but they get used to it. I’ve been surprised that I’ve gotten some positive reaction from some friends and family. In public, the reaction is mostly muted, though some people stare, look twice, or even smile and say hello (it’s always interesting to see what strangers’ reactions are). However, no strangers have yet come up to me requesting to rub my smooth, shiny dome.

Fifteen days in, I’ve gotten pretty used to the whole bald experience. At times I even forget that I’m bald. I’ll keep shaving for another fifteen days to fulfill the month’s experiment. Then after that – who knows? I may keep it shaved, or I may decide to grow hair to some extent.** I know one thing: I will probably not worry much about my hair or a bad haircut in the future. After all, I’ve experienced every hair length from none to “normal”, and still survived.***

In the end, no matter what final decision I make, perhaps that’s the lesson to be learned from an experiment like this. Doing something as different as shaving your head takes a bit of courage and out-of-the-box thinking. It’s risky too, since it may backfire and fail or maybe become a brilliant new look. But it’s fun either way, and stepping out and doing something unorthodox can help boost confidence. At the very least I’ll be able to say I tried it and boldly (or baldly) went where I had never gone before.

*Author’s Note: Many believe that some bald guys look better with facial hair (perhaps to offset the lack of hair in higher regions). However, I have tried growing a beard, and it was not one of my more successful endeavors.

**Author’s Note: As always, readers are welcomed and encouraged to leave any comments and opinions they may have. In this particular case, a gauge of public opinion would be a helpful tool in making my final decision. For instance, it would be most important to know that, no matter what I may think, the public believes that I look positively hideous bald – or perhaps the opposite. And I assure you that I wouldn’t be offended by any negative opinions. I welcome all viewpoints, and besides – anyone who shaves his head and goes in public with it (or blogs about it) had better be prepared for whatever he gets.

***Author’s Note: That said, I have not experienced every hairstyle known to man. For instance, I have never sported either a mohawk or a mullet.

2 Chronicles

I am reading through the Bible in one year, as I have done several times before, and I have just completed the Old Testament book of 2 Chronicles. This is a book that would go under the “historical” classification of biblical books, and for good reason – it “chronicles” (as the name indicates) the history of the Kingdom of Judah from the early reign of King Solomon until its fall at the time of the Babylonian captivity.

Also as its name implies, 2 Chronicles is the second of two books with the name “Chronicles”. The first book traces the history of Israel under King David until the early part of Solomon’s reign. Both books of Chronicles are similar to the books of 1 and 2 Kings in that they tell the story of a nation and its leaders. But they differ in that the books of the Kings describe the histories of both Judah and Israel (the southern and northern factions, respectively, of a once-united nation which was divided after Solomon’s reign), while the books of Chronicles choose to focus mostly on Judah.

There is much that can be said about the subjects I have just now briefly alluded to – too much, in fact, for a single blog entry or even a series of them. But I want to take some time to explain why I enjoyed the book of 2 Chronicles and found it unique among some of its similar historical peers.

As many times as I have read 2 Chronicles before, this time I found myself seeing it with a fresh perspective, almost as if I’d never read it before. What struck me most was that this book, often more so than the other books that tell of Israel’s history, pays attention to the spiritual details behind the historical realities of those times. The books of Chronicles and Kings both share in the description of each king as “doing what was right in the sight of the Lord” or “doing evil in the sight of the Lord”. But 2 Chronicles goes deeper than Kings in describing just how the leaders – as well as the people they led – related to their God. Let me tell you about some examples of this.

After the united Israelite kingdom was split between Israel and Judah, King Rehoboam of Judah wanted to go to war with the other kingdom. However, one of God’s prophets told Rehoboam that he should hold back from attacking his brethren, because the division had come from the hand of God. Rehoboam obeyed and relented from his intent (2 Chron. 11:2-4). Yet, of this same King Rehoboam we later read, “When Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself…he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel along with him” (2 Chron. 12:1). The Lord sent a foreign army against Rehoboam, along with a warning from His prophets, and once again Rehoboam and the people humbled themselves and returned to God. Still, the final analysis given in 2 Chronicles 12:14, Rehoboam is described as doing “evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.”

A later king, Asa, was told by a prophet, “The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you” (2 Chron. 15:2). These words spurred Asa, who was a righteous king, to lead Judah in seeking the Lord even more, and putting away false gods from the land. Still, as with Rehoboam, Asa did not follow God as fully later in life, for we read in 2 Chronicles 16:12, “Asa became diseased in his feet…yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.”

Uzziah was another example of a king of Judah who relied on himself and not the Lord as he became stronger. 2 Chronicles 26:16 tells us, “But when (Uzziah) was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.” This activity was forbidden to all but the Levitical priests, but Uzziah’s sense of self-importance led him to think that he had a right to a realm that God had not granted him. God punished Uzziah by striking him with leprosy for the rest of his life.

Some kings never made an attempt to follow God. Such was King Ahaz, who followed all of the false gods of the nations around Judah as well as their religious customs, such as sacrificing his children in a fire to a false god. For his unfaithfulness, God sent enemies to defeat Ahaz, but unlike other kings, Ahaz failed to receive God’s message of warning. 2 Chronicles 28:22 says, “Now in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the Lord.” In fact, the following verses describe how Ahaz began to serve the gods of the nations that defeated him in battle, thinking that these idols were what had given them success.

Another wicked king was Manasseh. Not only did Manasseh serve false gods, but he also set up altars and images for them right in the middle of God’s holy temple! Manasseh also served as a bad example for the people he ruled; according to 2 Chronicles 33:9, “So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.” But this story has a happier ending than those of other ungodly kings. God caused Manasseh to be taken captive to Babylon, and it was there that the king humbled himself, repented of his wickedness, and returned to God.

There were also examples of good kings. Of King Hezekiah we read, “He did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered” (2 Chron. 31:20-21). Of Josiah it is said, “Thus Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers” (2 Chron. 34:33).

You will find many of these types of examples as you read through all 36 chapters of 2 Chronicles. To me, the book conveys a profoundly personal message that God has for His people. He wants us to be sensitive to Him, to always put Him first, and to seek Him with all of our heart.

Just as in the life of the nation of Judah and in the lives of the men who led it, events in our lives are never disconnected from our spiritual condition – from where our heart is before God. Are we following Him with our whole heart and seeking to do what He tells us? When the Lord rebukes us (for all of us go astray), do we listen to His warning, or do we choose to reject His word and press on to our own detriment? When times get tough, do we turn to other things besides our God for help? Or do we call out to Him for His mercy and grace? On the other hand, when we succeed and are strong, do we attribute the good times to our own credit, or do we give God the glory, remaining humble before Him?

As we ponder the lessons that God teaches us through 2 Chronicles, let us remember one of my favorite verses in all of that book: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (2 Chron. 16:9).

Re-Entering The Blogosphere

All I can say is, it’s time. It’s time to finally get back to writing. There may be some who used to read my blog entries*, and if so, perhaps they wondered where I went when I quietly slipped out of the blogosphere over one year ago now.

It may be an overused excuse, but in this case it’s true (and I hope it will be understood): I’ve been busy. To be specific, I have been hard at work pursuing a degree in professional accounting at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. I’ve enrolled in heavy course-loads year round (even summer), and anyone who has done full-time college work knows how busy such work can make you. On my welcome breaks from school, I’ve thought about starting to blog again, but I’ve never put serious effort into the undertaking until now. I still have a year of school left to go (and after that, Lord willing, an entry into the even busier workforce), so more busy times await me. However, the difference now is, that I shall attempt to blog when I can in between the homework and lectures.

But there is more to it than being busy. I have found that it is a fact that business school can sap your creativity if you’re not careful. You see, business school (to say nothing of accounting training) offers the student little in the way of creative or artistic studies. There is much, however, in the way of numbers, figures, ratios, percentages, mathematical problems, a little algebra here and there (but thankfully no calculus), Excel spreadsheets, and financial statements. In the business world, we use all of these things to figure out what the statistical, financial, and business reality of the world really is, and to determine, based on that, the most profitable way forward. There’s no poetry, no prose, no daydreaming, and no flights of fancy. Even the “out-of-the-box” thinking that is often encouraged in business continues to be strictly in a business sense, in the final analysis. All this to say, that if you were given to creative endeavors now and then (as I was) upon entering business school, then an extended stay in that black-and-white world of facts and figures can squeeze your creative juices dry if you let it.

Then there’s the little problem that, of all the characters that people the business world, accountants are probably the least literary.** I personally do not have this problem, since I have long nurtured a love for reading and writing. But this trait seems to be rare among accountants, who breathe daily the dusty atmosphere of numbers. Even the writing that we are called upon to do is often already written for us, as in the case of most audit opinions, which are extremely formulaic (with only a slight change here and there, if needed, to a set template). The footnotes of financial statements should force accountants to call upon whatever literary prowess the do possess, since it is there that the inner workings behind the numbers of a particular set of financial statements are explained so that the reader may understand. I say “should”, because a cursory reading of the average set of financial statements proves that this purpose has usually not been well-served except with regard to the most business-savvy among us.

If that were not proof enough of the literary weakness found in the accounting world, I once saw a flyer handed out by my university’s Accounting Association (which I would have expected to know better); on its title page, the word “Accounting” was spelled “Accaounting”.


But I assume you didn’t come here to read about the accounting world and all of its consolidations, methods, rules, and regulations, though I may have something to say about these mostly boring subjects in later entries. What did you, and (hopefully) what will you come here to read from time to time? I hope to provide anew some of the things I used to provide in this space – some humor, some serious and thought-provoking subjects, a few aimless ramblings interspersed among the other more coherent offerings. But I want to strive for a lot more. I want this blog to be a lively discussion (which, hopefully, with your input, does not have to be one-sided) about all the countless things that make up our world and define what it means to be alive and human. It may take different forms – non-fiction most of the time, but perhaps also fiction or even poetry.

I hope that time and business school have not dented in any way my ability or desire to write. I doubt that they have, and I am sure that with a little practice and creative thought I will regain my equilibrium. The bottom line is, there is only one way to find out, and that is to get writing again. I trust it will be a fun and productive journey. Won’t you join me?

*Author’s Note: Such people came under the heading “Last of a Dying Breed” back when I was actively blogging. Since then, I am sure they have gone the way of the Dodo Bird.

**Author’s Note: I was about to say that the accountants were the least creative. But have you seen a Goldman Sachs income statement lately?

In Memoriam

Stop. Whatever it is you’re doing. Maybe you’re at a get-together, or barbecuing, or shopping at a blockbuster holiday sale, or just sitting back, watching a ballgame, and enjoying the tail end of a three-day weekend. Whatever it is, stop for a moment. Stop and reflect on the fact that, whatever it is you’re doing, it came to you at a price paid by others. And that’s not just something we say because someone designated today as Memorial Day. It is a very real statement of fact.

Today we say “thank you” to those brave people who cannot hear us say it because they went to war “over there” and never came back. We remember the nameless, faceless figures who fill the pages of our history books, people our battle paintings, and are portrayed in our war movies. They may be only a concept to us, but each was a real person, with feelings and dreams and families and, in most cases, most of their lives ahead of them. But they chose to risk all of that for their country. Someone has wisely pointed out that America, for all of its great military power and reach, has neither asked nor gotten anything in return for its sorrow except enough ground to bury her dead. We are now, whether we realize it or not, reaping the fruit of the labors of those long dead, who neither knew us nor had us in mind when they died; they were thinking only of those back home, whom they would never see again – a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, a spouse, a sweetheart, a best friend. We get to live the comparatively carefree lives they would have liked to have lived, in part because of their sacrifice.

Our generation is no stranger to armed conflict, and neither was our father’s, or our grandfather’s, or our great-grandfather’s. Perhaps you know someone who has gone off to war, and perhaps you know of one who did not come back. I myself have an ancestor, my great-grandmother’s brother, son of Slovak immigrants, who went back to the old continent to fight for the Allied cause in World War I. He was killed in a train accident just as he was coming back from the front when the war was over and won – a particularly tragic way to die in a theater filled with nothing but tragedy.

But there were other scenes no less tragic. Think of the soldier who falls on a live grenade to save his buddies. Think of the man who died charging up that hill which no one ever noted or long remembered, or ever knew why it was worth charging up. Think of the countless numbers who died swimming ashore at Normandy and never got to liberate France or the rest of tyranny-enslaved Europe. Think of those hundreds of thousands who died at the hands of their own countrymen in the Civil War. Think of those surprised by death at Pearl Harbor, or taken off-guard by a harmless-looking suicide bomber in Iraq or an invisible guerrilla in Vietnam.

We can shudder as we read numbers. Over half a million died in the Civil War. Almost that many died in World War II. America was in World War I for only a year and a half, but over 100,000 died there. And there are thousands and thousands more. But behind all of those numbers – each digit and each comma – there is a face, a real person who once lived and breathed like we all do today. We have each and every one of those individuals to thank, and as Abraham Lincoln said, we cannot ever repay those who gave the last full measure of devotion.

They did not die just for watermelons and hot dogs and volleyball and baseball and furniture sales and fireworks. They died for freedom. They stopped living so that we could continue to live by the ideal that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Without their sacrifice we might be in danger today of being thrown in prison for disagreeing with the government, or put on trial for something we wore, or killed for being Jewish or for worshipping God. We might be speaking another language or be occupied by a foreign power, were it not for the struggles of many on our behalf. It is not only we who give thanks today, but hopefully all the millions in the other countries for which American blood was and is shed.

You can go on now. Eat your watermelon – it won’t be cold much longer. Get back to your conversation or your friendly game. Un-mute your TV or continue with your bargain-hunting. I just wanted to make sure we all remembered what this day was really all about. On the face of it, all these things are free – but they’re really not. Somebody else paid for them. Freedom isn’t free. If we ever stop stopping now and then to remember that, I suppose we won’t be free anymore. Oh, and one more thing – if you’re reading this and you did come back from “over there” – thank you. Thank you for your service to our great nation.

He Is Risen!

Easter – time to put on our best Sunday clothes, go to church (perhaps early in the morning for a sunrise service), eat a brunch, have an Easter egg hunt, celebrate the newness of spring with our family, eat more candy in one day than is healthy, and perhaps end the day by watching Charlton Heston part the Red Sea. A pleasant holiday, right?
All these things and more make Easter a very nice time of the year, but all these things and more dramatically miss the point. Easter (or Resurrection Sunday) is the single most triumphant, important, and history-changing day of remembrance that there is on the calendar. It is more than an invigorating Sunday picnic – it is as serious as our eternal destiny.
We mark Resurrection Sunday as that first day of the week on which our Lord Jesus rose from the dead. Without that day, all other celebrations of any kind would be meaningless. Christmas would be as much of an exercise in head-knowledge as celebrating George Washington’s birthday in February. Good Friday would not be good at all, because it would simply be a day of remembering the tragic, needless – and useless – death of another religious leader.
With no resurrection, all celebrations would be hollow, as would our lives and our faith. The apostle Paul said it best in 1 Corinthians 15. In verse 17, he says “And if Christ is not raised, your faith is vain – you are still in your sins.” Paul follows that up in verse 19 with, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we (Christians) are of all men most miserable.” Why does he say that?
Jesus made the most astounding claims that any man has or could ever make. He claimed to be the Light of the World. He claimed to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life – the only way of access to God the Father. He even claimed God was His Father and that He was equal with Him. Jesus’ intention, if His words are to be taken at all seriously, was to die for the sins of mankind and to rise again on the third day after that.
But if Jesus did not rise from the dead, He was a liar, and not even one of His words should carry any weight. If the Man who claimed to be God, very Light and Life in human form, died and stayed dead, then there is no reality to what He said. We may choose to follow His teachings or not, but our decision would make no eternal difference. The joyful, earnest proclamations of Christian preachers and missionaries – even the mighty letters of Paul himself – would fall to the earth with a sickening thud because they are not true. Because if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then the sacrificial death He claimed to die was just an ordinary death like all the others, and certainly not a real sacrifice for sin that appeased His Father.
However, Paul’s words ring across the centuries and give hope and meaning to Easter and all of the other days – “But now IS Christ risen from the dead” (1 Cor. 15:20). Only because of that can he say in verse 55, “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” Jesus indeed rose from the dead and proved for all time that He alone has defeated sin, hell, and the grave. Every word He spoke was truth and life itself.
Several years ago I went through a dark period in my life in which I questioned my beliefs. I wondered if Christianity was indeed true and if its claims were more than wishful thinking. I was afraid of death and wanted to know what, if anything, was on the other side of it. This led to deep unrest in my soul and depression in my heart for a time; but God gave me the victory. What calmed my fears and bolstered my faith?
It was not proof that the Bible is an authentic document. It was no piece of archaeology from Old Testament times. It was not even an argument that satisfied me that Christianity makes more sense than other philosophies. The fact of the resurrection alone was and is enough for me to stake my eternal security on, for it alone is enough to prove that Christ’s claims are true in their entirety.
In John 14:19, Jesus said, “Because I live, you too shall live.” In John 11:25-26, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Because Christ did not stay dead, neither will anyone who puts his or her trust in Him. For the believer in Jesus, there is life on both sides of death, and the grave is no longer a thing to be feared. Ever since this truth was brought to bear in my soul in a personal way, Easter has been a deeper and richer celebration for me than it ever was before. The Resurrection of Christ is the key to it all.
But if you have not yet put your trust in Christ for salvation, Jesus Himself asks you that question, “Do YOU believe this?” The resurrection that vindicated Christ’s sacrifice for your sin has no meaning or power for you if you will not receive it as your own. What better day than Easter to come to the Cross and leave your burden of sin there, only to rise and gaze at the Empty Tomb to realize that your salvation and eternal life have been secured for you forever?
For those of us who know this salvation in a personal way, Easter is just one of the days, besides the other 364, on which we may triumphantly cry, “He is risen! He is risen indeed!”

It Was For You

You may or may not be aware that today is Good Friday, and you may or may not be observing it. In fact, people observe Good Friday in different ways. Some go to church on this day. Others don’t go to church but quietly observe the day in their own way as they go about their business. And, of course, some people don’t see much significance in Good Friday (even if others might) and treat it as any other day.
Whatever your attitude toward this particular day is, you may be surprised when I say that Good Friday could not be a more personal day for you even if it was your own birthday. And I am not exaggerating.
Good Friday (as it has become known via tradition) is the day commemorating Jesus’ death by crucifixion around 30 A.D. It’s not an exact anniversary, but it is generally accurate to the time of year, since we know Jesus died during the Jewish celebration of Passover, which comes at this time of year. Obviously, it is a religious day, one that, as I mentioned previously, can be observed by going to church. However, Good Friday is not a special religious holiday that comes around once a year, gives us a special religious feeling, and then passes on to leave us unchanged. The event that Good Friday commemorates is nothing short of the first in the most important series of events ever to happen on this earth. And, again, as I said before, it could not be more personal to you if it were your own birthday or wedding anniversary – and it has a meaning that, if you will allow it to do so, cannot but turn your very existence upside down.
What is the significance of the death of Jesus of Nazareth? If your view of the matter is that it was the death of the Founder of a great religion, remembered by the faithful in the same sense as the death of Muhammad or Buddha, then your view is incorrect. If you think that Jesus’ death was the tragic, untimely, and unjust end to the life of a great leader, in the same way as perhaps those of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, or John F. Kennedy were, then again you are mistaken. Either of these opinions contradicts what the Bible says about Jesus and what Jesus said about Himself. You see, Jesus’ death had everything to do with you and me.
Jesus Himself claimed to be more than a great religious, political, or philosophical figure. He claimed to be the Son of God – “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus claimed to be the only way to God the Father – “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Repeatedly, Jesus predicted that He would die by crucifixion and then rise again on the third day after – and it came to pass exactly as He predicted. Jesus claimed that this death would be for the eternal life of the world – “The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). These are just a few of the claims of Jesus, and if you want to read them and others like them for yourself, then simply read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (especially John). Don’t let anyone else tell you who Jesus was. Let Jesus Himself tell you who He is. If you look at it objectively, you can’t escape the conclusion that Jesus made astounding claims unlike those made by any other – claims that must be either believed wholeheartedly and in their totality if true or, if false, rejected altogether as the ravings of a madman. There is no middle ground.
Some like to get into debates as to who was responsible for Jesus’ death – was it “those evil Jews” or “those wicked Romans”? The fact is that it was neither of these at whose feet we must lay the blame. Jesus said in John 10:17-18, “I lay down My life, that I might take it up again. No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment I have received from My Father.” Here Jesus is saying that He had power over His own life, to let it go or not as He chose – and He chose to let it go. He was not at the mercy of either the Jewish or Roman authorities, or of anyone else.
The nails in Jesus’ hands and feet were not what kept Him on the cross. Indeed, when He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said, “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53). Jesus could have put an end to the arrest, the sham trial, the merciless beating, and even His own execution had He just said the word. But He never did, for one reason. The only thing that kept Him on that cross was His own love for you and me, who alone are responsible for sending Him there in the first place. That’s right – you and I were the ones who killed Jesus, or more particularly, your and my sin.
The very reason that Jesus came to this earth, lived for 33 perfect years, and died a death He never deserved was not to set an example, or to found a great religion, or to be a great leader. The reason was so that you and I – and every person who has lived and will ever live – might have the chance to be reconciled to God their Creator. But how can this be? How can one Man’s death make us right with God?
It was not the horrific physical details of Jesus’ death that accomplished this. In fact, I or anyone else could claim to be dying for the world, and then do it, but that would change nothing afterward. And so it would have been with Jesus had He only been any other man. But Jesus was not just any other man. He was God come to earth in the flesh, and when He died He literally carried in Himself the sins of everyone who would ever be born, past, present, or future. While He was on the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He said this because God, His Father, had literally turned His back on His Son because at that moment He had literally become the sin of the world, on which God was pouring out the full portion of His just wrath. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “For He (God) has made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” And again, in 1 Peter 2:24, “(Jesus) Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree (cross), that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed.”
You see, Jesus came – though He did not have to – because you and I have an irreversible problem from birth. We are sinners, and God cannot let sin into His presence. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”; and Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” Our sin problem separates us from God so that we cannot have a right relationship with Him in this life or in the one to come. And even if we try our hardest to live good lives, no amount of our effort can ever restore our right standing with God. Tragically, the damage has already been done.
God knew this was our plight, but He was not content to let it remain that way. He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He loved us so much that He sent His Son to earth in human flesh to be our Substitute. Jesus lived a sinless life and met all of God’s requirements (which we could never do); then, on the cross, He took upon Himself the full punishment that was justly due to you and to me for our sin. In so doing, Jesus made a way for His perfect righteousness to be transferred to all who trust Him and His finished work for their salvation. On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, proving that God had accepted His payment for our sin forever.
Dear friend, just think – for you Almighty God left His own heavenly home to face the most extreme humiliation by coming to earth as a human and dying a death He did not deserve so that your sins could rightfully be forgiven! What love He has shown for you and for me! It is impossible for anyone to completely express all that God has done for each of us. Jesus has paid it all; He has provided a complete atonement for our sin.
But you may remember that I said that we have a “chance” to be reconciled to God. What is there left to be done? Only one thing. Jesus has provided your salvation, but He does not force you to take it. He is calling each of us to make a decision. Will we fall on our face before God and acknowledge our sin and throw our complete trust onto Jesus and what He has done to save us? Or will we for any reason reject His finished work? The choice is up to you and to me. I have chosen by God’s grace to trust in Jesus alone for my salvation and to follow Him with my whole life. Acts 4:12 says, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” This verse speaks of Jesus, who Himself said, as we have mentioned, in John 14:6, that He is the only way to the Father.
Good Friday represents God’s gift to every person who comes into the world. But what if they choose not to receive it? Unfortunately, there is no other alternative. The book of Hebrews has something to say about this. In Hebrews 2:3, it says, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” And in 10:26, 27, 29, we read, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, which will devour the adversaries…Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy, who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”
What this means is simply that if we reject the atonement that Jesus purchased for us on the cross, then that is our final chance. God can do no more for us than He has already done. He does not want us to be separated from Him forever, but if we reject Him, He must allow it to be so. And there are many ways in which we can reject our Savior, or “trample Him underfoot” and “count His blood an unholy thing.” We can do it by saying to God, “No, I don’t need a Savior – I’m just fine the way I am. I may not be perfect, but my sin doesn’t separate me from God.” 1 John 1:8 contradicts this idea – “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Isaiah 59:2 also presents an opposing viewpoint – “But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”
We can tell God, “I thank you for sending Jesus to die for me, but I believe that that is not enough to save me – I must strive to get to heaven by my good works as well.” Again, this attitude insults the very God who has given us salvation and His Son who cried out with His last breath, “It (meaning the complete salvation of those who trust Him) is finished!” Or we may say, “That is fine to believe if you want, but I believe that I can be saved another way.” But we have already seen Jesus’ own claims that He stood as the only Way to the Father. It may not be nice or convenient to think that anybody who chooses another way is going the wrong way, but this is nonetheless what Jesus Himself – not I or any other person – proclaimed while on this earth; and He also said, “For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it; because narrow is the way, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13). The apostle Paul also asserts that there is only one way, in 1 Timothy 2:5-6 – “For there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all.”
My friend, God has given you every chance to be made right with Him, and I am writing this so that you may know the truth of what Jesus has done for you. I have tried to describe how Good Friday is personal to you, not just some generic and powerless religious holy day driven by mere tradition. Jesus is calling you individually to come to Him in faith and trust what He has done to give you eternal life. He has allowed you to read about His truth today, and He beckons you to decide what you will do with that truth. If you have not done so, this may very well be the last chance you ever get to do it, for none of us knows what a day may bring forth. As Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you WILL be saved!”

Does God Grade on a Curve?

Anyone who has ever gone to school or college for very long must be familiar with the idea of grading on a curve. This is a grading system in which students are graded relative to each other, and not necessarily by an objective grading scale in which one percentage of right answers always earns an A, and another a B, and so on. With a curve, what otherwise might have been a C or a D on a test might be turned into an A or a B if the whole class did relatively poorly. Just last semester, I had an accounting class in which I would have received at the most a B (or more likely a C) if I had been graded on my actual percentage of available points earned. But since the curve in that class turned out to be rather generous (it was a pretty difficult course), I got an A (and of course I didn’t complain one bit).
It’s nice to be graded on a curve once in a while when we’re in school, but once we head out into real life, we aren’t guaranteed those kinds of breaks. If we fail at something, we fail, and we don’t always get a second try or special consideration because we gave it our best or because we did better than some or even most. I suppose in some ways a curve can help us get through college but doesn’t really prepare us for some of the harsh realities of life.
But this gets me to thinking about an even bigger test than any semester final – and one bigger even than real life. It’s the test that comes after our life is over. That there is such a test is clear from God’s Word, the Bible. Hebrews 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment”; and again, in Romans 14:10, 12, we read “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ…so then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”
Let’s take a moment and consider what this “ultimate final exam” might be like. What do you think God’s grading criteria are? Perhaps He has a great ledger or scale, on one side of which is heaped all of the bad things we’ve ever done, and on the other is gathered all of our good deeds. If the good deeds outweigh the bad deeds, then we get to go to heaven, but if it’s the other way around, we would then be thrown into hell.
But perhaps it’s not that simple. Maybe it’s more complex than that. Maybe more good works than bad aren’t enough. Maybe God also weighs our good works relative other people’s; perhaps He expects our good works to not just outweigh the bad ones, but to be exceptionally good. Maybe only then will He let us into heaven. Or maybe God will give us second chances or “bonus points”. Maybe if our good works are good, but not quite enough to get us in on the first try, He will send us back to earth in a reincarnation of sorts to complete what was lacking; or maybe He will send us to some place in between heaven and hell until we are completely purified from what was keeping us from getting into heaven at first. Perhaps it may be that God only lets an exclusive group into heaven, like members of a certain religion or denomination, or those who were baptized as infants, or those who walked down an aisle and said a prayer.
On the other hand, maybe God has lower standards than we may think; perhaps He will let in everyone who’s at least tried very hard to keep the Ten Commandments, or everyone except murderers, or maybe even, in His great goodness, everyone!
What would you say if I told you that, according to the Bible, none of these hypothetical scenarios are true? They couldn’t be, if what the Bible says is true. God teaches us in His Word that His standard for passing is a perfect 100% score. Habakkuk 1:13 says of our Creator, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.” Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, “Therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect”, echoing God’s Old Testament command to “Be holy, even as I am holy.” That doesn’t leave much room for error, does it? Perfect is perfect, and holy is holy – spotless and without blame.
You may say to this, “God doesn’t expect anybody to really be perfect. I keep the Ten Commandments – don’t I get credit for that?” But do we really keep the Ten Commandments? Have you ever told a lie, even once? Have you ever put anything in your life before God in importance? Have you ever stolen (or just coveted) something that belonged to someone else? Jesus Himself drove past the “letter” of these commandments and penetrated to the very spirit of them. In Matthew 5, in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said these things – “You have heard it said, ‘You shall not murder…but I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” and “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery’, but I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” If the Ten Commandments are looked at in this way, we are all guilty of breaking at least one of them. And James 2:10 tells us bluntly, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” 1 John 3:4 sums it up this way – “Whoever commits sin also transgresses the law; for sin is the transgression of the law.”
But you may reply, “Yes, but God knows that nobody is perfect! That’s just the goal, and if we try our hardest to get there, He will understand.” Consider what Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23 – “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”
How can this be? How can Jesus cast out from His kingdom those who had done such wonderful works – and in His name, no less? Perhaps this is puzzling because we are looking at heaven and how to get there the wrong way, and perhaps if we looked at it the way the Bible teaches us, much of the confusion would vanish.
You see, according to the Bible, heaven is not a reward for good people. Heaven is the dwelling place of Almighty God. We saw a verse earlier that says that God is of purer eyes than to look upon sin; 1 John 1:5 adds, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” Sin is darkness, and ever since our first forefather Adam sinned, and since each of us have followed in his footsteps, God cannot allow sinful man into His presence. Jeremiah 17:9 gives us a bleak diagnosis – “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” This applies to all people, no matter how good we think we may be compared to others. Isaiah 64:6 tells us how our personal “righteousness” compares with God’s standard, the only one that counts – “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Psalm 14:3 adds to the bleak picture – “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is none that does good – no, not one.”
You may choose to disagree with the Bible’s assessment of the human condition, but God has said all of these things in His Word, and He cannot lie. Proverbs 20:9 says, “Who can say, ‘I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin’?” And 1 John 1:8 bluntly states, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Sin is not merely a matter of “nobody’s perfect”; it is a matter of life and death. God has no choice but to assess on all of us, regardless of what we may believe our merit is, the penalty due our sin. Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, so that He will not hear.” Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” Sin is the reason why our earthly lives are cut short by death in the first place, and the reason why we are separated from our Creator both in this life and the next.
It is vitally important for us to understand that we cannot get to heaven by our good works. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 3:20 – “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Paul was referring to the Law given to the nation of Israel, which included the Ten Commandments. His point is that no amount of our trying to keep God’s rules can make us righteous before Him, because the very reason for the Law was to show us that we cannot keep it – and therefore we cannot become truly righteous by our effort.
Is there any hope, then? Ah, but there is, and that is the greatest news of all! The same just God that cannot look upon sin and must punish it is the same God who loves the people He created and does not want any of them to perish. So what can He do? He will not – cannot – turn a blind eye to our sin. Therefore, God made a way so that His perfect justice could be satisfied while at the same time making a way for us to be saved. How? By sending His Son Jesus to earth to be a man, live a perfect sinless life, and die on a cross for your sin and mine. Christ accomplished what none of our works could ever do by taking on Himself the punishment of death that we rightfully deserved. In return for taking our “failing grade”, Jesus transferred His perfect righteousness to our behalf! 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Three days after Jesus died, God raised Him from the dead, proving to all of the universe that His work of redeeming mankind was complete and fully accepted by a holy God.
There remains only one thing that each of us can do. John 3:16, perhaps, the most familiar of all Bible verses, tells us what it is – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Our part is simply to put our faith in what Christ has already done for us. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Consider what Jesus said in John 5:28-29: “Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’” This “belief”, however, is not merely a head-knowledge or an assent in the same way that you believe very strongly and sincerely that Barack Obama is the President of the United States. It is a belief that changes your very life. It is an agreement with God about your own lost condition without Him and a full faith and trust that what Jesus did on the cross for you is in and of itself the only way for you to be reconciled to God and be set free from sin and its wages.
So you see, salvation can never come by our effort. On the contrary, we are never closer to salvation than when we see our own utter sinfulness in God’s sight, our inability to please Him, and our helplessness and need for a Savior. God has supplied that Savior for us, and our part is only to turn from the sin that separates us from God and place our faith wholeheartedly in what God has done for us. God does the rest, as Titus 3:5 says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit”; and as Ephesians 2:8-9 proclaims, “For by grace you have been saved, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
All of this is why Jesus could say to those who were religious (they did good works in Jesus’ name) and did good works “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” You see, sin separates us from a right relationship with God. The only way we can “know” God in any way is to be reconciled with Him, and the only way to be reconciled to God is through Jesus and His redeeming work on the cross. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man can come to the Father except through Me.” We can do many things we believe are good enough to get us into heaven, and we can even do them in God’s name, but if we have not trusted in the Way that He has provided for us to come to Him, then He will have no choice but to say to us, too, “I never knew you.” If we do not come to God His way, we are still in our sin and separated from God. But when we come to God through faith alone in Jesus alone, our sins – past, present, and future – can be fully and rightfully forgiven and our relationship with our Creator will be restored forever. Then we can truly have a personal relationship with the One who created us and gave all to save us.
You may say to all of this, “I just can’t believe that good people can’t get to heaven. Are you saying that good works are worthless? Are you saying that a serial killer can be saved by trusting in Christ on his deathbed, but someone who has tried all of their life to do good will never make it to heaven?” This is exactly what I am saying. God does not save people based on works, but based on His own mercy and grace. The very definition of “mercy” is “not getting what we deserve”, and “grace” means “getting what we do not deserve”. As I have attempted to show, God’s standards are very different from ours, and to be saved we must first come to the understanding – given only by God – that we cannot make it on our own. Because of what Christ did, God can justly spare us the eternal death we deserve because of our sin, and give us the eternal life with Him that we could never deserve by our own merit.
This does not mean that good works are of no value at all, nor that once a person has been saved he or she becomes perfect. God commands us throughout the pages of His Word – and shows us how – to live righteously and to turn from sin; furthermore, He gives those who are saved His Spirit to live with them and enable them to keep God’s ways (and to notify them and help them correct their ways when they do not). However, the key is in the understanding of what saves us, and the realization that our own effort is not enough for salvation in God’s sight. Only Jesus alone – not Jesus plus our good works, or Jesus plus anything else – can save. The good works that we do are not done to obtain salvation or God’s favor, but to show our love for and obedience to the One who paid it all for us.
So, in closing, the answer is no, God does not grade on a curve. He demands 100% from all of His “students” in order for them to pass – which, of course, they can never do. The good news is that God has made a way for those students to pass by taking on Himself their failing grade and giving them the perfect one He has purchased for them. Have you placed your trust in Jesus? “For there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12); “Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31).