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?
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
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!”
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!”
Friday, April 2, 2010
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!”
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!”
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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).
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).
Saturday, March 13, 2010
My Testimony
Today, March 13, is my 16th spiritual birthday. It is the anniversary of the Sunday night in 1994 on which I asked God to save me from my sin and to make me His child. And I know that He did, because “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21).
I had begun to understand salvation before that evening, and I certainly have come to a far richer understanding of it in the years since. However, it was on that night at church that I decided to make a public decision to follow Christ. My testimony is not nearly as dramatic as that of many Christians, who testify that when they were saved their life was dramatically changed from one of sin and deep pain to one of joy and righteousness. I was only days shy of my tenth birthday when I became a Christian, so there was hardly that kind of drastic outward change in my life. But to deny any profound change at all would be wrong.
You see, the Bible promises that anybody who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what their age, has “passed from death into life” (John 5:24). It may not have been visible, but on that day my entire spiritual destiny was changed from eternal separation from God (guaranteed by the fact that I had sinned against Him) to eternal life (guaranteed by the fact that Jesus had died to pay the penalty for my sin). It also meant that, even though my testimony may not have been as dramatic as some, I had a chance that not all Christians receive – the chance to truly know God and walk with Him from an early age.
Ever since that evening, I have grown stronger in my faith and in the knowledge of Jesus. That doesn’t mean I never struggle in life or never fail to please God in living according to His ways. But I also have come to understand that spiritual salvation was never my doing, and it is not my effort that keeps me saved. Jesus said that all who come to Him are drawn by God Himself (John 6:44), and Paul wrote, “It is God who works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). I can no more be saved and stay saved by my own good works than a person can become a car by sitting in a garage. It took God to work in my heart to show me my sin and need for a Savior and to draw me to respond to that revelation by placing my full faith and trust in Him to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Once I am saved, I will always belong to Christ, because Jesus promised, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish – neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28).
So today is a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving for me. I shall be eternally grateful to God for giving me new life in Christ. My goal now is to please Him in every area of my life and to fulfill His will for me while I live on this earth. Part of His will is that I tell others about what He has done for me.
Perhaps you are reading this and do not understand what I am talking about. I would love nothing more than to know that, even if nothing else that I ever write encourages or ministers to anyone, this piece has helped just one person to understand personally the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
This knowledge is good news, but it starts with very bad news. Why do we have to be saved in the first place? The Bible says that each one of us has sinned against God’s perfect laws – we have lied, or stolen, or cheated, or hurt someone else, or been prideful and selfish. All these attitudes and actions are sins, and God cannot allow any sin – not even the least bit – into His presence. John writes that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). This means that our sin, which is darkness, can do nothing except separate us from God – not only from fellowship with Him while we live on earth, but also from being in His presence in heaven after we die. What is more, we cannot reverse our condition by trying to live good lives, because the Bible also says that even our best efforts at righteousness “are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6. In other words, those efforts, even at their very best, cannot begin to meet God’s holy and perfect requirements.
What hope is there, if we cannot possibly save ourselves from our own sin even if we wanted to? What is impossible with humans is possible with God (Matthew 19:26). God loves the people that He created, and He does not want their situation to be as it is. He loved us so much that He sent Jesus Christ, His own Son, who is equal with God Himself, down to earth to be a human and to die for them so that they might truly live. How could Jesus’ death save us? Jesus, being divine, lived a sinless life on the earth even while confining Himself to the imperfect constraints of humanity (2 Corinthians 5:21). At His death, God poured out on Jesus all the sins that humans had and would ever commit – and Jesus bore them all in His own body as He died as a sacrifice for us. Thus God’s wrath was satisfied, having been taken out on His own Son, who deserved none of it. Three days after He died, God raised Jesus from the dead, proving that He accepted this wonderful sacrifice. This made it possible to transfer Jesus’ own perfect righteousness to the sinful people who simply believe on Him with all their heart.
Do you see that Jesus has done it all for you? All that He asks is that you believe that He died for your sins and rose again the third day (Romans 10:9). He wants you to confess that you have sinned against Him, and to be truly willing to turn from your sin and to Him; He calls you to trust that His sacrifice alone is sufficient to save you completely and to make you His child. If you ask Him to save you in this way, and mean it with all your heart, He will do it. Jesus Himself promised – “Him that comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). He also said that all of heaven rejoices when just one person comes to be saved (Luke 15:7). Christ’s Spirit will come into your heart and life forever and help you to live in a way that pleases Him (John 16).
Thank you for reading about the greatest subject any writer could write about – and I pray that you will truly take what I have written to heart. I will close with the words of one of my favorite hymns:
“And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain;
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love, how can it be;
That Thou my God shouldst die for me?
He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O My God it found out me!
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Mine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine.
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown through Christ my own.”
I had begun to understand salvation before that evening, and I certainly have come to a far richer understanding of it in the years since. However, it was on that night at church that I decided to make a public decision to follow Christ. My testimony is not nearly as dramatic as that of many Christians, who testify that when they were saved their life was dramatically changed from one of sin and deep pain to one of joy and righteousness. I was only days shy of my tenth birthday when I became a Christian, so there was hardly that kind of drastic outward change in my life. But to deny any profound change at all would be wrong.
You see, the Bible promises that anybody who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what their age, has “passed from death into life” (John 5:24). It may not have been visible, but on that day my entire spiritual destiny was changed from eternal separation from God (guaranteed by the fact that I had sinned against Him) to eternal life (guaranteed by the fact that Jesus had died to pay the penalty for my sin). It also meant that, even though my testimony may not have been as dramatic as some, I had a chance that not all Christians receive – the chance to truly know God and walk with Him from an early age.
Ever since that evening, I have grown stronger in my faith and in the knowledge of Jesus. That doesn’t mean I never struggle in life or never fail to please God in living according to His ways. But I also have come to understand that spiritual salvation was never my doing, and it is not my effort that keeps me saved. Jesus said that all who come to Him are drawn by God Himself (John 6:44), and Paul wrote, “It is God who works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). I can no more be saved and stay saved by my own good works than a person can become a car by sitting in a garage. It took God to work in my heart to show me my sin and need for a Savior and to draw me to respond to that revelation by placing my full faith and trust in Him to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Once I am saved, I will always belong to Christ, because Jesus promised, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish – neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28).
So today is a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving for me. I shall be eternally grateful to God for giving me new life in Christ. My goal now is to please Him in every area of my life and to fulfill His will for me while I live on this earth. Part of His will is that I tell others about what He has done for me.
Perhaps you are reading this and do not understand what I am talking about. I would love nothing more than to know that, even if nothing else that I ever write encourages or ministers to anyone, this piece has helped just one person to understand personally the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
This knowledge is good news, but it starts with very bad news. Why do we have to be saved in the first place? The Bible says that each one of us has sinned against God’s perfect laws – we have lied, or stolen, or cheated, or hurt someone else, or been prideful and selfish. All these attitudes and actions are sins, and God cannot allow any sin – not even the least bit – into His presence. John writes that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). This means that our sin, which is darkness, can do nothing except separate us from God – not only from fellowship with Him while we live on earth, but also from being in His presence in heaven after we die. What is more, we cannot reverse our condition by trying to live good lives, because the Bible also says that even our best efforts at righteousness “are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6. In other words, those efforts, even at their very best, cannot begin to meet God’s holy and perfect requirements.
What hope is there, if we cannot possibly save ourselves from our own sin even if we wanted to? What is impossible with humans is possible with God (Matthew 19:26). God loves the people that He created, and He does not want their situation to be as it is. He loved us so much that He sent Jesus Christ, His own Son, who is equal with God Himself, down to earth to be a human and to die for them so that they might truly live. How could Jesus’ death save us? Jesus, being divine, lived a sinless life on the earth even while confining Himself to the imperfect constraints of humanity (2 Corinthians 5:21). At His death, God poured out on Jesus all the sins that humans had and would ever commit – and Jesus bore them all in His own body as He died as a sacrifice for us. Thus God’s wrath was satisfied, having been taken out on His own Son, who deserved none of it. Three days after He died, God raised Jesus from the dead, proving that He accepted this wonderful sacrifice. This made it possible to transfer Jesus’ own perfect righteousness to the sinful people who simply believe on Him with all their heart.
Do you see that Jesus has done it all for you? All that He asks is that you believe that He died for your sins and rose again the third day (Romans 10:9). He wants you to confess that you have sinned against Him, and to be truly willing to turn from your sin and to Him; He calls you to trust that His sacrifice alone is sufficient to save you completely and to make you His child. If you ask Him to save you in this way, and mean it with all your heart, He will do it. Jesus Himself promised – “Him that comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). He also said that all of heaven rejoices when just one person comes to be saved (Luke 15:7). Christ’s Spirit will come into your heart and life forever and help you to live in a way that pleases Him (John 16).
Thank you for reading about the greatest subject any writer could write about – and I pray that you will truly take what I have written to heart. I will close with the words of one of my favorite hymns:
“And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain;
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love, how can it be;
That Thou my God shouldst die for me?
He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O My God it found out me!
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Mine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine.
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown through Christ my own.”
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
State of the Union
All the Constitution says – and it says so in Article II, Section 3 – is, “He (the President) shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” That sounds simple enough. And for a long time, it was simple. Before 1913, the custom was for presidents to send Congress a written such report. After 1913, they customarily delivered it verbally in person, and since 1966, such an oration has been televised in the evening. And it has increasingly become more complicated since then in our Age of Television, until it has become one of the most hallowed of American political customs.
It has also become one of the silliest. We just had the annual observance of this event*, and at that time I humorously (at least I thought it was humorous) called it the “State of the Onion Address”. Now I shall peel back each of its layers for you, not unlike an onion. If you don’t laugh, you may cry, because we are all doomed by these goons in Washington. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s proceed from the beginning.
In the first place, the State of the Union address, as it’s currently done, is probably the most bone-headed idea imaginable from a national security standpoint – and the people in Washington know it. Why, everyone in our government’s line of succession (with the possible exception of the last guy on the list**) is gathered in one building at one time. I still have not figured out why no evil-hearted personage has yet tried to take out all of those very important people at once.*** But it is just this possibility that has given them the bright idea of telling at least one person in the line of succession to stay home that evening just in case something goes boom. And then they hope the person they selected would make a competent, if not quite popularly elected, replacement president.
But let’s turn now to the actual plan of attack on such evenings when the President gives his report to a joint session of Congress. The members of Congress and the distinguished guests (which can range from the Supreme Court judges and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Vice-President’s third cousin twice removed or the little boy who sent the President a letter last Tuesday) all get there first and mill around for a while. Then the awaited moment arrives – the Sergeant-at-Arms opens the big double doors to the House Chamber, steps forward, cups his hands around his mouth, and screams, “Mr. (or Madam) Speaker – The President of the United States!” This is always my favorite part, partly because I’ve always found it a touch humorous and partly because it’s the only true thing spoken all evening. But I digress. When this vociferous announcement is made, all the members of Congress and the distinguished guests abruptly stop their hob-knobbing and milling about and erupt into a huge cheer as the leader of the free world walks in. Now is the time for the members of Congress and the distinguished guests to hug, kiss, hand-shake, back-slap, and generally chew the fat with the most powerful person in the world. And such is what happens as the President makes his long way up the aisle to his podium.
Once he reaches the podium, behind which sit the Vice President and the Speaker of the House, the President stands, smiles benevolently, and, still amid the hubbub, awaits the next step – which just happens to be that of the Speaker announcing, “I have the honor of presenting to you (or some such thing like that) the President of the United States!” At this the members of Congress and distinguished guests erupt anew into a huge roar for their featured speaker. This I have never understood. The members of Congress and distinguished guests must have a short attention span or ADHD, or both, because the Sergeant-at-Arms just said basically the exact same thing not ten minutes ago. The President ought to be a man who needs no introduction – but on this night, of all nights in the year, he apparently needs two. But as redundant and inefficient as that may be, that is the custom of our hallowed Republic, and I shall do nothing to disturb it out of its place, or we’re all doomed.
Once the roaring has stopped, the President now has a chance to begin his speech. Strangely enough, he does not begin by introducing himself directly, for apparently another such introduction is not needed. Rather, he gets right to the point – and he can’t afford not to, for he has much to say on a night like this. Customarily, he not only describes what he believes to be the state of our Union, but he also delivers to Congress a long laundry list of things which he hopes they can help him accomplish in the coming year. This is never without controversy, and it is always an interactive process, as I shall describe to you at once.
You see, our government has always been composed of at least two competing parties, and all of them are accounted for in the chamber on such a night like this. Very often the competing parties never agree on anything, including the weather, and their passions don’t take a back seat just because the President is speaking. In fact, the State of the Union speech represents a unique avenue for each party to collectively express itself to the other (and the two viewers by television usually join them, albeit in a more vicarious fashion). Invariably, as the President speaks, the party to which the President belongs, with very few if any exceptions, will agree with what he is both stating and proposing. To show their solidarity with their leader, all the members of the party stand as one and cheer loudly whenever the President makes a point which they consider to be particularly strong, and they also hand-shake, back-slap, and generally congratulate one another in the process for the particularly rare form that their dear leader seems to be in tonight.
While this is going on, there is always a competing and contrasting party, who also must give voice to their opinions and emotions. While the President’s party stands and celebrates a potent zinger, the opposing party usually sits on its hands, with each member wearing an expression suggestive of that which they would wear if their mother-in-law announced (unexpectedly or otherwise) a two-month visit. The emotional divide between the two opposing parties is thus completely evident to all viewers, and it makes for entertaining theater, depending on which party you sympathize with. The only exception to this is when the President makes some more neutral but praiseworthy remark on which it would be simply ghastly for any red-blooded American of any party to sit and not cheer; in a case like this, all members and guests present rise and cheer as one. The two reactions can also switch around on each other, as in the case when the opposing party cheers sarcastically when the President makes some statement or other which they feel strengthens whatever opposing argument the opposing party maintains.
Any reasonable American watching this will quickly come to conclusion that it is quite annoying to listen to a speech that is cut short by applause every two minutes, if not more often than even that. And so it is. But I have come to the conclusion that such applause is quite needful. After all, if there were no applause until the end, the time of the speech would be cut in half, and everyone present or watching via television would probably fall asleep as if the President were telling a bedtime story in a monotone. And since we simply can’t have that, we must have something to keep us awake and engaged.
Is it really necessary, now that we have discussed the general format of a State of the Union speech, to discuss the actual substance of such a speech? If so, only a general mention is in order. The truth is that there is often very little truth in such a speech. The President will often claim that the “state of our Union is strong”, even though in his very speech he proposes to pile on as much massive debt to the already unpayable national debt as he possibly can, in the process endangering the very fiscal health of the Union he claims to serve. If that weren’t enough, the proposals contained in the speech are usually nothing more than idealistic pipe dreams that, more often than not, get cut down to a more pedestrian size once they meet the realities of real life and the legislative process. Still, on this night of all nights, it is the right and privilege of the President and his supporters to dream big dreams, and of his and their detractors to guffaw smugly at the very thought. And so it happens year after year.
The speech, contrary to what some may believe, actually does end, after which the President shakes some more hands as he makes his way back whence he came. It is at this point that my least favorite part happens. It has nothing to do with the President or any member of the halls of government. Rather, it has everything to do with the network news anchors, who feel it is their duty to repeat what we just heard, as if we did not hear it at all, after which they try to tell us what we are supposed to think about what we just heard, even though we were asleep through half of it and didn’t really enjoy or agree with any of it. Perhaps for some a review would be good, since they may have just been awakened by the sudden absence of a lulling monotone, but for the rest of us such commentary quickly amounts to nothing more than more needless hot air.
At least in recent years, it has been a custom with the opposing party to send out one of their own to give a formal response to the President’s speech. Now, this response is indeed a speech, but quite miniature in comparison with the one that was just given. It has to be, for if it were not, the Union would not be able to bear up under the strain of not one but two of these events in one night. Usually it is given somewhere other than in the House chamber, sometimes in an entirely different state. But it is still given, and very few people besides the obligatory news people even bother to tune in. After all, we reason, if the responding politician and his party were such hot stuff, wouldn’t he and they have given the speech we just witnessed?
And thus we have taken a short jaunt through the spectacle that is the State of the Union address. I hope it has been for you a few minutes of your time well-spent. But I’m not betting on it.
*Author’s Note: Nit-picky readers may retort that, in fact, we did NOT “just” have a State of the Union address, that it was in January and this is now March, and that, if we were to go by the author’s sense of time, we will likely be reading soon about last Christmas as if it were last weekend. The author retorts back (just as firmly, if not quite as smart-alecky) that he did in fact begin this article when the event in question was still fresh in everyone’s mind, but that, due to other pressing duties, he has not gotten around to finishing his original idea until now. However, he adds with a significant tone that he possesses, among other things, a rather longer attention span and memory than some in today’s society. The author sincerely hopes that his offering can still be considered sufficiently relevant.
**Author’s Note: I may have to look it up, but I’m pretty sure the last guy on the list of the line of succession is the head janitor at the National Museum of Natural History. I’ve been there before, and I can vouch for the fact that there are a lot of ordinary-looking employees there who look like they know far more than they’re telling. I may be wrong – but I’m just sayin’.
***Author’s Note: Some readers may be of the opinion that this would not be a bad thing to attempt, as it would clear out the halls of government and allow us to start afresh. But I am not of this cynical turn of mind, and I am not here to participate in such ugly and partisan thinking.
It has also become one of the silliest. We just had the annual observance of this event*, and at that time I humorously (at least I thought it was humorous) called it the “State of the Onion Address”. Now I shall peel back each of its layers for you, not unlike an onion. If you don’t laugh, you may cry, because we are all doomed by these goons in Washington. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s proceed from the beginning.
In the first place, the State of the Union address, as it’s currently done, is probably the most bone-headed idea imaginable from a national security standpoint – and the people in Washington know it. Why, everyone in our government’s line of succession (with the possible exception of the last guy on the list**) is gathered in one building at one time. I still have not figured out why no evil-hearted personage has yet tried to take out all of those very important people at once.*** But it is just this possibility that has given them the bright idea of telling at least one person in the line of succession to stay home that evening just in case something goes boom. And then they hope the person they selected would make a competent, if not quite popularly elected, replacement president.
But let’s turn now to the actual plan of attack on such evenings when the President gives his report to a joint session of Congress. The members of Congress and the distinguished guests (which can range from the Supreme Court judges and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Vice-President’s third cousin twice removed or the little boy who sent the President a letter last Tuesday) all get there first and mill around for a while. Then the awaited moment arrives – the Sergeant-at-Arms opens the big double doors to the House Chamber, steps forward, cups his hands around his mouth, and screams, “Mr. (or Madam) Speaker – The President of the United States!” This is always my favorite part, partly because I’ve always found it a touch humorous and partly because it’s the only true thing spoken all evening. But I digress. When this vociferous announcement is made, all the members of Congress and the distinguished guests abruptly stop their hob-knobbing and milling about and erupt into a huge cheer as the leader of the free world walks in. Now is the time for the members of Congress and the distinguished guests to hug, kiss, hand-shake, back-slap, and generally chew the fat with the most powerful person in the world. And such is what happens as the President makes his long way up the aisle to his podium.
Once he reaches the podium, behind which sit the Vice President and the Speaker of the House, the President stands, smiles benevolently, and, still amid the hubbub, awaits the next step – which just happens to be that of the Speaker announcing, “I have the honor of presenting to you (or some such thing like that) the President of the United States!” At this the members of Congress and distinguished guests erupt anew into a huge roar for their featured speaker. This I have never understood. The members of Congress and distinguished guests must have a short attention span or ADHD, or both, because the Sergeant-at-Arms just said basically the exact same thing not ten minutes ago. The President ought to be a man who needs no introduction – but on this night, of all nights in the year, he apparently needs two. But as redundant and inefficient as that may be, that is the custom of our hallowed Republic, and I shall do nothing to disturb it out of its place, or we’re all doomed.
Once the roaring has stopped, the President now has a chance to begin his speech. Strangely enough, he does not begin by introducing himself directly, for apparently another such introduction is not needed. Rather, he gets right to the point – and he can’t afford not to, for he has much to say on a night like this. Customarily, he not only describes what he believes to be the state of our Union, but he also delivers to Congress a long laundry list of things which he hopes they can help him accomplish in the coming year. This is never without controversy, and it is always an interactive process, as I shall describe to you at once.
You see, our government has always been composed of at least two competing parties, and all of them are accounted for in the chamber on such a night like this. Very often the competing parties never agree on anything, including the weather, and their passions don’t take a back seat just because the President is speaking. In fact, the State of the Union speech represents a unique avenue for each party to collectively express itself to the other (and the two viewers by television usually join them, albeit in a more vicarious fashion). Invariably, as the President speaks, the party to which the President belongs, with very few if any exceptions, will agree with what he is both stating and proposing. To show their solidarity with their leader, all the members of the party stand as one and cheer loudly whenever the President makes a point which they consider to be particularly strong, and they also hand-shake, back-slap, and generally congratulate one another in the process for the particularly rare form that their dear leader seems to be in tonight.
While this is going on, there is always a competing and contrasting party, who also must give voice to their opinions and emotions. While the President’s party stands and celebrates a potent zinger, the opposing party usually sits on its hands, with each member wearing an expression suggestive of that which they would wear if their mother-in-law announced (unexpectedly or otherwise) a two-month visit. The emotional divide between the two opposing parties is thus completely evident to all viewers, and it makes for entertaining theater, depending on which party you sympathize with. The only exception to this is when the President makes some more neutral but praiseworthy remark on which it would be simply ghastly for any red-blooded American of any party to sit and not cheer; in a case like this, all members and guests present rise and cheer as one. The two reactions can also switch around on each other, as in the case when the opposing party cheers sarcastically when the President makes some statement or other which they feel strengthens whatever opposing argument the opposing party maintains.
Any reasonable American watching this will quickly come to conclusion that it is quite annoying to listen to a speech that is cut short by applause every two minutes, if not more often than even that. And so it is. But I have come to the conclusion that such applause is quite needful. After all, if there were no applause until the end, the time of the speech would be cut in half, and everyone present or watching via television would probably fall asleep as if the President were telling a bedtime story in a monotone. And since we simply can’t have that, we must have something to keep us awake and engaged.
Is it really necessary, now that we have discussed the general format of a State of the Union speech, to discuss the actual substance of such a speech? If so, only a general mention is in order. The truth is that there is often very little truth in such a speech. The President will often claim that the “state of our Union is strong”, even though in his very speech he proposes to pile on as much massive debt to the already unpayable national debt as he possibly can, in the process endangering the very fiscal health of the Union he claims to serve. If that weren’t enough, the proposals contained in the speech are usually nothing more than idealistic pipe dreams that, more often than not, get cut down to a more pedestrian size once they meet the realities of real life and the legislative process. Still, on this night of all nights, it is the right and privilege of the President and his supporters to dream big dreams, and of his and their detractors to guffaw smugly at the very thought. And so it happens year after year.
The speech, contrary to what some may believe, actually does end, after which the President shakes some more hands as he makes his way back whence he came. It is at this point that my least favorite part happens. It has nothing to do with the President or any member of the halls of government. Rather, it has everything to do with the network news anchors, who feel it is their duty to repeat what we just heard, as if we did not hear it at all, after which they try to tell us what we are supposed to think about what we just heard, even though we were asleep through half of it and didn’t really enjoy or agree with any of it. Perhaps for some a review would be good, since they may have just been awakened by the sudden absence of a lulling monotone, but for the rest of us such commentary quickly amounts to nothing more than more needless hot air.
At least in recent years, it has been a custom with the opposing party to send out one of their own to give a formal response to the President’s speech. Now, this response is indeed a speech, but quite miniature in comparison with the one that was just given. It has to be, for if it were not, the Union would not be able to bear up under the strain of not one but two of these events in one night. Usually it is given somewhere other than in the House chamber, sometimes in an entirely different state. But it is still given, and very few people besides the obligatory news people even bother to tune in. After all, we reason, if the responding politician and his party were such hot stuff, wouldn’t he and they have given the speech we just witnessed?
And thus we have taken a short jaunt through the spectacle that is the State of the Union address. I hope it has been for you a few minutes of your time well-spent. But I’m not betting on it.
*Author’s Note: Nit-picky readers may retort that, in fact, we did NOT “just” have a State of the Union address, that it was in January and this is now March, and that, if we were to go by the author’s sense of time, we will likely be reading soon about last Christmas as if it were last weekend. The author retorts back (just as firmly, if not quite as smart-alecky) that he did in fact begin this article when the event in question was still fresh in everyone’s mind, but that, due to other pressing duties, he has not gotten around to finishing his original idea until now. However, he adds with a significant tone that he possesses, among other things, a rather longer attention span and memory than some in today’s society. The author sincerely hopes that his offering can still be considered sufficiently relevant.
**Author’s Note: I may have to look it up, but I’m pretty sure the last guy on the list of the line of succession is the head janitor at the National Museum of Natural History. I’ve been there before, and I can vouch for the fact that there are a lot of ordinary-looking employees there who look like they know far more than they’re telling. I may be wrong – but I’m just sayin’.
***Author’s Note: Some readers may be of the opinion that this would not be a bad thing to attempt, as it would clear out the halls of government and allow us to start afresh. But I am not of this cynical turn of mind, and I am not here to participate in such ugly and partisan thinking.
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