The other day I was thinking that prior to the explorers and missionaries, this American soil was separated from the people we read about in the Bible, but still populated. From what we can tell from the Bible in Genesis 11:9, North America was likely populated after the tower of Babel. So for centuries, this land was inhabited by people that were not followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, much like the other cultures that surrounded the Israelites. The cultures that inhabited North America were pagan.
It makes me wonder what chance these people had. The cultures that lived near the Israelites could at least see the Israelites and were exposed to the one true God. The people on the other continents though, how did they have any hope of learning about our God? Obviously, being near God’s chosen people (or even being God’s chosen people, for that matter) didn’t help the cultures near the Israelites turn toward God. Yet, it seems like the people that were separated by oceans, had no chance to even know our God, to hear about the coming Messiah, or to hear the words of God's prophets. I struggle with this a little bit, but also trust God that He is fair and just and knows the hearts of those immortal souls..
I want to make excuses for those people that didn't have a chance to believe, that didn't live during or after Jesus did. I want to think that they will have some chance to know Jesus. I have to remind myself that God's law is written on our hearts (Romans 2:15): “For what can be known about God is plain to them” (Romans 1:19-21 ESV), and that the heavens proclaim the glory of God (Psalms 19:1-4 NLT). We all have a 'God-shaped hole in our hearts,' as the saying goes.
It is the same for people that choose not to follow God today. He is written on their hearts too. They are faced with the choice to acknowledge or deny God’s existence daily. It is in the littlest of moments that they make this life or death decision. It isn’t a well thought out choice to exclude God from their lives, it’s a choice made a hundred times a day when they could see Him working but instead tell themselves something ‘more logical.’ I see it in the conversations, actions and faces of so many people around me. I see them consider repentance but instead choose pride and self-actualization. I see them ponder intelligent design, but instead choose the poorly understood theories of evolution.
I look at them and I see the greater choice they are making and I think, “but God, they don’t know what they are doing. They don't realize the depth of the choice they just made. They don’t see that they are believing the pernicious lie that Satan is feeding them. God, how can they make such a decision, without realizing it." Yet, again I recall the words of Paul, 'God is plain to them.' His law is written on their hearts and our Father knows their hearts. He knows when they are choosing Him and when they aren't. He is just and faithful to forgive, just as he forgave me. He doesn't give up on their immortal souls.
I return to what C.S. Lewis said (sorry for the long quote, but it is worth the read):
____________________________________________________________________________
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whome we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously -- no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner -- no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. - C.S. Lewis From: The Weight of Glory (Source)
____________________________________________________________________________
I have a tendency to think that a person has made their choice and there is no hope in sharing the love of Christ with them. This is so wrong! I am so often reminded that to our Father in heaven, we are precious. He knit us together in our mother's womb and He does not give up on our immortal soul's easily. His grace and forgiveness are extended to us at every hour of our lives. There is always hope in Jesus!
No comments:
Post a Comment
What's on your mind? I love hearing from you!