I have a friend who is not a Christian. He is a nice guy…..by any measure, a good man. Once, in our conversation, the topic of Christianity came up. I asked if he was a Christian. His reply was something to the effect of:
“Never have been……besides, if I became one now…….it would cause all kinds of confusion up there……..they wouldn’t know what to do with me”
I think that what he meant was that it would be hypocritical to ask for forgiveness from Jesus after a lifetime of denying him, ignoring him, and marginalizing him.
By human standards, this is a very reasonable position. Intellectually……..it is consistent……..even honorable. Internally, what my friend was saying was, “I’ve lived my entire life as a secular humanist……..it’s too late for me”.
I hear this a lot. I think that many people use this argument as a foil so that they don’t have to put up with my “preaching”. But, the fear of hypocrisy is also at play for many of these people. They don’t want someone to say at their baptism……..”isn’t that the guy who once had a “God is Dead” bumper sticker?”
First off, let me make something clear. If getting to paradise requires me to be a hypocrit…….sign me up.
There it is……..I am a card carrying hypocrit. Along the way, I have broken about every rule there is at least once……and some of them many times. But, along the way, I have also accepted Jesus……….and his way of living…….love God…….love your neighbor. And though I often fall short, I am trying to be a better man.
So, I tell you that you shouldn’t steal, though I have.
I tell you that you shouldn’t lie, though I have.
I tell you that you shouldn’t covet, though I have.
You get the point…….BTW, the list above is nowhere close to a comprehensive account of my depradations.
And this brings us to the central question of this post:
Who cares if I messed up?………Who cares if you messed up?……….or more to the point….Does God care that we have messed up?
God must care about sin………he spents a lot of ink on the topic in the “users manual”. But, does he care enough to deny us paradise because we messed up?
It depends………
It depends on how you finish.
You can humble yourself and submit to your creator.
Or
You can claw your way up onto the highest ground that you can find…….and scream……”I’m in charge here!”
In the final analysis…….there is only one thing that you can screw up that will exclude you from paradise…….only one:
Denying the existence of God, his son Jesus, and the holy spirit.
Denying the Trinity……….will exclude you from paradise.
But, you can fix that, even with your last breath.
So…….is it too late for me?
Is it too late for you?
Not if you are breathing.
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke, a conversation between Jesus and the thief Dismas during their crucifixion, ESV