Whatever Works!

Jesus has an encounter with a man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Jesus said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (Jn.3:3)

After 56 years of looking over the world we live in, I have discovered that we live mostly among the philosophical "pragmatist". The ideology of a pragmatist is that "whatever works" is what the game plan is. Today we see so many people, young and old with that philosophy. "Yeah, if that works, let's do it that way". We want to be ahead of the competition so let's do it this way. Disturbingly, I see it in the Christian world as well. "The Bible has dried up somewhat, so let's use some other materials to draw people into the pews". Let's modernize the church services and offer benefits that make people more comfortable. I've even seen, in my lifetime, a "Drive-in" church. They remodeled a drive-in theatre and the church goers would drive up to the speaker, place it in the window and listen to a message, then replace the speaker and just drive away. Please don't get me wrong. I love good worship music and praise songs. Don't even mind a cup of coffee with my message. I just see the church getting away from using the Bible as its primary teaching material.

Remember the passage in Matthew where Jesus tells the rich young ruler that it would be..."easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God"(Matt.19:24)? Jesus has been telling us for hundreds of years now that this philosophical ideal of pragmatism just won't work. You can't just put together your own ideas and plan an eternity in Heaven with Jesus. Early on in His ministry, He made it very plain..."You must be born again!"

Things are, and have been happening in the world that indicate that Jesus is planning His return. He promised that He would come back for His own and it looks like someday soon, that will become a reality. Where will we be when He returns? Will we still be looking for that "nitch" that the world thinks will work? Or will we be declaring to the world "You must be born again"? As Christian men and women, we have an obligation to the "lost" in the world. Jesus commanded us to "Go" and to "Tell" the world about Him and His return for the church.

Let's all try to do our part.

P.S. I am writing devotions for Rest Ministries Online Magazine so look for me at www.restministries.org