Well, before you answer that question, consider this: you are on top of a mountain and you are surveying the situation before you. The beauty, the majesty of the scenery overtake you as you the smell the beautiful chilly smell of the the pure, crisp air. You have conquered the great Himalayas -- well, at least one of them. You can only imagine that you are part of the mountain. One with it. Suddenly you have a desire to fly. You are the only one to have conquered this mountain. Certainly you have the right to it all! You have a grim determination come over you as ready your body, crouched like a mountain lion before it goes for the kill. Then you launch yourself from the mountain. The rush of the wind overwhelms you and intoxicates you. Of course, you suddenly realize that if you will not be enjoying the rush of the wind for much longer. You are -- how shall you put it -- going to get really, badly hurt. After all, your body is not designed for flight. You realize that you do have your limits. You are at least bound to one law -- the law of gravity.
Before you wonder what I am trying to say, jump with me into another situation: you are caught in the highway in a not-so-rush hour. One of the few sounds you can hear is your engine. Ah, the purr. A sense of power flows through your veins as you see a lone car ahead of you: it's a 70's Totota Celica. A burst of adrenaline fills your blood and you think to yourself two words: pole position.You step on the gas, the tires on the car screech as they lift off the ground, and rush to overtake that little foreign car. The little man in the other car is obviously surprised as you whoosh past, but that doesn't mitigate your celebration as the Toyota is nothing but a distant speck on the rear view mirror of your brand new Porsche, and you are left basking in your victory! How sweet it is!! Not the even the squealing siren of increasing frequency can stop your joy. Until you realize that the person in the car with the siren is motioning you to pull over. Yup, you've broken a law of the land.
So what I am trying to say, you say? Well, dear friend, in both cases you were breaking a law. In the first example, you were trying to break a law that has been responsible for keeping the atmosphere on earth and help sustain life on earth for eons. In the second case, you were certainly not considerate enough to think what might happen to innocent people who might have been in your way or even killed on that road, were you? Without going into further examples, we can say that you were trying to break a law that was put into effect to protect and help people and creatures.
Even if you haven't been in any of the situations listed above, you probably realize that there are natural and physical laws. Are these the only laws? No, there are others. As far as a human being is concerened, I believe that the most important are spiritual laws, the most important laws since they have to deal with your soul. (If you have trouble here, just consider for a moment that most illnesses are related to the mind, something that people are still trying to locate. I consider the mind and soul to be intimately related.) When one breaks spiritual laws, one is just as sure to face the consequences. Now the Bible says that this consequence is death (Romans 6:23). This is something that one must realize, and the realization can cause one to fear God tremendously. Vivid pictures of a vengeful, painful and even hateful God might come to mind. Please bear with me though as we take a look at the following paragraphs.
Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love: first of all, love God with all one's heart and soul; secondly, love one's neighbor as oneself. He also said that the second commandment was equal to the first. Elsewhere in the Bible, it is stated that "love is the fulfillment of the law." The Bible also indicates that we know that we love when we follow His commandments. 1 John 4:12 says "No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us." 1 John 4:16 says "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." 1 John 4:18 says " There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." Need we forget John 3:16? ("For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.")
Why am I providing all these verses? Simply because of this reason: I firmly believe that God is not a God that is out to cause fear; He is a God of Love.
Nevertheless, I do realize that He is also a righteous God (as vividly shown in the Old Testament) before Whom no human can compare, for "all have fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). He is Holy and hates unrighteousness which tries to break the Laws that He set up to benefit His creation. One can definitely expect Him to enforce the laws that He created to help and protect those who love Him; but how can all this tie in to a loving God? Well, love should not come because God causes fear; rather people should fear God because of His love. Think about your loving father or mother for a moment; think about the time they punished you; wasn't it for your good? Yet, when they threatened to punish you, you got scared, didn't you?
We all break the commandments at some point or the other, and as such we must face the consequences of sin which the Bible says is death. As the Bible says, "All have sinned." But the wages of sin is death: how then can we be saved? This is a dilemma indeed -- much like the analogy of a camel passing through the eye of a needle, an analogy Jesus recognized. "Who then can be saved?", Jesus' disciples asked. Jesus replied and said that with humans it is impossible -- but not for God!
Consider it: if our weak human selves prevent us from attaining righteousness, we must look to someone superhuman, someone who can actually fulfill the commandments to save us. That could only be God, since He must be perfection itself. Now according to the Bible, Jesus was the personification of God -- the fulfillment of the Law. He lived out His life as a man here on earth, faced the trials and temptations that we go through, and overcame the world without ever sinning. To top it all off, He died for doing that!
Now I hope that this is not too mushy for some of you, because it shouldn't be. Love is beautiful, and beauty is a thing to be admired, especially if there is nothing greater than Love (as Paul, the Apostle, said). The simple fact is that Christ did it because He loved us (John 3:16)! By bearing the brunt of all of humanity's sin, He reconciled us back to God. So even though God's punishment for sin is terrible, there is a Way out! All one has to do is make Christ Lord of his or her life.
The conquering king establishes his laws in the vanquished land, and the people thereby must abide by these rules. Similarly, when Jesus comes into our lives, the laws that bind our soul to death are changed irrevocably. We are changed as the Bible says, and are new creatures, ones that will still have to endure trials and temptations no doubt, but ones that will have been freed from the bondage to death simply because we believed that the Lord would save us!
The key word is "believe." You simply have to have faith. I can tell you that I certainly did, and I'm a very different person compared to the person I once was. It is true! Jesus brings us back to God. This is why I feel that God and I are buddies (to the extent that a father and son can be).
I hope that I have a said a few things that got your interest, but if you want to be set free from your bondage to sin, you must make the decision: you must accept Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior -- you must believe that He can save you from your sins. Reading John 3:16, John 1:12, Romans 5:8, Revelation 3:20, Romans 10:13 among others will be of great help to you here (reading the rest of the Bible would certainly not be a bad idea too). I urge that you talk to God honestly (pray) about your feelings and state of the soul and I assure you that He will be listening (He loves honesty). Seek God. If you are ready to accept Christ, tell Him to come into your life and take charge of it. If you can, get a close Christian friend to help you with this; if not, it doesn't matter. The important thing is that it be genuine. At this time, you might want to take a few minutes to ponder over what I have said.
If, by the time you have read this sentence, you have accepted Christ and are truly born again, all I can say at this point is Hallelujah! Praise God! (If you have never been baptized, I would urge you to do so, although I do not look at as an absolute necessity).
If you still don't care about anything that has been said here, I pray for you and your decisions. Jesus is waiting outside and knocking on the door of your heart. Open it and He will enter and sup with you (Revelation 3:20) and the question that the title poses will begin to cease to exist!
So remember, if you feel that that your soul is stuck in some sort of hellish jail, know that Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, can save your soul from death. And brother/sister, I can assure you of this: if you truly repent of your sins and are born again (for that is what you will be if you let Jesus into your lives), it will be the beginning of a wonderful spiritual journey for you.
- Binoy Samuel
(Updated on January 12, 1998)
(Go back to Home Page.)