Destiny: Frog or Follower?

There was a frog that absolutely knew his destiny was to turn in to a handsome young prince. But for confirmation, he decided to visit a fortuneteller. The fortuneteller brought the frog in and gazed into her crystal ball. She said, “Oh, I see something. You are going to meet a beautiful young woman.”

      The frog gets very antsy, “Yes, I knew it. I’m going to become a prince.”

      The fortuneteller continues, “From the moment she sets eyes on you she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you. She will be compelled to get close to you--you’ll fascinate her."

      The frog is very excited. He asks, “Where am I? At a party? A restaurant? A book store?”

      The fortuneteller answers, “No, Biology class.”

The frog BELIEVED he was on the path to happiness, fortune, position and glory.  With ALL HIS HEART he believed.  He so believed that even as the fortune teller described his future the amphibian was seeing what he wanted to see, hearing through the lens of the believed destiny.  He filled in the blanks with pictures that came from desire rather than truth.  His belief actually blinded him to truth.  Wow!

Did the fact that he believed with all his heart change his destiny?  Nope.  Truth was still true.

How many of us see our future through the lens of desire rather than truth?  It paints a picture that is wonderful but is a fairy tale. 

There is a popular religious philosophy called “Universalism” that paints a fairy tale picture. And that fairy tale is embraced by many.  Universalism states that everyone will eventually go to Heaven. Everyone, without exception, will be reconciled with God and enjoy eternity in everlasting blessedness.  Sounds appealing because we don’t like to think of anyone we care about missing Heaven and entering Hell.  But what does truth say?  Over and over in Jesus’ teaching and that of the other New Testament writers we read that ONLY those who turn to God will go to Heaven.  In fact, Jesus says it is only a comparable FEW!!  Jesus’ words, not mine.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)

  

Who are the "few" who find the road that leads to Heaven?  Read on.

²¹“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ ²³Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV)

Those who KNOW Jesus and, as a result, do the will of God are the few who go to Heaven.  Exclusively.

Fairy tale or truth. 

Someday we will stand before He Who is THE Truth.  Many will face it shocked and wide eyed like the frog as Jesus says “I never knew you” and go to eternal pain in Hell. Few will feel their hearts jump when Jesus welcomes them into Heaven.  At that point, all that matters is TRUTH.

What are you living?  Seriously, don’t get smug and flippant.  Take a hard look.  Are you really, really doing the desires of God out of loving relationship?  No excuses, no “oh, God will understand,” no twisting Jesus’ words even a little bit.  Simply a very hard look into TRUTH.  Better now than later.

Because the truth is what matters. 

Frog or follower? 

Boldly, Herb

To receive blog posts directly to your email sign up on the bar to the right or at: http://groups.google.com/group/fwgs

To listen to Herb via the internet go to http://www.newsongpittsburgh.org/ and click on the sermons link

Pigs in a Blanket

Centuries ago Sheila and I were preparing for our wedding. “How about if we have pigs in a blanket at the wedding?” she asked. I thought it was rather strange that sausages wrapped in a pancake would be served at a wedding reception. But this was Toledo… in a polish family… not the first time I had discovered something odd about my wonderful fiancée… and she was the bride, so I agreed.

Months later we were walking hand in hand out of the sanctuary where, for some reason beyond my understanding, Sheila had said “I do” when asked if she took me to be her husband. “You need to get into the fellowship hall! They’re ready to serve the food,” my brand new mother-in-law exclaimed.

First in line (being the groom has a few privileges), we gathered our food at the buffet. I saw all the food we had requested except the pigs in a blanket. In their place were hamburger stuffed into cabbage covered in a red sauce. “Where are the pigs in a blanket?” I whispered to the woman in white beside me.

“Right there!”

“Right where?” Perhaps love really had blinded me. “I don’t see them.”

Sheila poked her fork at the cabbage rolls, “Right there!”

“Those aren’t pigs in a blanket,” I responded. “Pigs in a blanket are sausages wrapped in pancakes.”

“Why would we have sausages and pancakes at our wedding reception?”

“That’s what I thought when you asked to have them months ago, but, hey, it’s your wedding.”

“That’s just silly. Eat your pigs in a blanket and be happy.”

It was our first argument as a married couple.

Who was right? Both of us. In southern Ohio pigs in a blanket are sausages wrapped in pancakes. In northern Ohio they are hamburger wrapped in cabbage.

Neither one of us thought to describe them because we couldn’t imagine anything else. And so we were both blind to the reality of the other person.

Is it possible we have grown up in a world so upside down from God’s reality that we are blind to what is true? It’s not that we ever intended to be, it’s just that we have not spent enough time with God to see and hear Him describe what is real, what is true, what is valuable, what is important, what we should live for, what will matter while we’re alive and when we die. Is it possible that we think we know what God is talking about but will only find out on our “wedding day” (see Revelation 21) that what we thought was WAY wrong?

It’s not a big deal to know what pigs in a blanket are. It is eternally essential to know what is really real.

“What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” Luke 16:15b (NIV)

^“We live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV)

Boldly, Herb

To receive blog posts directly to your email sign up on the bar to the right or at: http://groups.google.com/group/fwgs

To listen to Herb via the internet go to http://www.newsongpittsburgh.org/ and click on the sermons link