[Prelude: As most of you already
know, I’ve been writing a biweekly faith column (called “Sola Fide”) for the Welcome Home Rio Grande Valley newspaper
since November 7. There is another faith column, Perspectives, which runs on my off weeks; I and the author are both
well-meaning Christians, yet our confessions differ. For example, the Perspectives column for November 28 begins: People make decisions all the time.
Some decisions do not have a lasting effect on our lives., but some do., and
people make them like it really does not matter. God, in His wisdom, makes a
way for us to make good decisions, but Satan also encourages us to choose the
wrong way. The decision to choose Jesus in the forgiveness of sin is the best decision
anyone could and should make…]
The service was held in a
Methodist church and was led by the pastor of my aunt and uncle’s congregation.
I thought the service itself was very nice; many nice things were said by
family and the pastor offered us reassurance of Heaven,
as described in Revelation 21, but there was no explicit mention of my uncle
now resting in God’s hands. I found this curious... enough that I felt
compelled to reassure my aunt and cousins that there is no doubt that her
husband and their father is now in Heaven. How can I be so sure?
One of my cousins, a practicing
Christian of a different denomination, with much determination and a heart of
love tried to lead her father down the “Romans Road” to salvation,
a journey that culminates with the recitation of a sinner’s prayer* (proof of
one’s sincere desire to receive Jesus into one’s heart)—in a conversation with
her she seemed to acquiesce to my reassurance that her dad was in the presence
of God. I think she still worries whether my uncle had enough faith—or the
right kind of faith—to get to Heaven.
*I highly recommend this article, written by a non-denominational pastor and published in Christianity Today magazine in 2012: Should We Stop Asking Jesus Into Our Hearts?
*I highly recommend this article, written by a non-denominational pastor and published in Christianity Today magazine in 2012: Should We Stop Asking Jesus Into Our Hearts?
I cannot speak of my uncle’s
faith conversations with my aunt, cousins, or other family members; however, I
can speak of plenty such conversations he and I had over the years. My uncle
was a man who acknowledged a God that blessed him with a loving family, yet at
the same time struggled to understand Him. He (my uncle) pondered once that if
God (the Father) and Jesus were one, how, then, could He kill Himself? (I’m
smiling here as I type this…) That comment was made over a beer and a cigar on
the stoop of their row house in the Baltimore area some years ago, and, as I
recall, led to a change in his perspective, to be able to see God’s sacrifice
of Jesus as the climax of the love story that is the Bible. My uncle asked me a
lot of questions about church, God, and what I believed.
Romans 10:17 tells us that faith
comes by hearing the Gospel. Christ Himself works through the Holy Spirit (John
14:16-18, 16:7-14), who produces faith where and when He wills (Titus 3:5).
Just as important, and maybe the bottom line in any discussion of how one gets
to heaven, is Ephesians 2:8, the fulcrum of Martin Luther’s understanding of
Christianity and Lutheran doctrine: For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…
I hope every person in attendance
at my uncle’s funeral—particularly, my cousin—walked out of that Methodist
church comforted by God’s Grace, the scope, depth, and breadth of which human
reason cannot grasp. Faith is like an empty hand that receives the gift of
God’s Grace. Maybe the pastor himself wasn't sure of my uncle's final
destination (hopefully not); if so, had I been in his shoes, I would have
emphasized that the Grace of God which is freely offered to all who believe in
Him was also offered to my uncle, a man who attended church with his wife,
attended Bible studies to learn more, and who I never heard deny His existence.
I am absolutely certain in my
heart that God filled my uncle’s “empty hand” and though he is gone from his
family and this Earth, he is not really gone, like the flame of a snuffed-out
candle. In matters of faith, any decision is God’s and God’s alone.
[Postlude: That same Perspectives column for November 28 ends
with an ultimatum: What decision have you
made about Jesus? Do you know him as your Lord and Savior or are you still searching
for Him? He is available to all, but you have to choose to accept Him in the
forgiveness of sin and ask Him into your heart. When the Lord comes back, there
will be two men. One will go with Jesus, and one will be left. Where will you be?
The decision is up to you.]
That’s it for this month. May the
Lord bless you and keep you,
