Unlimited LifeSample

God is not Exclusive

Thank God that heaven’s condition is the acceptance of the perfect righteousness of Christ, not our tattered, grimy human robes of our own character.

There is just one family of God, though its members are scattered among many groups. According to the New Testament, “no man can call Jesus Lord save by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). Thus, anyone who has Christ as their Savior and Lord is a member of his family, of his church. This is true, even though not all believers see the particulars of duty alike. They are, none the less, God’s children.

You don’t have to have a perfect understanding of Scripture to be God’s child. Our God looks at the heart, the inclination, the will, and where there is the intent to please God and obey his known will, there that person is regarded as his child. Accurate knowledge is not required. Neither is perfection called for. If it were, all of us would be excluded.

Read the story in Luke 1:6-20, where Zechariah the priest and his wife Elizabeth are described as perfect before God, keeping all his commandments. Yes, this is the way they were described, even though both their understanding of the will of God and their performance of it was defective.

Thank God that the condition of heaven is the acceptance of the perfect righteousness of Christ, not our tattered, grimy human robes of our own character.

Do you attend a church regularly? If so, make the next day you attend special by inviting someone to come with you. If you don’t attend church regularly, find a church near you and visit it. Pray that the Lord will lead you to the right one for you.

By Dr. Desmond Ford