Growing up, I have always been very inquisitive. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t have questions about anything. Christianity was not an exception. As a matter of fact, it was the most frustrating subject because no one seemed to have satisfactory answers for the many questions that plagued my poor heart and mind.
I saw the cross of Christ as broken, His body as dismembered, and the Gospel as crippled. Why so many controversies, diverse denominations, contrasting doctrines, heresies, false prophets, false teachings and counterfeit miracles? Why so much division if we’re all claiming to worship and serve the same God? Why so much strife both within and without?
All I sought was TRUTH, and in my quest I was directed to church. Why then did I get deceived right in the place where Truth was said to reside? Why such manipulation on the altar? Can I even trust these so-called Christians?
I remember trying to read books and theological debates so as to separate the little truth I thought I had from the notions of truth and error I’d heard all my life. I went round and round in circles, with every circle leading to another. There was no rounding up to ground zero; it was all an endless maze. I was worn out from all the searching. It was fruitless. In fact it only made things worse. Every source seemed polluted in some way. None whatsoever could be trusted.
I sank in the pit of despair. “Should I just throw it all away? Of what use is it if it’s impure? Doesn’t that make it incapable of saving me? Of granting me the eternal life I so desire?”
***
“Look to Me, and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.”
(Isaiah 45:22 NIV)
I’m not sure I recall how I stumbled upon this verse. All I know is that this was the starting point in my walk of Salvation. I was mistaken for having looked everywhere else – to man, to the church, to my pastor, to other Christians – except to Him who could save me. I had dug a thousand miles deep into theological discussions and debates – listening to what this great theologian had to say and what some renown reformist had as a response. The answer I so desperately sought was never there – it was simply in looking to God, to Christ who is able to save. I was willing to do a hundred things to earn my salvation, but God required of me only to trust Him – to look to Him.
We do not come to a set of doctrines, neither do we come to men of God. We come only to the saving grace that is found in Christ Jesus. In Redpath’s words: Look unto ME, is His Word, which means looking away from the church because that will save nobody; away from the preacher because he can disappoint and disillusion you; away from all outward form and ceremony. You must look off from all this to the throne and there, in your heart, see the risen, reigning Lord Jesus Christ.
This isn’t to discourage the fellowship of brethren in the church family, but to keep us from making the walk of salvation revolve around what was never meant to be the primary focus. It’s a sober call to us, especially in these last days, to remember that the things of God (and those associated with Him) should never replace the intimate fellowship with our Lord and Friend.
Many are those who’ll be cast away as evildoers on the last day even after having done remarkable things for Him. This journey is not about such “things”. It’s about a person – this man Jesus. Knowing Him. Being known by Him. Believing in Him. Loving Him. Serving Him. Obeying Him. Testifying of Him. Becoming like Him.
“In the LORD alone are deliverance and strength. It is Him we must look to. Only He is God. Institutions are not God. The Church is not God. Pastors are not God. Brothers and sisters in Christ are not God. We don’t look to them; we look to the LORD, for He alone is God.” (Excerpt from Enduring Word Bible Commentary)
And He is not far off. Through Christ His Son we have access to Him. Through Him we have perfect redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. The One who is before all things, and in whom all things hold together. God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. Him we proclaim, warning every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ.
Even now Christ bids us to come to Him – to turn to Him that we may have life. In great agony He poured out His soul unto death. On a tree He hung, and so redeemed us from the curse of the law. Gently He knocks at the door of our hearts – of your heart – that He may come in and dine with you. Patiently He waits for you to let Him in. Oh, to dine with the King! Oh, to sit at His feet! Oh, to live with Him!
That is all you have to do. A child can look. One who is almost an idiot can look. However weak, or however poor a man may be, he can look; and if he looks, the promise is that he shall live.
Will you turn to Him today?
With love,
( ◜‿◝ )♡
Joy Chege.