“For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.”
The Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples, who were asking Him to destroy some ungrateful men who were rejecting the Lord, “the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” We often need to be reminded of this because righteous anger can make us self-righteous hypocrites, if we do not keep in mind that we were in that condition in the past as rejecters of the Lord. While we cannot condone what they are doing and must compassionately warn them of judgment to come if they do not repent, we must show mercy because God does.
There is more to saving men’s lives than saving them from the ‘wrath to come.’ That is primary, but Christ also wants to put the joy of living into the lives of men.
Before I was saved, I thought the Christian life was a sad and distressful kind of existence, with nothing I found appealing in it. Christ does seem that way to the carnal, casual observer. He offers little to the natural man that he would find attractive and appealing, nor does the Christian life.
John wrote, “we beheld His glory,” but the natural, carnal man sees no glory. Spiritually blind people cannot see the beauty of holiness, “except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdomof God.”
The Lord wants to put joy and gladness into men’s lives, not take it out. He does not want to make men gloomy recluses, afraid to enjoy the good things He gives us. The world sees it this way, but what they call, ‘living the good life’ is really courting death. Life at its very best is ours when we live for Christ in a whole-hearted manner.
The poet has written, “Heaven above is softer blue, earth beneath is sweeter green, something lives in every hue, Christless eyes have never seen, Birds with sweeter songs o’erflow, flowers with newer beauty shine, since I know as now I know, I am His and He is mine.”
In His Lovely Name,
Pastor Ed Bowen
January 8, 2012