"Common Sense..." Not That Common

The title of this blog are words my boss often uses... Not that I want to agree with him about people in general, but in a lot of areas it's true... I assume it's because we've become so adapt to getting the quick answer to everything, whether it's Google for a question, calculator for math or a phone call for an opinion we have every answer we think we need at our fingertips.  It is unfortunate, we have forgotten how to think for ourselves, using common sense to find answers to a lot of questions using the mind God gave us.  The funny (or not so much) part is, we think we are so wise and independent when, in fact, we don't really follow our own thought process, our opinions and decisions at all... We just look it up and whatever we are told or we read now becomes our decision, thought, rule and opinion. We are so quick to "look it up" on the computer but so slow to "look it up" in the Bible when we have questions.  We ask everyone we know and sometimes people we don't their opinion on what God thinks to how he deals with certain people and circumstances instead of consulting the words he's already spoken into our lives through the Bible!  CRAZY!

If there was a manual written about the one person in life we would like to please; that man or woman you have your eye on, the company you are trying to get a foot in the door at or the customer you just need to please, and we didn't even glance at it before making direction changing decisions...  That person you love married someone else who did take the time to read the pages of their life, the company you were applying in threw your resume out before even an interview or the customer went to a company who seemed to care about their needs more than you; you would completely deserve whatever you got! Somehow, the common sense application of this principal to the Word of God is lost.

I had a conversation at work a couple of weeks ago that got me thinking about common sense, what my boss always says and how those words and thoughts apply to God.  I was told "you don't even need a Bible to tell you how to get into heaven..."  As you can imagine, that statement both got my back up a bit and peaked my interest... I responded with the obvious question "Oh really? So, how do you think we make it into heaven?"  The answer came quickly and I'm assuming had some prior thought to it "Use your common sense.  Be a good person.  Be nice to people, help people, don't hurt anyone."  I've heard about this school of thought before but have never been directly confronted it. I had been praying God would open a door of conversation with the person in question so I could be a witness, unfortunately my answer was quick and to the point... "Well, the Bible says you can't make it into heaven on good works alone and that our righteousness is as filthy rags in the eyes of God."  (Let me pause here to advise all my readers who witness to do so with love, patience and a soft, kind word.)  The response I got was "That's what your bible says!" and a door closed, pretty much in my face.  Ouch, I felt horrible... Luckily, I work with this person everyday and I didn't have to leave it there. I walked to my computer and sent this e-mail that I thought I should share with you (especially if you don't necessarily agree with me on needing the Bible.)

E-mail:  "Just to clarify, I feel really bad... I was not implying anything or trying to offend you, and you're partially right... You can use common sense when it comes to getting into heaven but common sense also would say that just because someone is known to others as being a good person doesn't mean you are going to invite them to move into your home with you and your kids... Even if that person had no where else to live, you would have a prerequisite of a close relationship with that person or the person would have to be a family member or personal friend. Heaven is God's home, He will only invite people who have built a close relationship with Him... The Bible explains what he expects as guidelines to that relationship, what pleases Him, what makes Him angry, what saddens Him, Insults Him, excites Him, interests Him and what his plans for a relationship are.  Although not everything may be a heaven or hell issue, if I personally am going to stay in His house I want to make sure we are both comfortable in a room together.  They say a mark of a great relationship is when you can just be together in silence and I want to be that comfortable with God if I'm going to be in His house with Him. I want to know Him personally and I want Him to know me... And the Bible is my manual to everything he loves, hates thinks about, plans and does so I read and follow it to the best of my ability in order to make sure I'm doing all I can to make my relationship work.  I want to make Him happy to have me around. I don't want to leave anything to chance, He could let me in as charity but I want Him to want me in his home as much as I want to be there with Him. I (and anyone else) would be crazy not to use the Bible as the inside track to God...  When it's an open book test you bring the book and usually have it all marked up from studying and finding clues to the important issues; why not do that in life!"

The response I got back was one of automatic defense "I'm probably going to hell anyway..."  That's a response I hear a lot and I'm sure you do as well, or you've used the response yourself.  I'm always bothered by those words and here is my answer:  first "Don't be stupid, hell is not something to take lightly or joke about... It's scary, if you only knew one minute of the reality of that place; you would run me over trying to get your hands on Jesus!"  second "If you believe you're going to hell then CHANGE DIRECTION!  I can help guide you but the Bible makes it clear in Acts 2:38 "Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." The salvation plan gets mixed up sometimes, so allow me to clarify:  Repentance is not crying your eyes out beating yourself up (although that may be part of what you do) but it is a turn around, a decision to STOP living life the way you think is right that's taken you so far down the wrong path; START living life the way Jesus teaches is right.  Baptism according to the original word of God is "to be submersed in water" as a symbol of the burial of your old way of living, taking off what you were getting ready to put on the ways of Christ. Receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit is not as you might imagine receiving a gift on your birthday or Christmas morning... I've heard a lot of people excuse that step in the salvation plan because you don't have to receive a gift; let me ask you a question "how many of you wouldn't get offended if someone refused a gift of help or love from you?"  Enough said... Besides, this is not a Birthday or Christmas morning kind of gift, it's more like a blood transfusion or bone marrow donation.... If you don't accept that gift of life, you WILL die.

So there it is people, even if you didn't NEED the Bible why would you leave life to chance and not use the "cheat sheet" supplied by the Teacher!?  Are you CRAZY!? Accept what He has given us, it's the free guide to getting an A+ grade and moving up!  Let's go!