As I look around, I concluded that there are about 6 or 7 reasons that people never accept the gift of salvation. Pride has to be right up there. In truth, there are 2 or 3 ways that pride can figure into it.

Another frequent reason is the “I don’t wanna give up the wine, women and wild life,” idea. Of course, eventually, they all do. They have no choice.

Then there’s the useless idea. “God would never want someone so horrible as me.” The truth is that none of us is worthy. If God only accepted good people, heaven would be completely empty of people.

And then there are the procrastinators like me. There are many reasons to put off being saved. I know. I used many of them. By the way, I still put things off. I am inherently lazy and very good at inventing excuses.

Still, the biggest reason people don’t accept Jesus Christ as their savior is is ignorance. Indeed, in a way ignorance is behind all the reasons in some way.

Nonetheless, what I’d like to address here is the direct ignorance. Some have never heard about Jesus. Many have put there faith in false gods and false religions.

When I say this, many think I am just referring to those outside the USA. The truth is that there millions in this country who don’t know the plan of salvation.

Strange as it might seem, many go to a church regularly. Some never miss a Sunday and yet they will never see The Kingdom of God.

Now hold on folks. This might really surprise you. Many of clergy are ignorant of the plan of salvation. They might have a doctorate in theology. They might even know the Bible backwards and forward and still not be born into the Kingdom of God.

Worse yet, some of these people ignorantly spread lies. Oddly, this is sometimes because of of pride and ignorance.

Certainly, we should be careful of preachers full of themselves. But also we should verify clergy before following them. We should also verify what they teach. If it is in error, find another.

If he says you can go to heaven by being good, he is teaching error. If he says we can only earn God’s love by following The Ten Commandments, he is teaching error. If he says you must tithe to go to heaven, he is wrong. If he says you must belong to his church or you will spend eternity in hell, he is either lying or hasn’t a clue.

Salvation is a gift; gifts are not earned. Those who are ignorant think they can earn the greatest gift ever. Thinking you can earn your salvation is more than ignorant. It pure pride.

God made man on the sixth day, only after he built the perfect place for him to live. Then He gave it all to man as his dominion. Adam and Eve walked among all the animals totally without fear. To me, that was God’s first expression of love.

Even before God spoke it all into existance, He knew Adam would eat the fruit. Even more, he knew every sin that all men would ever commit. Then, even then God the Father decided to give his Son for us. Jesus the Son decided he would die on the cross for us. That, indeed was, as far as I know was his first act of love toward us. It was before the creation.

Then to, it was all inclusive. He did not carve out any exceptions. No one was excluded. No sin was excluded. He did not say he would exclude murderers, lawyers or even politicians. It means that salvation is available to the poorest and the richest, although the riches can make it difficult difficult to receive that salvation. It is available to the weak as well as the strong, though the pride of the strong might blind him to his need.

Though the salvation is just as available to geniuses as the mentally challenged, some of those geniuses are literally too smart for their own good.

Because of His love, He is merciful. Without the mercy, there would be no forgiveness. Without forgiveness, there would be no salvation. All of us would get exactly what we have coming to us. It’s called justice.

God absolutely requires justice. That means, for every sin, large or miniscule, someone must pay the price.

That is the reason for the cross. Jesus, because of his love, paid the price for all sin. By the way, he had no help. There is simply no way we could have helped, no matter our effort, no matter any power or fortune we might have.

To succeed, Jesus and Jesus alone has that power, that ability.

Finally, it’s His power, His authority. If we don’t believe that, then we lack faith. When anyone claims that he is providing his own salvation in part or in full, he is attempting displaying a lack of faith in Jesus.

It is the only condition of salvation: complete faith in Jesus. It is more than fair. He is the one who paid the price for our sins. It is certainly right that He and he alone receive all the credit and all the glory without exception. We ought not be allowed to steal any of it.

When we do accept His salvation, why shouldn’t we know we are saved. Why should we doubt his promise or his ability? If we are saved why can’t we declare it. It is not our ability we brag on but rather the salvation that Jesus has provided.

And, to be sure, He has provided that salvation because of his love and mercy toward us, toward me and nothing else. His salvation was paid for me. I know that because when he said whosoever in John 3:16, He did not make me an exception.

I think, actually I know, if you cannot say you’re saved, you just might want to place yourself in the hands of Jesus as your only savior. That way you’ll be included in the whosoever of John 3:16.

The other day I heard a comedian tell a joke that prompted a question that I found fascinating, though I must admit most would not.

Suppose the house next to you just became vacant and you just found out that God was going to move into it. Of course, the question is ludicrous. Yet, the question still intrigues me. It launched me into hours of thought.

The comedian suggested that most would be horrified at the idea. To be sure, He would be close enough to observe everything that is done and overhear all arguments. How embarrassing that would be.

The thing that actually makes the question so ludicrous is that God does not need to be standing next to us to know our every thought. Actually, he’d not be surprised by anything we say or do. He knew them before the earth was.

I would like to think that I would be thrilled, though I can’t say that with any surety. I mean, wouldn’t it be nice to visit my neighbor once or twice a day and converse with the person who made everything.

Then again, we really can do that anyway. He is everywhere and He can carry on a conversation with any of us any time He wants. To some, I suppose it’s comforting. To others, maybe frightening.

It’s what makes the question fascinating.