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When I first started this

When I first started this blog, I confessed that I didn't like the name all that much, even though it was going to be most of what I discussed. Since then I've gotten some feedback which is very positive, and I've decided to keep the name (I've grown to like it more too). Here's some feedback I got from someone a while back for this post.

Jesus once likened Himself to the brass serpent that Moses was ordered to put on a pole to save people from snakebite. Jesus says in John 3:14-15, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life" (American Standard Version).

Jesus is making reference to an incident recorded in Numbers 21. The whole chapter has a more detailed description, but verses 8 and 9 are sufficient to show what Jesus was talking about: "And Jehovah said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a standard: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the standard: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived" (ASV).

So there are two very basic risks for us as Christians in the work we try to do:

1) Looking away from Jesus ourselves or failing to look at Jesus as our only salvation, for we will fall to snakebite that way, and....

2) Not holding up Jesus so that others can look unto Him and be saved.

It can't be said that Jesus does not support social activism and social justice, as He Himself was an advocate for the downtrodden in our world. However, for some reason, denominations feel it necessary to reject Jesus and His teachings in order to do social activism. They go it alone, trying to be "tolerant" and not hold up any particular moral standard, distancing themselves from Jesus. The problem is, without Jesus, they can do nothing (John 15:5). Furthermore, it shows that they are ashamed of Jesus, and He has specific words for that circumstance (see Mark 8:38).

It is always a problem when people look away from Jesus to "something else" to save them from the various snakebites we get in this world. When it isn't Jesus we are holding up, when it is just the "goodness of our hearts" that leads us to try to help, it's not enough, because the most bleeding heart can't bleed enough to actually provide lasting, eternal help. Only the heart that bled for all people once, the heart of Christ, can bring about real healing in both this world and the next.

So it is a very good service you are providing to remind people that without Jesus, we have nothing at all to offer the world. It is good that we are reminded not to look to ourselves, or look to a denomination, or a para-church organization, or the culmination of ecumenism, as any sort of answer to the problem of this world. The answer from God has already been given in Christ, and it is our duty to help others avail themselves of this solution as we have.