Midweek: It's Only Natural

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
~ Romans 1:20

People love to find excuses for not following Jesus.

What if there were people in a remote part of the world who have never heard of Jesus? Would God send them to hell? I could never worship a God who would do that!

First of all, God is more about giving people what they want than most people realize. You want to deny Him? He will accept that and reciprocate. You want Him to leave you to your sin? He will give you over to it and its consequences. The consequences include the judgment of a just God who punishes sin with precisely what it deserves --eternal judgment. Today's Western society poo-poos "little sins" like lying or lusting or gossip or the thievery that occurs at all of those self-checkouts across the country. (Yes, I agree large corporations are getting precisely what they deserve in those cases, but I am neither judge nor executioner.) But "little sins" are only downplayed in our language ("white" lies, "pinching" a piece of candy, spilling the "tea") and our assessment because none of us wants to face our guilt; none of us wants to admit these offenses against a perfectly just and holy God are deserving of His wrath. We are born into sin, but God's mercy, God's benevolence, the death of Jesus on our behalf is the only means adequate to save us from that wrath. God's mercy is His not giving us what we deserve, that which we have earned on our own behalf; that which we, by lives lived unto ourselves, wanted.

Second, have you ever thought about the reason we call Nature "nature"? Because it is a direct reflection of the nature of its Creator. To call someone or something "natural" means they exhibit/it exhibits the essence of its creator or founder. To be a "natural born swimmer" or "natural born architect" means that your skill comes as though it was part of your nature from birth, a reflection of perfectionism in said skill endowed without your input or effort. The "natural man" was once created consistent with God's design in His image. It was, at the Fall, corrupted by sin. John Donne, 17th century poet and cleric describes it: O miserable condition of man! which was not imprinted by God, who, as he is immortal himself, had put a coal, a beam of immortality into us, which we might have blown into a flame, but blew it out by our first sin; we beggared ourselves by hearkening after false riches, and infatuated ourselves by hearkening after false knowledge. We, the prideful, the intellectual, the autonomous man, rejected that which we were given --the potential for greatness and fullness of joy found in walking with our Creator. We chose that which destroyed our potential and corrupted our nature, the nature that so beautifully reflected our Creator. And yet, it was our Creator who offered holy blood on our behalf. It is upon that sacrifice and victory over death we choose to stand. Or, we are free to reject it, to rail with entitlement against submitting our lives to anyone, to pass judgment upon a perfect and sovereign God for His divine justice, and to deny His very nature in the world around us. Will you choose to believe the evidence, or will you stand before Him without excuse?