You've heard the saying—
'Nice Guys finish last!'
Well, that's the point of this story.
It doesn't mean that where the kingdom of God's concerned,
all the "snakes" in the world automatically get to Heaven.
In fact Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God.
But, it does mean that many Sinners with a
Cap S, certainly do know down inside that, by golly,
they really ARE sinners. (The writer sure did. Inside,
I KNEW I wasn't a real "nice guy" at all. I was a Sinner).
Of course, knowing you're a Sinner isn't enough. You
have to do something about it. Romans 10:9 covers THAT:
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." And,
those who know they're Sinners can, and often
do reject this negative data about themselves, and Christ,
and keep on Sinning. And Hell awaits them until and
unless they Repent.
But, getting back to Mr. Nice Guy (or Gal) he or she
has an even tougher dilemma, it seems. Because, being
Mr. Nice often means that you attend the church of your
choice.
And, guess what? It seems that most of the
people there are—you guessed it—this is a real knee-slapper—get
ready for it—THEY'RE NICE TOO!
And—believe it or not—the pastor (or priest or rabbi—whatever)
he or she IS NICE TOO!
It's even worse than THAT! The theology in these places...
Can you handle this? I don't know if you can or not,
but—Yes—It's even NICER!
Example: Someone dies. At the funeral, a man in a
business suit and a white round backwards collar walks
into a room. He was called in by the funeral home director.
He doesn't know the recently departed or the family,
or next of kin, or their friends.
He just marches in, reads some verses from Scripture
meant to comfort blood-bought, saved, born-again, Spirit-filled
Christians (whether those present are or not) and then
marches out. In this case the Scriptures give comfort,
but a big percentage of those attending get False comfort.
1. Why? Because they're NICE!
2. They went to a funeral to pay their respects to
a nice-guy friend and his family, and—Honest—now they
really think they're even NICER! (Because they did something
Nice, of course.)
They go to a church where NICENESS is exalted, God
"grades on a niceness curve," and being NICE gets you
to Heaven... For many folks in many denominations, this
is a really NICE position to be in, they think. The
main problem with it is that it's backwards!
Here's the God of the Universe, Creator, and King—His
Son, Jesus the Christ, Messiah, Ruler, Lion of Judah,
and the blessed Holy Spirit, Comforter, Guide and Teacher...
They all are saying—throughout the New Testament—"Repent,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." "I've come, not
to call the righteous, but to call the sinners to Repentance."
etc., etc., etc. It's not that God doesn't want anyone
to be NICE and full of Good Works. Far from it!
He just wants us to get things straight and do them
right.
First, Repent: then start walking in God's
will for your life, his Heavenly calling. It does
include being NICE.
But, in God's economy, niceness is not a ticket to
Heaven, it's one of the many by-products of Salvation
here on earth!
Mr. Nice out there... If you don't believe this former
Sinner who repented awhile back, ask the Lord of Creation
directly. Check into His Holy Book, the Bible. Look
through the Book of Romans, the Gospel of John, and
the Book of Revelation with a prayerful, repentant heart—one
that really wants to know the Truth about being Nice.
The Lord will answer you. And, you won't finish
last!
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