Reflections
Truth, trust and the ballot box - an Easter Reflection
People say, “Does it matter what I believe as long as I believe in something?” But belief is only as good as the object in which we put our trust. With a general election due within the next two months, will we, in our debt-ridden society, vote for a party of soft policies and false promises, or put our trust in a manifesto filled with unpalatable truths, if there is one? We might believe in the latter but vote for the former, not willing to give up jam today for the sake of jam tomorrow. We hate politicians who duck the difficult questions and yearn for straight answers, but we have become so inured to spin that we no longer recognise when political leaders tell us the truth. Polls show that we judge our leaders more and more on their character and integrity.
Belief in absolute truth has become unfashionable. If we cheat, tell half-truths or act immorally, these are just mistakes, errors of judgment, but not sins. Right and wrong no longer exist. Religious faiths and lifestyles are matters of choice. The many doors in a Bahai temple reflect religious options and point to supposedly equally valid ways to God. But the Bible tells us there is only one way - through Christ. If everything is just a matter of choice we end up believing in anything.
Easter will quickly come and go, and the truths of the crucifixion and resurrection will have been largely unnoticed by an indifferent world amidst the commercial smoke screen of chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies. But thank God He has set eternity in the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11), even if Satan sows confusion when we seek the truth.
A friend once preached to a guru and his retinue of followers. The guru understood the significance of the Gospel, even though he eventually rejected it. When he heard about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who died that we could have life with him for ever, he turned to his own “disciples” and said, “if what you have just heard is not true then it does not matter, but if it is true, then nothing else matters.”
The Bible emphasises that whom we believe in is vital. Jesus said,
“If you don’t have faith in me for who I am, you will die, and your sins will not be forgiven.” John 8:24 (CEV)“Go in through the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate. But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 (CEV)
Scripture stresses the importance of knowing the object of belief rather than the act of believing. Jesus is the one object who can be trusted. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. Without me, no one can go to the Father.” John 14:6 (CEV)It won’t matter much in the long term which party wins the next election, so, if you want to scrape the last of the jam out of the pot, put the cross on your ballot paper against the party of softer options and let the future take care of itself. But in the ballot of life those who ignore the truth of the Gospel, that can one day set them free, and choose not to cast their vote for Jesus, will do so at their peril and regret their choice for all eternity.
Everyone who has faith in the Son has eternal life. But no one who rejects him will ever share in that life, and God will be angry with them for ever. John 3:36 (CEV)
So please continue to pray that God’s word in the Bibles and other literature we supply will divert soft option voters away from the wide road of multiple choices towards the narrow gate of His absolute truth, that leads to eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Richard Prendergast
March 2010