Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday January 28, 2010

Over the years Terre Haute, Indiana has received a few moments of fame from such famous or infamous characters as Al Capone, James Jones, Timothy McVeigh, Steve Martin, and John Dillinger among many others. When Dillinger was asked why he never robbed a Terre Haute bank he said, "Too many railroad tracks." We Hautians live in the torment of being "trained" on a regular basis.

On Monday of this week I was again celebrating our most famous pastime at Maple and CXS and while sitting there watching 7,000 coal cars roar by, I noticed the car in front of me was peppered with bumper stickers. Many were of little note but one caught my full attention:

"I pray that God isn't too picky."

The "prayer" brought back memories of the day I told my mother that I had been saved. My own mother said, "I thought God was more picky than that."

I take great comfort in the knowledge given to me by numerous biblical passages assuring me that "Whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Jesus himself said, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." And the old standby, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." At first glance these assurances seem to state that God is not at all "picky." It is true that He is NOT picky concerning who is accepted in the beloved, but therein lies a truth that is overlooked.

The overlooked truth is that I was not and am not accepted on my own merits, but on the merit (Quintessential goodness) of Christ. While God is not "picky" about who; He is very "picky" about why you are accepted.

We, the best and the worst are accepted on the basis of what Christ has done for us in His ultimate act of redemption on the cross. He died for us and the story of redemption (the Bible) is adamant that only those in Christ are accepted. Christ made this plain in his pre-crucifixion statement in John 14:6:

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

This truth is the epitome of "picky" and it shows the nature of God's "pickiness."

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2010 Use with credit.

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