Christ is Still Alive
Sam Rainer
This last Sunday a young girl, Jen, accepted Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. After the service her mother told me that Jen kept saying during the invitation that she was going forward and wanted her mom to go with her. Her mom, who had been sharing Christ with her, did not want her to go forward because her father was not there with them. Jen kept begging her mom, but her mom said to wait. Jen finally blurted, “If you’re not going with me, then I’m going down front to the pastor by myself!” Her mom then let her walk the aisle.
It was the highlight of the week to hear her talk about her testimony. The joy of a child is doubly contagious when that child is telling you about how Christ saved them and reigns in their life. I had no doubts that she knew Christ, not just knew about Him.
Unfortunately I think many Americans know about Christ without every really knowing Him. A recent poll tabulated the percentage of people who believe in the literal bodily resurrection of Christ. While almost 100% of believers claimed to believe in a literal bodily resurrection, about 75% of Americans who say they are not born-again believers also believe that Jesus literally came back to life in physical form after being dead for three days. Let me state it again: Three-fourths of those who are not Christians still claim that they believe Jesus literally rose from the dead.
I estimate that as many as 50,000+ people in the county where I pastor may not know Christ. I wonder how many people who fall into the 75% category will be in my church this Sunday on Easter. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! The good news is that many people who are not Christians at the very least believe in one of the most fundamental elements of our faith. We should be encouraged to share the gospel even more given ther results of this study.
But one of Satan’s greatest deceptions is that there is plenty of time to accept Christ. We cannot count on tomorrow, however. The only time to accept His grace is right now. It burdens my heart that so many people have a superficial knowledge of the Truth, yet they are unwilling to lay it all on the alter, unwilling to sell out everything for Christ.
It is my prayer this Easter that people will have the eagerness of Jen. That people will live only in the here and now. Christ is unchanging. The nature of God is consistent. The path of righteousness will always be narrow. Jesus is alive; He is risen. His sacrifice will always and forever cleanse the sinner. It is upon us to accept this free gift of grace so that our names will eternally be etched in the Lamb’s book of life.
