So why do some people accept Jesus into their lives while some do not? Have you ever thought about it before? I mean, I went for a long time living without Christ myself (22 years to be exact ~ I’m 48 now).
And for me I guess it was a combination of reasons that I remained in that state of being for so long. Of course, I was a church-goer (emphasis on “goer”), but that’s where my spirituality began and ended ~ at the door of the church. You see, I went to the church building on Sundays, I sometimes sang the hymns and said the prayers, but then when I left I lived like the devil Monday through Saturday. (Anybody know what I’m talking about?)
But then by the Lord’s tender mercies, unmerited favor and grace on a freeway in the pouring rain after an accident being hit by a truck (in 1983) I was awakened to my need for His Son, the Savior. (Thank you so much, God!) I don’t know what’s keeping you from Jesus. The bottom line (and I’ve learned it over the past quarter century): It’s the devil’s trap to allow any reason to keep you apart from Christ. His love for you is an everlasting love. Just look at the cross. \o/
Which brings me to…
12 reasons why people don’t accept Jesus:
(what might you add to this list?)
1. They’ve been hurt.
2. They like their sin.
3. They don’t think He’s real.
4. They think He’s someone He’s not.
5. They’re ignorant of their need.
6. They’re afraid of what peers will think.
7. They don’t want to give up stuff.
8. They don’t believe in hell.
9. They think there’s more than one way to heaven.
10. They think they’re okay without Christ.
11. They’ve seen His followers act like hypocrites.
12. They’re deceived.
About Pastor Mike
(To view old map,
# They’ve been hurt.
Ok with that a possibility
# They like their sin.
I don’t see that
# They don’t think He’s real.
I will accept that he was real
# They think He’s someone He’s not.
I don’t see that
# They’re ignorant of their need.
What need are you asserting to exist?
# They’re afraid of what peers will think.
That would be an argument for accepting him.
# They don’t want to give up stuff.
What’s to give up?
# They don’t believe in hell.
Does hell exist? Or, it it a creation designed to force people to follow the people who made it up?
# They think there’s more than one way to heaven.
Does it exist? Assuming it does why should there not be different ways to get there?
# They think they’re okay without Christ.
That thinking is embraced by 2/3 of the world.
# They’ve seen His followers act like hypocrites.
Followers, and many of the leaders, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition
# They’re deceived.
I fail to see the meaning there.
How about “Only the good die young.” Well depends on how “young” is young. (I’m younger than you, Pastor Mike! lol)
“A loving God wouldn’t send people to hell.”
My answer: no, people send themselves to hell by not accepting Jesus.
Awesome post, Pastor Mike! 🙂
Well said
I am glad that by Gods grace I got saved at a very young age.may the good lord bless your work may u continue 2reach out
To the list I would add:
They haven’t cracked open a Bible.
It’s very difficult to appreciate the “need” without an introduction to the wisdom and teaching of Christ, whereas it is very easy to mischaracterize Jesus, and the Christian faith in general, without turning to the source of it. Part of the problem is that some people believe that faith is a very esoteric and abstract subject, and one needs a priest, monk or theologian to interpret it for them. The concept of a personal relationship with Christ is poorly accepted and understood in many circles, and that’s another contributing factor.
Excellent post!
Hi Pastor Mike,
I can add one more reason,
“They feel unworthy of Him, because they feel worthless”
Great post, I can understand the first, They’ve been hurt, I was terribly hurt in my childhood, and it took me until May 16, 1986, when I was 20 going on 21 in September of that year, before I accepted Him, and felt worthy of Him
I still have to remind myself daily of His Awesome Love for me!
Here is the one I believe, they are not elected.
Great Post, So true. I feel sorry for some people who are “all of the above.”
I spent the first 40 years of my life or so as a non-believer. I always called myself “an agnostic leaning towards atheism”. It seemed to me that it was very unlikely there were supernatural forces in the universe. The possibility of Jesus as Savior just never came up.
My story isn’t dramatic. No one thing brought me to faith but rather a long series of small events lead me, step by step, to accepting him. Now I know I’ll spend the rest of my life learning to serve him and other people.
I consider myself fortunate in a way, that I came to faith later in life. I’ve met some believers that can’t even remember what it’s like to be an unbeliever and, as a consequence, haven’t the faintest idea how to relate to, much less witness to, someone who doesn’t already share their faith. I’ve even seen some Christians make fun of unbelievers behind their back, which absolutely is not what Jesus asks us to do.
No one is born saved. Even being raised in a believing family doesn’t save you. You have to take responsibility for your own relationship with Jesus. After that, it’s a matter of presenting the humility of that relationship to the people around you , understanding how to talk to human beings, and extending yourself to help them. Christian love is doing, not just talking.
With all teachings you never fully accept them. To accept something and say you understand it is to miss it completely.
Let’s see:
They have another religion such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and so forth.
They tried to worship at a church once, but like Gandhi, they were rejected or judged instead of accepted and loved.
They belong to another religion and people group, specifically Judaism and believe that worshiping Jesus as God is a form of polytheism and idol worship.
They’ve read books like Jesus Interrupted which highlight internal inconsistencies, both in facts and in theologies, that raise serious doubts as to the validity of Christ and Christianity.
They see Christianity (or any belief in the supernatural) as anti-intellectual, anti-rationality, and anti-education. In other words, they see Christianity as a form of superstition.
They don’t see much of what the Bible defines as sin as bad, such as not believing that marriage is a necessary state for sex, seeing homosexuality as a valid “sexual orientation”, and so forth.
Pastor, you see the question through the eyes of a Christian. You say that for the 1st 22 years of your life, you weren’t a believer, but for most of those years, you were a child or teen and weren’t looking at a world of faith from an adult viewpoint.
I didn’t become a believer until after age 40 (I turn 57 this July), so I remember quite well what it was like to be an adult and not believe. Part of the problem the church has in reaching out to non-believers is that many Christians tend to denigrate non-believers (I’ve seen this happen personally in a church I once attended) rather than understand that a state of non-belief is where we *all* come from, even if we’re raised in a Christian family.
When the church starts demonstrating the compassion for non-believers that God has for all people everywhere (for God so loved the world), it might be more successful in answering questions like, “why don’t people accept Jesus?”.
I’m noticing an increase on unbelievers that are teens. It breaks my heart!
Good post. I might add that the whole post could easily be summarized by 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 ESV
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
We believe because we have the mind of Christ. With God illuminating our minds, we can understand our need for Him. It starts with God demonstrating that he is real by opening our eyes to his reality.
Good post.
http://Www.jonyshuk.weebly.com/blog
Well, this really comes down to a question of soteriology. Whether one looks at salvation as an something which is God initiated and superintended (the Calvinist/Augustinian view) or whether one takes a “free will” approach (Arminianism). I assert that much Arminian theology does not have a basis in Scripture( prevenient grace is found nowhere even in concept). God has elected those whom he has not based on the fact that they would choose him, but rather they choose him because they are elect. This in no way diminishes our responsibility to preach or evangelize. The human proclamation of the Gospel is the means by which God has ordained believers to come to faith. That said it is not our job to convince, it is our job to clearly articulate the gospel and its imperative to believe. Believing the Gospel should never be presented as a choice, it never is in Scripture. A look at the greek where the gospel is preached will always show that the word believe and repent are in the imperative, that is a command.
A family friend said “church just isn’t for me”. When I inquired, he said about half of your list. It ended up hinging on 2: behavior not modelled by parents & hypocrites at the churches. He has arrested some and knows more about some people than others might. For now I just keep doing my thing & grin when he asks what I’m up to. Then we converse about various ministry outreaches. One step at a time….
I have but one word to say Pastor Mike ” AMEN!”
Hello from South Africa, last night I watched a documentary called furious love, people ministering in the slums, ex-addicts praying for those in bondage and pastoral teams as well. Anyway, it is based on Gods Love, that is what Christ showed us and we need to do same, take the dirt, that slap in the face and show Jesus, we the only bible many will read.
Good post Pastor, see furiouslovefilm.com
God Bless,
Clinton..@bobsbranders
Curious about They don’t want to give up sin.
I don’t think giving up sin is a prerequesite to having a relationship with Christ, it is a result of having Christ in your life. I think it is important to let people know that God accepts us as we are, regardless of our sin, Christ loves us. Our response to His amazing love and mercy is to extend that love and mercy to others.
One cannnot live a life of sin while having a relationship with the Holy One.Thats not to say we wont slip up and commit sin for when we do He is just and faithful to forgive us.But if we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness,we lie and do not the truth.So it is impossible to live in habitual and constant sin and and say we have fellowship with Christ.
Amen Brother
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. You Tube testimony = adysaxman77 ‘By a dream, Jesus heals car crash injuries’ parts 1, 2, & 3. God bless you brother!
I beg to differ. With the post about habitual sin. I was saved and put my faith in Christ. Once I was saved a lot of sin that I struggled with fell away over night. But this one particular addiction remained. I would fall and repent, fall and repent until I finally got so low that I thought Gods mercy was no longer there and He was going to strike me dead anyway ( bad theology at the time ) so I fell into that sin feeling defeated. Until I met someone who explained to me Gods grace was/is enough. He refered me to Paul and his thorn, and Paul talking about doing things he ought not do but did anyway etc. flesh and spirit fighting. And that there was going to be sin I struggled with, and that even in my salvation I would not be perfect, or I would be boastful. I’ll not be perfect until I see the otherside of eternity. From a habitual sinner that thought all was lost even though I was still saved. Let me tell you. Gods grace is enough. And I am no more saved or less saved than the day I answered the call and received Christ as my Savior. My sin didn’t go unpunished I assure you. Every good father corrects his Children and I was no exception during this time. He knew what I struggled with why I caved in. Thank my Lord he never caved on me. We all habitually mess up. A constant. We all “sin” everyday that’s pretty habitual. He forgives and He is still my Lord and savior to this day. “All for Christ or nothing at All” God bless.
I have read some of the comments and have to agree with most.My problem is with many denominations.
Each denomination teaches a little different.
Remember there is only one Church and one leader of that Church,Jesus Christ. All the others are lead by mortal men. Not all are really following Christ.
Oh, they try to in most cases but let there Human mind convince them they are right.
Kevin Pope found that he was still a sinner. He’s right. we all are.
We must try to live as Christ did. We will sin but be ashamed that we did and pray for forgiveness.We must continue to fight our “thorn” for it is ours for life. Grace and the Holy Spirit are our salvation. Christ gave us both. Through Grace we are forgiven an the Holy Spirit will help lead us from sinning again, if we will only listen.
I like your post and hope to have a one like it some day.