Letters From Grandpa #401

LETTERS FROM GRANDPA

• 401

Dearest grandchild,

Granny and I moved to San Jose, California in 1959. At that time a condemned criminal named Caryl Chessman was much in the news. On May 2, 1960 he was executed at San Quentin. He died with the same defiance with which he had lived. Time magazine quoted him on his way to the gas chamber as saying: “There seemed to be something grossly wrong with this ‘We’ll make you be good!’ I was told, and I told myself nobody, should, would, or could MAKE me anything. And I proved it!”

He was right! No man could “make” him do anything for he was created in the “image” and “likeness” of God. As you know, no can make God do anything. We can only appeal to God with the hope of persuading Him to change His mind. This is the very essence of prayer. Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:16-33). King Hezekiah pleaded with God to spare his life (Is. 38:2-3). Jesus taught his disciples to always pray and not to give up (Lk. 18:1). No matter how much we plead, however, the ultimate decision is always made by God Himself. No one can “make” God do anything!

We are told several times in Genesis 1:26-28 that we are created in God’s “image” and “likeness”. The Hebrew word translated as “image” is (tselem). It comes from “tsal” which means a shadow. This “image” is not stationary, however, for God is alive and His shadow is always moving. The word translated as “likeness” is (demut) which comes from a root meaning “blood”. Just as children descended from the same blood resemble their parents, we also in some way resemble God. God created us in His “image” and “likeness” and expected us to fill the earth, and subdue it. He also expected us to rule over fish, birds, and every creature that moved on the ground. Yes! We are created in the “image” and “likeness” of God. Among other things, this means that we make our own decisions and no one, not even God, can “make” us do otherwise.

Animals and birds are not created in God’s image and therefore God can make them do anything He wants. For example, animals and birds entered Noah’s ark on the command of God (Gen. 7:1-4). Man, however, exercised his God given right to die in his sin like Caryl Chessman did. The only people Noah “persuaded” to enter the ark were the members of his own immediate family. Our ability to reject God is obvious. Even though God is “all powerful”, for the present time He has granted us the privilege of rejecting Him and choosing our own destiny. The book of Revelation tells of people being tormented in fire who still cursed God and refused to repent. Others like them were in so much pain that they gnawed their tongues in agony but still cursed God and refused to repent (Rev. 16:8-11). Jesus said to the Jews: “you refuse to come to me to have life” (Jn. 5:40). Jesus wanted to protect Jerusalem like a mother hen protects he chicks under her wings but they would not do it (Matt. 23:37). Yes! By virtue of the way you were created you can reject God if you want to!

Notice the difference – The animals entered the ark on command, but man had to be “persuaded”. The ravens fed Elijah on command but the widow had to be “persuaded” to feed him (1 Ki. 17:5-16). Animals and birds aways obey God, but man will only obey God when he is “persuaded” to do so. The Bible is filled with examples of animals and birds doing precisely what God wants them to do. The Bible is also filled with examples of man rebelling against God and doing precisely what He does not want them to do. Jesus stands at the door and knocks, but He will not force his way in. He patiently knocks hoping to persuade us to open the door (Rev. 3:20).

Paul was a great evangelist and soul winner. Since Paul understood the horrible fate of those who rejected Jesus he spent his life trying to “persuade” men to follow Christ (2 Cor. 5:11). He wrote: “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible. To the Jew I became like a Jew. To win the Jews. To those under the law I become like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law). To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law). To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:19-22).

Rejecting Christ as Savior is a serious matter for when Jesus comes again he will be “revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you” (2 Thess. 1:7-10).

At that time our brief ability to rule our own lives will come to an end “and at the name of Jesus ever knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11).

May I “persuade” you to confess Christ now when it will do some good! For “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Rom. 10:9-10).

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce