Too many voices

There are many rallying calls wanting to grab our attention, stir our emotions and move us to action or at least to express our support. In recent years this has included movements like Black Lives Matter, Me Too and Pride (LGBTQ). Then there is climate change, human rights, animal rights, human trafficking and immigration concerns. We are assailed by voices encouraging and even commanding us to listen and act. Under such pressure it is hardly surprising that so many of us struggle with mental health issues -stress, anxiety and depression. For many, God is squeezed to the periphery, hardly seeming relevant except in times of utter desperation.

In the Gospel of John we read of three siblings who were close friends of Jesus, Lazarus, Martha and Mary. The friendship probably started when Martha invited Jesus into the family home, offering him hospitality and a temporary base for his work. Of the two sisters, Martha was a doer, being busy-busy around the home and getting frustrated that her sister Mary took a more measured approach by prioritising what she should give her energies to. While Martha was getting hot and bothered in the kitchen, Mary was in the sitting-room listening to Jesus speaking about the one, true God and his purpose for men and women in general and her own life in particular.

Aware of the domestic strain Jesus said, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’

Like Mary, we should not feel pressured into giving our energies to every claim made upon us. As a Christian, I would say that the one exception is the call of Jesus, the call to give him our heart and soul’s allegiance; he has our best interests at heart. That doesn’t mean us abandoning the needs of the world but Jesus, knowing our limited capacities, can make us more whole and therefore effective.

How may we listen to the rallying call of Jesus? We can pray directly to him, we can hear his words by reading the Gospels and we can find a church which prioritises biblical teaching about who Jesus is and why he came. When we do perceive him speaking to us, let’s listen well and not harden our hearts but welcome him in.

Many ways to God?

A friend who grew up in the Christian church has latterly become uncomfortable with foundational Christian teaching. Such teaching, he fears, appears to see God as dividing men and women into two groups – those who trust Jesus as the only way into God’s heavenly dwelling and those who do not believe and so are denied entry. His problem is that it looks to him like relatively few people will be, as it is called, ‘saved’.

What my friend is experiencing is nothing new. When Jesus was ministering on earth, someone seeing the miracles of Jesus and hearing his wise words also started to wonder, ’Lord, are only a few going to be saved?’ Jesus didn’t answer directly but re-focused the question and directed it back to those around.

‘He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to”.’ On a different occasion Jesus said, ‘enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction…’

What is that narrow door or gateway to which Jesus directs us? It’s nothing less than entering through Jesus as though he were a gate. This is how to enter into life with God both now and for always. It’s not so much that the way is narrow to keep people out but to illustrate that the way to God isn’t like a mountain with more than one path leading to the summit; there’s just one path says Jesus.

So, what are we to make of my friend’s view about how many people will make it to ‘Heaven’? I can’t answer that in terms of numbers or percentages but the same Bible where we read about Jesus, also tells us that in God’s heavenly kingdom there will be a ‘great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language…’ This quote is from the last book in the Bible.

Jesus as pioneer

Just over 60 years ago my dad purchased his first car. It was a second-hand Ford V8 Pilot. If you haven’t heard of it, that’s hardly surprising, Ford’s Dagenham plant only produced them between 1947 and 1951. This Pilot was to be our family car from when I was 10 years of age until I was 14. I really liked it having, as it did, a number of special features, one of which was the radio set. I readily associate the car with holidays and the Merseybeat records playing on the radio’s Light Program.

Why was the name Pilot chosen by Ford? I’ve no idea! The word ‘Pilot’ has about a dozen shades of meaning but essentially describes one that steers, guides or paves the way for that which is following – a pioneer if you will.

Many years later, I got a Ford Pilot of my own. The acquisition of that Pilot was exciting. However, when I was 27 years old, I did receive an infinitely more valuable type of ‘Pilot’. This was when I became a Christian – meaning one who trusts in Jesus. He is a unique pilot; a pioneer, as he has gone ahead of us, through death and has risen again to life.

If you believe there is a God, have you ever wondered what he is like? Well, after becoming a Christian, I soon came to understand that he is just like Jesus in character and purpose; in fact Jesus is the human face of God.

Today he is inviting all sorts of people - the well-off and down at heel; those of all shades of colour; the lawbreakers and upright; the religious and non-religious to surrender the steering of their own lives and allow him to be their personal Pilot.

A relatively small number of Ford Pilots do survive but, just like our own physical bodies, they’re going to fail. Jesus is the way ahead for his followers and has promised them that, just as death wasn’t the end of it for him, nor will it be for those who trust in him.