A teacher was testing the children in her Sunday school class to see if they understood the concept of getting to heaven. She asked them, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into heaven?”
“No!” the children answered. “If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into heaven?”
Again, the answer was, “No!” Now she was smiling. She thought, Hey, they’re getting it!
“Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children and loved my husband, would that get me into heaven?” she asked.
Again, they all answered, “No!”
She was just bursting with pride for them.
“Well,” she continued, “then how can I get into heaven?”
A 5-year-old boy shouted out, “You gotta be dead!”
Proverbs 4:7 says, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”
There is a principle often used for deciding on the most probable explanation of an event. Occam’s razor says we are to choose the explanation with the fewest moving parts as the probable cause of something. The more complicated the plan, the less likely it will give the result you want.
That’s how faith works: The more complicated you try to make it, the less likely you are to be able to follow it or explain it to others.
There wasn’t anything hard about the message of salvation we were given. It wasn’t a 1,000-piece puzzle to assemble before you could see the big picture.
Believe. That’s all. One piece. Faith, not sight. You don’t have to memorize verses, jump through hoops, learn a secret handshake or do a special end-zone dance to impress a crowd when you have it.
Believe; that’s it. All the rest comes after. Now, all the rest — the hearing of the Word, the fellowship with others, walking the Christ path — is pretty cool, too, but that comes as your faith grows.
Come to a church this Sunday. Visit one you know or one you don’t. There will be other children of God inside no matter which one you attend. Bring that seed of belief, and let it grow with others as they follow Christ. Presbyterian service is at 11 a.m.
