PASSWORDS

This is the most downloaded message I have ever written. I think the reason is that computer hackers are doing internet searches for anything with "password" in the title, thinking they may stumble across something that would help them crack a password code. I have often chuckled at the thought of such a person accessing this article and discovering that it is about something of eternal value instead of a temporary benefit.

Some time ago, I forgot my password and I couldn't get into my new computer. I had just built it from scratch and was installing different passwords for different programs. Then I went away for a week. When I came back and flipped the switch, I got the familiar "password" request. I used several passwords I thought were correct to gain entry but I just couldn't get the right combination of user name and password. I spent hours trying every combination of words and numbers that I had used in the past, but to no avail. I was denied entrance every time.

It reminded me, poignantly, of the fruitless efforts of people trying to gain entrance to the presence of God without the right access code. The Bible indicates that there is only one key that fits the lock of heaven's door and His name is Jesus Christ. People will approach the entry portal, will try their various keys, metaphorically speaking, in whatever passes for a lock, and then be dumbfounded when they are denied entrance. Every key but the right key will be useless.

I was in a parking lot last year and someone I knew had parked their car blocking several of us from leaving the area. His car was one year older than mine, so on a whim I took my car key and inserted it into his ignition. It turned easily and the motor started. I moved his car 30 feet away and waited to see the look on his face when he came out. Well, heaven is not going to be like that! Jesus made a troubling statement for many people in the Gospel of John when he said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." And in the Book of Acts, the Apostle Peter states, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Talk about exclusivity.

In this politically correct age of non-discrimination and all inclusiveness, the words of the New Testament cut like hot iron through blades of grass. Over and over again we read that there will come a separation of nations and individuals, even among the closest of family members, as God judges his creation in the last days. Perhaps the most troubling phrase comes from the Book of Revelation and has caused many people to retool their theology to fit their circumstances, rather than throw themselves upon the altar of God and beg forgiveness. John writes that he saw the dead, small and great alike, standing before God for judgment. Then he states, "and anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."

I tried to open a back door to a restaurant several years ago. The waitress couldn't get it opened either, but she assured me that if her key was jiggled "just right" the lock would open. I spent 20 minutes jiggling the key. My hands and fingers got tired of wiggling and jiggling and fiddling with the key. I could not open the door. We needed the right key to open that door.

As far as entry into God's heaven and accessibility to God the Creator is concerned, there is only one key, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ! For God made Him, who knew no sin, to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor. 5:21).

Instead of making woefully weak and inadequate arguments about how narrow minded God is to insist on everyone coming to Him through Jesus Christ, I would recommend that you immediately take advantage of his open invitation to use his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to open the door of your heart, and His Heaven.