Author: Ian Bothwell

Using passwords is nothing new. Armies have used them from the beginning of time.   In Judges 12 men from Gilead took control of the passages across the Jordan River and used the word “Shibboleth” as a password.  They knew the men from Ephraim could not pronounce the “Sh” sound and so they were able to sort out the good guys from the bad guys.  When we were children we had clubs with secret passwords and handshakes.  Today we have computers that require a host of passwords.  We need passwords to access our email, Ebay, Amazon.com, bank accounts, ATMs and faculty records.     Passwords are the key to opening locked doors or blocked passageways.

 

I know some Christians who think the name “Jesus” is a password.  They treat it like it was “Open Sesame” to heaven.  Because Jesus instructed us to pray in His name we are tempted to think of it as a magic word.  Nothing could be further from the truth for the very same Jesus who told us to pray in His name also said in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

 

Ahh, so there is a password or maybe I should call it a pass action or a pass behavior.  The secret is doing the Father’s will.  And what might that be?  “This is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: . .”  John 6:40

 

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 16, 2003.

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574

A car company could purchase every available advertising minute during the Super Bowl and not sell any cars if the people who already had one spread the word the cars were debris on wheels.  I sometimes wonder if the money we spend on evangelism is a testimony to our failure as Christians.   We talk about witnessing as if it were something we go somewhere and do.  Witnessing is living.  Witnessing is not standing on a street corner passing out pamphlets.  It is not knocking on doors annoying people.  Witnessing is being the happiest, most peaceful person in our workplace and neighborhood.

Everyone wants to be happy and to be loved.  Everyone.  If we were truly happy loving people it would not take long for others to notice.  The world would rush to us.  “Build a better mousetrap . . . .”

Yesterday one of my undergrad classes came in looking like Red Sox fans.  What doom and gloom!   I asked them if they would be happy if they just won the lottery.  “Oh yes,” they said.  I asked if I gave them a ticket assuring them a place in heaven if they would be happy.  “If we believed you,” was the response I received.  There it was.  We talk about salvation but so often fail to really believe it.  At least so often that’s the way we act.

Isn’t it strange that we find it easy to believe stupid urban myths and yet struggle with the Gospel?  Could it be that we just cannot imagine being so blessed?  Is it for everyone else but not me?  Repeat after me. “It is for me.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 13, 2003

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574