Do you ever feel in danger of drifting away from your faith?

Of losing hope in God, wondering all over again if He is real?

Or perhaps you’ve never doubted God, but struggled with believing all the stuff the Bible says.

I have experienced all of these things. It is because I have faced those moments and come through them with even more confidence in the truth and goodness of God, that I write. My goal is to put truth on your plate, to nourish you in knowing God and His truth. Today, the plate is full of vegetables.

The Bible says some tough stuff. There are things that warn you, things meant to alarm you, wake you up or shake you up. The opening words of Hebrews Chapter Two are such words, warning that those who do not accept the salvation offered by Jesus Christ will end up enduring a terrible, tortuous eternity in hell. Sometimes it’s hard to square that news with the fact that our God is so merciful and gracious.

In fact, I know people who have decided to not believe in “all that hell stuff.” People who don’t believe there are things man can do which so offend God and His holiness it would doom them to such a fate. Even after learning the truth, we can drift away from it.

If you are ever tempted down this road, or know someone who is, consider this: to assume that you or anyone else is qualified to pass judgment on God’s declared truth, is presumption of the worst kind. The great arrogance of man is that we act as if WE get to choose what is right or wrong, and how God should handle justice, heaven or hell, rather than simply believe what He says about it all.

Such thinking places us above God. It declares a reckless kind of superiority to Him, as if we know better how to judge mankind than He does. The Lord warned about this through his Prophet Isaiah:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. (Isaiah 5:20-21 NIV)

Today, we are increasingly surrounded by a culture that does just that. Who throw off any yoke or restriction that religion or God or Scripture might put on them. Who just go for the idea that we are all okay just as we are, that God, if He exists, is love, and should love us just the way we are.

It is an intoxicating idea for many. Frankly, if I had not read my Bible so thoroughly I’m sure I would be in the midst of that crowd, enticed away from God’s truth by the sly arguments I now recognize as the language of the devil. He, the sworn enemy of God and those God loves, twists God’s truth in ways that appeal to our hunger for fun junk food over broccoli.

Encouraging someone to live by what is wrong in God’s eyes is the opposite of loving. Why? It offers a false sense of security and approval with God, setting them up to experience His wrath instead.

Beloved, the final destination of every person’s soul is coming to meet them. God has destined all men to be saved through Christ, but He does not force anyone to go there. The author of Hebrews affirmed this when he or she wrote:

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? (Hebrews 2:1-3 NIV)

The answer to that, found in the balance of the New Testament, in the words of Jesus, and in the book of Revelation, is that we shall not escape. And Jesus offers a salvation so great as to be astounding.

Beloved, don’t take my word for it. The great thing about the Bible is that it makes the judgment coming at the end of every life an open book test. Every answer you need and the truth of God is before you. Learn it. Believe it. And tell the people you love. I just did.