Will Jesus grade on the curve?

Luke 6:46-49

Have you ever heard that ignorance of the law is no excuse?  “One simple concept that law students learn in their very first weeks of criminal law class: Ignorance of the law is no excuse. This principle means that when an individual violates the law, it doesn’t matter whether or not they knew what the law said. If it’s a crime, and they are found to have committed the elements of that crime, they are guilty.”  (Nicole Flatow)  Many of us have tried this defense when driving, some at school, and many in business relations.  It is our fallen nature or flesh, (they are the same) to look for an escape when we are caught.

What about as a follower of Christ?  Will Jesus grade on the curve will He allow ignorance of His direction and commands to be over looked?  If you are misguided about this area of life, you are going to have full understanding when you read Luke 6:46, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?”  Many a follower of Christ has a lot of knowledge about what Jesus has told us to do, many of us sign-up for every Bible study and each course, but as I was told as a new believer by a guy named Chis who was teaching a Bible study at our home, “if you are not going to do what Scripture is telling you to do, a wise person would not open this book again, for God is going to hold you accountable.”  Folks, Chris was not telling us to quit reading the Scripture, but warning us that God expected, required, that it is mandatory to act on what the Holy Spirit shows us in Scripture.

I have no doubt some of you are saying thanks Bob, it’s a rare moment when you open the Bible and read anything, so do you believe you are getting a pass?  First, let me say this in a kind way, you are not on stable ground if your not building your life on Scripture.  What are you building your life on?  Could it be you have been taken captive by the world and it’s desires?  If so, you are in danger, for the Scripture tells us in 1 John 2:15-17, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

So the wise person studies the Scripture and comes to the conclusion that the Christian life is impossible to live in our own strength, for only Christ has lived it to the full.  A wise person runs to Jesus asking the Helper whom He has sent to guide us in our walk, because the days are evil.

Jesus tells you and me what transpires when we come to Him, hear from Him, and act on what He has told us; “Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”  As you and I examine our foundation, is it built on what God has spoken, or is it built on the thoughts of man and a world system that is collapsing?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice