Grace Is Just Too Easy
Those who work hard to earn their salvation often respond to the message of grace with, “If that were true, if it really were a free gift with no strings attached, I’d accept it and then do whatever I wanted.”
What such a response reveals is that serving God isn't what they don't really want to be doing; they're only doing it to appease God.
Of course, such a reaction fails to comprehend the nature of the gift itself. The gift isn't a license to do whatever we want but a deposit of love that brings with it a whole new set of desires. Those who receive this gift are energized by the presence of the Holy Spirit to love God as freely as they have been loved by God. The gift of eternal life isn't replacing legalism with license, it's replacing legalism with love.
The lack of self-awareness among those who feel this way is truly astounding. Without realizing it, they are freely admitting that without the threat of God’s judgment, they would lack the motivation to please God. They are of the opinion that they need fear in order to keep them from going off the rails. What they don't realize is that God doesn't want their fear, He wants their love.
Just doing what we want isn’t love. Serving God after receiving salvation as a gift is love.
"Jesus replied, 'Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again'" (John 3:3).
One In One Hundred Claim Virgin Birth
It's hard to imagine anyone making a serious claim of a virgin conception. Right? Wrong! Did you know that nearly one percent of women in the US claim to have conceived as virgins?
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill analyzed data from thousands of young women over the course of a decade and a half and found that nearly 1 in 100 claim to have conceived without ever having had sexual relations (for obvious reasons, the study excluded those conceptions attributed to in vitro fertilization, etc.).
The researchers tell us that such things as fallible memory, delusion, denial, and wishful thinking can all "cause people to err in what they tell scientists" (not to mention outright deception).
It appears that Joseph wasn't the only one who had to weigh the claims of a pregnant "virgin."
We hear a statistic like this and we simply can't believe that anyone, much less one-in-a-hundred someones would ever make such a claim. Such reports are met with more than skepticism; they're met with sarcasm and cynicism.
Mary lived most of her adult life with people believing that either her memory was fallible, her thoughts were delusional or she was simply a liar. No doubt, throughout most of Mary's adult life she had to endure the sneers and jeers, the rumors and suspicions of a skeptical world.
As incredible as Mary's claim would have been 2000 years ago, we have even more cause to be skeptical in our age of science and advanced medicine. But unlike those who first heard Mary's incredible story, we also have the vantage point of history from which to judge her. Looking back we can see how the resurrection of her first born son from the dead not only changed the world, it must have brought Mary a tremendous sense of vindication. One in a hundred may make the claim but only one in the annuals of human history has ever given us reason to believe it.
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).
Too Often, We're Too Gullible
The story is told of the man walking down the street who dropped a quarter into the tin cup being held out by a man wearing dark glasses and holding a sign reading, “Help the poor blind man.” After taking a few steps, the donor turned around and was shocked to see the “blind man” remove his dark glasses and peer into the cup. The donor hurried back and angrily declared, “You’re not blind!” to which the “blind man” replied, “No, sir, I’m not. The blind man’s on vacation, and I’m just taking his place. I’m usually the deaf-and-dumb man on the next street.”
Most of us are much too gullible, or too lazy, to ask the right questions of those who make truth claims around us. For that reason, religious con-artists find plenty of easy-to-convince targets for their fraud. It's important that every truth seeker possess a healthy dose of skepticism. Because when it comes to issues of faith, we have a lot more than a quarter at stake.
"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).