Asking the Right Questions

I try to listen every week to the White Horse Inn, a radio program/podcast wherein a Lutheran, a Baptist, and two Reformed guys attempt to the put the Christ back into Christianity. Their conversations are always interesting, but I found this week's show ("The Cross and Resurrection," April 4) to be particularly good.

While many folks in the evangelical world seem to think Christianity is some sort of self-help program (How can I relieve stress? How can I get my family budget in order? How can I have my best life now?), Mike Horton suggests that we should be asking some deeper questions. Like, umm, How can I escape the wrath of God?

The Bible, all along -- its whole plot line from Genesis to Revelation -- tells us, "Hey, come over here for a minute. Sit down." It's a doctor giving us the diagnosis: "You have cancer." Once you hear "you have cancer," your whole outlook on what you need changes. And once God tells us, "Look, this is the problem: I am your enemy. I can't be anything but your enemy, apart from you being in the right with respect to my justice and my law, my righteousness. Now, shut up, I don't want to hear a word from you, I'm going to tell you what I did about that." 

And what He did about it is very good news indeed. In fact, it's called the good news. It's even better than having your best life now.