Tetelestia

In my house sets the most comfortable chair in the history of the world.

The chair didn't always belong there, it actually came from my office at the church and has been in the church office since at least 1995; yet, it is still the most comfortable recliner in the history of civilized man.

As such, when I returned home from surgery, I realized that an extraordinary amount of time would be spent in a chair or on a couch.
What better place to be than in the black recliner from West Ripley?

In the words of the song writer, it fulfills the call of 'comfort and joy.'
And for what I had done, it has been a much needed and much welcomed piece of furniture.

When it comes to religion, especially when people begin to speak of death or life after death - what most seek in their hearts is 'comfort and joy.'
Yet, from what I can see, most don't really have joy and they aren't really all that comforted about the religious faith they do have.
And this includes many Christians, even though the reason is fairly simple.

You see, religious faith can be divided up into two categories - no more, no less. There are only two religions in the entire world; there has only been two since the dawning of man.
Now, we stick different labels on them but there are still only two.

The first is the faith or the religion that says you have to 'do' something. It doesn't matter if it is good deeds towards others, singing a mantra in an open field, giving more money to a church, being baptized in the Jordan River or taking communion while doubling up on the wafers - 99% of all religions tell you in their own format that you have to do something to gain favor with God.
And this poses a problem for man on the earth.
- First - if man must do something to gain favor with God, how will we know when we have achieved that favor we desire? Since there is no way to know for certain, then there is no peace or comfort in our hearts for certain.
Our faith would be more of a holy hunch than an absolute truth - no comfort and no joy.

- Secondly, if man can gain favor by doing something for God wouldn't this also implicate that man can also lose favor with God just as easily?
The thought does not just implicate this, it necessitates this because the thought is a logical conclusion. Any time a person must do something to gain favor with a person, entity or even God, it necessarily means that a person can lose favor with the same just as he earned it.
So much for joy.

And the sad thing about this 'doing' or 'earning' type of religion is the fact that so many Christians attempt to do things through their lives to gain greater favor with God.
I don't know if they've ever read the book, but there is not one passage in the Bible that will support the idea that the more you do the greater the favor you will gain.

The other religion in the world stands opposed to 'doing' and it can be summed up in just one word: DONE.
While all other faiths and beliefs center on what a human being must do, Jesus Christ and His true teaching says you can't do anything, it has already been done for you.
This begs a question - 'What has been done for me?'

I'm sure you would agree that nobody is perfect. That imperfection you have within you is bred into your genetics; you make mistakes and you sin. Well, God requires a price for sin and that price is high because the price is death.
'For the wages of sin is death...'
Romans 6:23a

Therefore, the price that must be paid for our sins in life is death.
But there is another part to that verse:
'For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.'
Romans 6:23

Christ is able to offer us the gift of life instead of certain death because He died for us on the Cross so many years ago. That means the work is DONE.
Maybe that's why when He died Jesus' last words were, 'It is finished,' for He had finished the work of making it possible for you and I to come to God the Father.

Soon I will return to Cleveland and undergo another surgery. The recovery time is up in the air because what will be happening is still undecided.
But with all that I don't know physically, there is one thing I do know spiritually - the work is Done and it was finished and completed by Christ.
And that is a very comforting thought when you are sick; He has DONE it all so that you and I wouldn't have to. And with that thought there is true 'comfort and joy.'

Until next time, win one for the good guys.