Greenpastures313’s Weblog

We often think we would have been different, had we lived when they lived, had we seen the things which they saw. We say that we would have believed, that we never would have crucified the Lord. If he were here now, we would honor him and if we had lived then, we would have accepted him, instead of nailing him to a tree. How naïve we are. The self-righteous religious leaders of Christ’s day were equally naïve. They said, “If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.” (Matthew 23.30).
But mankind is mankind and human nature is what it is. The invaluable commodity of hindsight is ours. Seeing what is standing right in front of us or approaching us from the not too distant future is where our weakness lies. Jesus is Lord, but he is often a dishonored Lord. And there are many who “crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” (Hebrews 6.6).
This is what we must do differently. By changing our ways now (repenting) we may escape the condemnation of our forebears. We must lose the self-righteous posture, the prideful, self-congratulatory “I never would have done that” attitude. We did do that. Christ is set before us today, just as he was set before them two thousand years ago. We see his sacrifice, his death and resurrection. Christians see these things each Lord’s Day in communion at the Lord’s Table and that is sufficient. You don’t need a miracle or mystical experience. What you need is to accept that Jesus is God’s Son and bow to him in humble obeisance and obedience. This is the only way you can honestly do things differently.