In the teaching of Jesus the ultimate condemnation from the mouth of God is “depart from me.” That is remarkable—to simply be away from God is the worst thing that can happen to us! Why? We were originally created to walk in God’s immediate presence (Genesis 2). All the life, joy, love, strength, and meaning we have looked for and longed for is found in his face (Psalm 16:11)—that is, in his favor, presence, fellowship, and pleasure. That is why, for Paul, the everlasting fire and destruction of hell is “exclusion from the presence of the Lord.”
Speaker/Author: Tim Keller
Sharing the Joy We Have in Christ
There used to be social pressures to go to church and then there was a live and let live period. Now we’re moving into a period where there’s a social cost. And the more there’s a social cost, the fact is that more Christians are actually shutting up and being quiet about their faith with people around them.
Wisdom from the Letters of John Newton
These “small faults” mean that large swaths of the Christian population have little influence on others for Christ. This is true because, while our faults always seem small to us due to the natural self-justification of the heart, you can be sure they don’t look so small to others.
