CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, July 21, 2023 – Jesus had no trouble gathering followers when he first started his ministry. The same for Moses; after he’d proved himself through the many signs and wonders, all the Hebrews willingly followed him out of Egypt.

Gaining adherents is the easy part. Getting people to buy into a dream and agree to the terms of a contract is the easy part. Getting someone to say “I do” is the easy part.

The hard part is getting people to stick with their promise.

Viewed from one perspective, the Bible is essentially a series of vignettes featuring people who agree to do something and then renege on the agreement. The only ones in scripture who don’t break their promise or violate the terms of their agreement are God and Jesus. Everyone else messes up somewhere along the line, falls, and either stays down for the count or struggles to their feet and staggers on.

No prophet worth his or her salt is unaware of the odds against people sticking with the terms of their contract with God. That most people won’t “endure to the end”, as Jesus warned we need to do in order to make it Home, is a given. Moses knew already at the start of the 40 years of wandering in the desert that only a few men of fighting age would make it to the promised land. He knew it, but he kept on advocating for everyone anyway. When God gave him the opportunity to throw them all under the bus when he caught them dancing naked around the golden calf, Moses pleaded for them, even knowing his battle was a losing one, even knowing that, in the end, it would all come down to just a handful or fewer of righteous souls and that the rest would be lost.

We should be under no illusion that everyone who calls him- or herself a Christian is written in God’s Book of Life. If that were the case, there would be no need for the Judgement. But the truth is that getting into Heaven is very difficult. In fact, it’s so hard, we can’t do it with our own efforts. It’s impossible for us to do it on our own, but Jesus says that it is possible “with God”.

This is the reason why so many Hebrews didn’t make it to the promised land and why so many people won’t make it Home. Once called, Moses did nothing without first consulting with God. The same with Jesus. David was always asking if he should go to battle, and if God said yes, he’d go; if God said no, he wouldn’t. When Joshua took over from Moses, he also did nothing without first consulting with God. He didn’t draw up battle plans and then ask God to bless them; he waited for God’s instructions, including God’s go-ahead.

Being “with God” means just what Jesus said – being with God. You consult God on everything, from the second you wake up in the morning to the second you fall asleep at night. God is not only always on your  mind, he’s in your mind and moving things around in there for you. And you’re letting him do it. That’s how you live “with God” and that’s how you’ll make it (if you make it) all the way Home. Being with God means to enter into a contract with God, like a marriage contract. You agree to stick with God and he agrees to stick with you.

Few will hear these words, and of those few who do hear, fewer will take them to heart. Still, as followers of Jesus, we have to make the effort to reach out to everyone who wants to be touched by God, and to keep on reaching out to them for as long as we’re here. Our job is to keep hoping for them and praying for them, even if part of us thinks they’re a lost cause. We’re not the judge. We didn’t write the Book of Life. We don’t know who’s in it because it hasn’t been opened yet and and hasn’t been read.

Moses kept fighting for every child of Israel, even after God told him most of them would go astray and would be lost. He kept fighting for all of them. Jesus sacrificed himself not for those who were worthy, but for those who might some day be worthy. He cast his net wide for the haul and then picked and chose after he’d brought the catch to shore.

It’s easy to agree with the terms of a contract while the ink is still fresh. Many will initially agree but few will follow through later. Knowing this, we still need to teach anyone and everyone who wants to learn about the Kingdom. That’s why Jesus said we’re to forgive people not seven times but seventy times seven. In other words, we’re to keep on giving people a chance. God will ultimately decide who’s worthy of Paradise and who isn’t.

Our job is to let people know they can be made worthy, with God.