Friday

“Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed...”

Read Luke 16:26.

When I was in high school our drama department put on a production of Godspell. Michaela was one of our best actors and she did a marvelous job in this production. In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, she (as father Abraham) delivered this line with much volume, grandeur, and gesturing: “There is a great chasm fixed between us!” Only she mispronounced “chasm”, only to be corrected by the actor playing Lazarus; they then went ‘round and ‘round arguing about the correct pronunciation, providing comic relief.

The laughter was much needed, since this is a pretty somber parable. In a world of second (and third…and fourth) chances, the finality of verse 26 is striking. No one can cross that chasm between heaven and hell. If that’s the case, I sure don’t want to be on the hell-side looking back over to heaven, wishing I’d made different choices but unable to do anything about it.

When I was little I was taught that the most important thing was asking Jesus into my heart so I could go to heaven. And I should probably pray and be good and all those things, but really that just sort of added rooms on my palace in heaven. What this thinking did not leave room for was the total transformation of mind, thought, attitude, and actions that takes place (albeit over a lifetime) when I make the choice to be a Jesus-follower. As I’ve grown in my faith I’ve come to appreciate both the journey and the promise of being in heaven. -AB

Lord, transform me completely and continually into someone who is more like you. Help me to be motivated by love for you and act in response to your love for me.