"I’ve made my peace with
the ‘Man upstairs.’"
When people refer
to God as "the Man upstairs," they reveal
that they have no concept of (nor living relationship
with) Him. They will use such words because they feel
uncomfortable saying His name. Often they will have
a measure of reverence for God, but not enough to obey
Him.
Ask if the person
thinks he will go to heaven when he dies. He’ll
almost certainly say he will, and a little probing will
reveal that he’s trusting in his own goodness
to save him. However, the only way sinners can have
peace with the God they have offended is through the
shed blood of the Savior. Therefore, it’s important
to take the person through the Ten Commandments and
strip him of his self-righteousness and his false sense
of assurance of salvation.
As you do so, you
may feel bad that you are making him uncomfortable,
but if you care about his eternal salvation, you must
ask yourself, "Which is worse: a few moments of
conviction under the sound of God’s Law, or eternity
in the Lake of Fire?" Unless there is a knowledge
of sin (which comes by the Law—Romans 7:7), there
will be no repentance.
|