Exclusively True

Since reading “Sinner” by Ted Dekker, I’ve been thinking a lot about exclusivism. The book detailed a place in the future where tolerance was heralded and that everyone and every way was good and had benefit. This certainly does seem to be where we are heading. It came to the point that saying you were a Christian was unlawful because by it’s teachings, it automatically excluded the possibility that any other religion could be right. It made you narrow minded and intolerant.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that. Because there is a small part of me that rebels against the way the church has exercised exclusivism in the past and I realize it was unhealthy. On the other hand, the Bible teaches that Christ is the only way to God. It says we are to tell people about Him and encourage them to follow Him – making disciples.

But truth in it’s very nature, is exclusive. Two plus two will always equal four. The fact excludes any other possibilities. The sun will always rise in the East. Tomorrow I will be older than I am today. Sin, left alone, will always lead to death. I am not perfect – I will always, every day, need saving. There is only one death that leads to life. Truth.

At my very core, my spirit sighs at the speaking of such truth. Yet sometimes, my soul bristles – resents that truth just a bit. I don’t want to need saving. I don’t always want to bend my life to the helplessness that implies. So, given the “out” of “wanting to be accepting of people different than I am” sometimes, my mind wants to take it and run with it.

But the moment I do that, my footing becomes slippery and I get blown by the wind in what I believe and who I am. A very high price, indeed.

So, by the grace of God, I choose to believe. I will fearfully follow a God whose ways I do not understand – to the exclusion of all others. This God who is the only way – and His son who is my only chance at life – I will say without apology, is true.

Exclusively.