Scripture: John 10 v 1-10
I remember as a small boy walking past the football ground where the city team played. It seemed such an awesome place to me with its eight foot high metal fences with sharp edging so that you could not jump, grab hold and pull yourself up to see over the top.
We tried as kids to look through the gaps in the fence to watch the game but to our frustration there were always bodies standing in the way. We could hear supporters shouting inside but a ticket to get in was outside our price range. Then one day a grown up took me to my first professional football match and paid the price for the ticket to get me in. It was amazing. I was inside. I could see everything.
Religion is like that small boy trying to catch a glimpse of God. No matter how hard we try we cannot seem to find a way in to see God for ourselves. It is not until we realise that God has already brought the ticket;
When God sent His Son into the world, He paid the price on the cross for the ticket for us to enter God’s presence. He came to remove the barrier that stops us experiencing God’s love.
When we believe and receive Jesus into our lives we can walk straight in without having to do anything ourselves. It then becomes amazing because we can see everything clearly that before was so obscure.
That is the unique thing about Christianity – we cannot reach God but He has reached down to us and lifted us up into his presence. As a child I knew the only way into the football ground was through the turnstile where you had to pay for an entrance ticket.
The only way any individual can come to God is through the one who declared. “I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.” John 10 : 9
Mick Reynolds
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