Vacations are Hard and I'm Lazy

OK, so I wasn't back for good.  Had another trip to make out to visit with my family who are mostly concentrated in Eastern North Carolina.  With that in the rearview mirror I want to get back to looking at the apparent disconnect between what we claim to believe and how we apply the Bible.  To be fair this is not purely a problem with Christians.  I know people who believe in anthropomorphic global warming and rising sea levels who have purchased expensive waterfront homes to live in.  Bankers who agree with them and still provide mortgage loans to purchase those properties.  So, it seems to be a common human trait. 
 
I believe Blaise Pascal had it right when he posited “People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.”   Rather than working through evidence or reasoning behind what is presented as truth, people pick those things that sound good to them.  Capitalism is a sound economic system built on incentivizing effort and risk, but socialism sounds good.  So, even though it doesn’t work people in a free society will still vote for it.  We see the same thing among Christians and how they choose what church they attend.  To a lot of people, a faith plus works approach to salvation sounds better than the faith alone in Christ alone solution Jesus Christ offers in John 3:14-16. 
 
My guess is those folks want some sort of tangible measurement system by which to gauge their spirituality.  Or it could be an ego thing.  They want a means of comparing themselves against others.  The major problem with following what sounds good is you might find yourself disagreeing with the all-knowing, eternal and sovereign God who created you.  I’m pretty sure that is not where you want to be found in the end. 
 
The words Jesus Christ spoke in John 3:16 were to a man who had worked hard his entire life to obey every commandment God had given Israel.  He was a role model for others.  And yet Jesus told him he would never even see the Kingdom of God, heaven, unless he believed in Jesus Christ as the giver of everlasting life.  He needed to believe that Jesus Christ is the source of everlasting life and that He, Christ, would give it to him if he would believe Jesus for it.