No Side Effects

I find myself watching a lot of TV this time of year. Usually, it’s some kind of sporting event like football or basketball, or my favorite shows like the Flintstones or Swamp People Serpent Invasion. They are entertaining and stressful at times especially when the Badgers or Packers lose or when the Lions win. What I have come to realize is that you can’t watch TV without a pharmaceutical commercial pushing some kind of medicine that claims to heal anything and everything from emotional issues to weight loss to hair loss. What blows my mind is how negative the side effects are. Almost always the side effects are worse than what the person is dealing with. The most disturbing side effects that I see are cancer and potential death!

All these drugs try and claim to fix an issue, but they all have negative side effects. We as fellow Christians don’t need any magic potion or medicine to get into heaven. There are absolutely no negative side effects to following Christ, on the contrary we are blessed with a positive side effect which is life eternal in heaven.

Mark 16:16 says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” We as Christians need to remember that there is nothing that we can do to get to heaven. Martin Luther stated it perfectly with the five Solas (Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Soli Deo Gloria) that state that Christians are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. So that is great news! There is no medication necessary to get into heaven. Just faith in our Lord and Savior.

Prayer:

Dear God, keep us on the path that follows Jesus. Help us grow in our faith in him throughout Lent. Amen.