“Whom have you so dreaded and feared
that you have not been true to me,
and have neither remembered me
nor taken this to heart?
Is it not because I have long been silent
that you do not fear me?
I will expose your righteousness and your works,
and they will not benefit you.
When you cry out for help,
let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
a mere breath will blow them away.
But whoever takes refuge in me
will inherit the land
and possess my holy mountain.”

–Isaiah 57.11-13 (NIV)

This passage is actually assigned to tomorrow but I essentially covered today’s reading in yesterday’s post. Check it out.

I always have to chuckle whenever I read a story about a new traffic camera or monitoring device being installed somewhere that will ticket speeders or those who run red lights. The outcry of protests is predictable. “It’s a violation of our rights! It’s an intrusion of big government in our lives, etc., etc.!” In some cases this may be true, but I suspect if those who howl in protest are really honest with themselves (and others), they would reluctantly admit that what they are really howling about is not freedom, but rather being held accountable for their behavior (and I am among those who do not like these little critters because I, um, sometimes drive a wee bit faster than I should and/or scurry through those “pink” traffic lights). The fact of the matter is that where such devices are in place, people slow down and stop running red lights as frequently, which in turn makes our roads safer. This principle behind traffic monitoring devices also holds true for almost any form of accountability. Where we are held legitimately accountable for our actions, we tend not to misbehave.

Like it or not, we humans apparently need to be held accountable, and this make sense given how badly broken we are. We see this illustrated very clearly in the passage above from Isaiah. God takes his people to task for their idolatrous behavior, chastising them for doing so, in part, because they didn’t believe that God would hold them accountable for their actions. Because God in his mercy and infinite patience hadn’t acted to punish his people for their idolatrous behavior, they mistakenly believed they had gotten away with it. We can relate to this dynamic because we are every bit as wayward and rebellious. Material and scientific progress have been made, yes, but the human condition remains the same.

But God reminds them (and us) that looks can be deceiving. He tells them in no uncertain terms that he will hold them accountable because he loves them and wants them to conduct their lives in ways that will end their alienation from him and bring them life.

It is a choice each one of us must make and whatever we decide, God reminds us that he is going to hold us accountable for our decisions. As Dr. John Stott reminds us frequently, distasteful as being held accountable might be to us, it is actually God verifying the dignity of human beings, by acknowledging we are moral beings capable of choice and being responsible for our actions.

Sadly, however, we are so badly broken that many of us simply refuse to acknowledge this reality. We tool along in life following our own agenda and pursuing those things that cannot bring real life, meaning, satisfaction, or raise us from the dead. We pursue almost everything but developing a relationship with the living God in Christ. And we rankle when we are reminded that we only have two choices regarding our final destiny. We will either live under God’s wrath (separation from him forever–call it what you’d like) or we will live with God forever, ultimately in his New Creation, a destiny that is ours only through the great love, tender mercies, and mind-blowing grace of God as manifested in the cross of Jesus.

That’s it. There are no other available options and it really is an urgent matter of life and death because none of us is guaranteed another day to live on this earth.

None of us likes this but that doesn’t change the facts on the ground, and so instead of griping and complaining about it, we would be better served to make up our minds about the course of action we will pursue. We had better decide right now where we want to end up when all is said and done. Make no mistake, we cannot “earn” our way into God’s Holy Presence. As it stands now, none of us can ever dwell in God’s Space because the Holy cannot abide the presence of the unholy.

But take heart. Things aren’t hopeless. None of us is outside the love of God, none of us, and permanent separation from him doesn’t have to be our destiny. The Bible tells us that a successful rescue operation has already been effected. Our destiny need not be death, but life. What we must do is accept God’s gracious invitation in Christ to come and live with him in his Space, starting today. We simply must trust that the offer is legitimate and true and then spend the rest of our days demonstrating to God (and ourselves) that we believe the Promise. As we saw yesterday, this is no cakewalk and we can expect tremendous opposition along the way. But God’s love, grace, mercy, and power are stronger than the opposition and we can rest assured that he is with us, helping us in our weakness.

None of us likes to be held accountable but accountability is a fact of life and it is for our good. Are you willing to take a chance and allow God to hold you accountable for the way you live your life (actually he will whether you want him to or not)? Are you willing to trust the One who loves you and gave himself for you on the cross so that you can live with him forever?

If you are, take the plunge. Join with other Christians and live your lives together. Pick up your Bible and begin to read about God’s rescue operation so that you know what it looks like. Memorize verses from Scripture so that you can recall them when life gets hard and you need help. Meditate on those verses and pray them for your life. It will change you in ways you cannot even begin to imagine. This is called Christian discipleship and it promises to free you to live a joyous and peace-filled life in any and every circumstance. Oh yeah. The final destination ain’t bad either.