Somewhere deep in Beverly Hills, ten young men and ten young women wait on the cusp of an announcement. Will they stay? Will they go?
Tonight, four more competitors are removed from the American Idol competition. I have my personal beliefs about who should go, but it is the voice of America that will decide who stays and who goes. The bottom two vote-receivers among each gender are removed from the competition.
Thinking about the anxiety the American Idol contestants are feeling today reminds me of several moments from my youth. Any basketball players out there? Remember the anxiety the night before the coach posted the "cut" for the team?
Seventh grade brings back wonderful memories because I made the team. Eighth grade was different. I vividly remember that morning, hustling off the bus to the coach's office door, only to discover my name missing from the roster. I remember the sinking feeling in my heart and the bitterness of falling short.
Will judgment day be like the American Idol announcement or like the cut published on a coach's office door? Will anxiety fill our spirits as we await the announcement of our eternal destiny? Is uncertainty of whether or not we will make the cut inevitable?
Thank you God, for placing into your inspired Word the first epistle of John. Within that tiny letter, chock-full of counsel regarding love, truth and walking in the light, John declares: "I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5.13).
Disciples of Christ need not look upon our eternal judgment with fear and trepidation, anxiety and worry. Jesus died to free us from, among many others, the fear of judgment (the eternal cut day).
Our assurance of heaven is not presumptuous, it is the acceptance of an inspired promise!
