Where Are You?

What you see above is a graph. A mathematician would describe it as a bell curve. The term bell curve is used to describe a graphical depiction of a normal probability distribution, whose underlying standard deviations from the median create the curved bell shape.

I am not a mathematician so I won't describe it as above because I don't understand what it means anyway.

All I would say, looking at the shape of the graph, is that there are a few on the left, rising to quite a lot at the top of the graph and then getting fewer and fewer towards the end.

Apparently, according to mathematicians and statisticians and other clever people, this is a normal distribution of anything you care to count. Whenever we count something, or some event statistically, apparently the curve in the graph is roughly the same - bell shaped. A few at either side and the majority in the middle.

This led me to think ... because my brain works this way. I bet if we were to go out in the streets and ask everyone in the whole world a question the graph would look a bit like this:

We will find a certain number of people who believe in God; even though their belief may range from ardent to lukewarm. And also there will be a number of people who do not believe in God at all, in fact they are so sure of it that they make it their mission in life to convince everyone to believe the same. And the rest, most of them, will be people in the middle who quite frankly don't care.

The ones in the middle, the rest, may call themselves believers, but in name only. They think they believe in something or Someone but cannot quite describe or explain what they believe. They're too busy living life to bother about such minutiae as God. They think He exists but they perceive Him in totally different ways - an energy, nature, or whatever.

Then my train of thoughts led me to ask: Where do you think the devil is hardest at work? Who is he trying to convince that they are wrong?

And then I thought about us Christians. Where exactly are we on this graph. Individually. Each one of us. And what are we doing to teach those known as "the rest" about the existence of a living Creator God? A loving Father. 

Individually. Each one of us. Or as a church.

You know ... the time will come when each one of us, individually, will meet God face to face.

Some of us will have spent our lives praying and truly believing, "Thy Will Be Done".

To the others, God will say, "OK ... Thy Will Be Done. Now go to hell."

(With apologies to C S Lewis for misquoting him).