It is thought that Abraham Lincoln said, "God must have loved the common people, since He made so many of them." Because us "common folk" are so numerous, we should likewise be thankful that God made the way of salvation plain enough to be understood by all.

There's no entrance exam or essay as a requirement for salvation. Salvation does not depend on a person's ability to understand a complex philosophical formula of religious truth. If that were necessary, only the educated elite could every hope to be saved! Such is not the case.

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things -- and the things that are not -- to nulify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him" (1 Cor. 1:26-29 NIV).

God doesn't require us to do something monumental. Rather He sent Jesus Christ to pay for our sins through His death on the cross. When we believe in Jesus as the Son of God, repent of our sins, confess our faith and are baptized for the forgiveness of our sins, who can boast of their salvation?? These are foolish things to the world. The are stumbling blocks to many, yet God chose the weak things to shame the strong. Anyone who can read the different accounts of conversion can see the pattern they obeyed.

Paul said that the gospel "is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16). Whether educated or uneducated, knowledgeable or ignorant, anyone can follow the Lord. No one will be able to stand before God and say, "The gospel was too difficult to understand." He has made it clear.

By Shane Williams in The Lilbourn Light, Vol. 7, No. 11, March 2007.

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