The Elite Seat
By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president
$500,000 dollars is a lot of money! But that is how much is alleged to have been paid as a bribe to ensure a student’s acceptance into a highly ranked university. The parents of this student allegedly went so far as to have pictures of their daughter taken on a rowing machine so that she could be recruited for the rowing team even though she was not on any such team in high school. Others in the nationwide fraud paid for their children to be recruited as tennis players. This was all to get a coveted seat in the school of their choice. Now the parents are in trouble with the government, people have been fired from their positions and the mastermind of this scheme has already pled guilty to the charges against him.
As I read the news this past week, I was struck by the lengths people will go to acquire things for their children who could not acquire those same things on the merits of their own grades and achievements. The outrage that many felt because of people trying to cheat the system was real.
But, I also thought about the elite seat that God has promised to you and me. In John 14:1-3 (NIV) it gives us a wonderful promise.
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. In my father's house are many rooms; if it were not so I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am.
You cannot bribe your way into this most elite of places. You can only put your faith in Jesus Christ who came to live, die and be raised on our behalf. In this most elite of places none of us will get there by our own merits or achievements. In this most elite of places none of us will have been able to buy our way in. Heaven with Jesus is the most elite of places and we will be there because Jesus died for each one and each one has accepted Him and followed Him.
Praise God for the good news of the gospel and that the ground is level at the cross.