All Other Ground

Apologist Paul Copan once wrote, “Hands down, Mt 7:1 (Judge not, that you be not judged) is the most frequently quoted Bible verse today”. Edward Mote, apparently, does not share that sentiment. The refrain (chorus) of his hymn, “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”, not only affirms that his salvation is based on “Christ the solid Rock”, but it goes further to stress, twice, that “All other ground is sinking sand”.

It’s one thing to say that your hope of salvation is Christ; it’s another to declare that every other person’s hope is wrong! If you do that today, you’ll be accused of bigotry, and of ‘judging’.

Some Christians, in other not to be seen to offend, say that there may be other ways to God, (though Jesus’ way is “preferable”). But Acts 4:12 says “there is NO OTHER name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved.” The Bible doesn’t present a possibility that all religions can attain salvation through their respective paths. Even Jesus Himself declares that “NO MAN comes unto the Father, but by ME”, (Jn 14:6).

One characteristic of “sinking sand” is that, unlike a river, it does not engulf a person immediately. Its suction is ever so gradual and barely perceptible. That’s why the evangelist has more to worry over a pious religious man than over a brazenly sinful sinner.

A robber or prostitute is aware of their shortcomings. The religious person, on the other hand, is couched in so much ceremony, rituals and form, that he becomes deluded into feeling a righteousness that leads to nowhere.

Rather than worry about ‘offending’ members of other faiths, we should know that it’s a greater form of love to affirm the truth to them. And what is this truth? It’s that we’re all sinners before God, and only His solution to sin, the Blood of His Son Jesus Christ, is sufficient to atone for them.

On Christ the solid Rock we stand,

All other ground is sinking sand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN