When I was a kid, I would never have imagined all the travel I’ve gotten to do as a result of writing books. It’s given me the opportunity to have conversations with people on airplanes, and a couple of those conversations continue to haunt me. A gentleman with whom I shared a lengthy talk about “religion” (after he asked me what I did for a living and I said I was a Christian fiction writer) told me he was all for believing in “a god.” “A god” gave people a moral compass to follow so they’d be better people. After a little more talking, he finally agreed there probably was one “real God” who put the world together, because its intricacy couldn’t be explained any other way. But he didn’t want anything to do with a Savior. In his opinion, he didn’t need “saving” because he was capable of taking care of himself.

What this man was saying is he not only rejected Jesus, he also rejected God. He rejected the One who had sent Jesus to save us from ourselves. He acknowledged God’s wonderful plan in putting the world together but refused to see God’s wonderful gift of salvation offered through Jesus’ sacrifice. We cannot have the Father without the Son. Some would try tell us otherwise, but don’t believe it. Believe God’s holy Word—to reject Jesus is to reject God the Father.