Have you seen a mailbox like the one Keith Wishum describes?

It was just a few miles out Highway 30, just a few feet off the ground.  It was just a few letters, just an ordinary mailbox.  The message took a moment to register, and I almost didn’t notice as I drove by daydreaming of other matters.  But it communicated clearly.  And, I laughed.

Standing about 10 feet high, this mailbox had stenciled on the side, “Bills.”

It is just a joke.  The owner knows that moving the mailbox so that the postman can’t deliver the mail doesn’t really make the bills go away.  They are still very much due.  So, the guy has a regular-height mailbox for his bills to actually go into.

Now observe Wishum’s astute application:

Are we ever tempted to move the mailbox just because we don’t like the message we receive?  Take concepts like the wrath and judgment of God, for example.  Because those are unpleasant ideas, are we tempted to ignore them even though they are plainly part of the message God has sent us in Scripture?

Consider God’s “mail” to His church in Thessalonica.  He cautions (in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9):

This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power.

What harsh words!  Blazing fire?  Punishment?  Everlasting destruction?  That doesn’t sound like God as we would like for Him to be.  He must be talking about serial killers and terrorists, right?  No, the destruction is for those who “do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

Many don’t like that and “move the mailbox”; they ignore the message.   But ignoring it doesn’t change it.

The Gospel, which must be obeyed, is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).  It is obeyed by dying to sin, being buried in baptism, and being raised to live a new life (see Romans 6:1-4).*

The Good News (the Gospel) is that Jesus died on the cross for our sins.  His death was part of God’s loving plan for our redemption.  Jesus suffered the wrath of God for sin on our behalf.  His death satisfied the justice of God while also demonstrating His supreme love for us (see Romans 3:23-26).  Jesus died for us so that we might have forgiveness of our sins and receive the gift of eternal life – IF – we will humbly accept His offer on His terms by obeying the Gospel.

God will save and give eternal life to those who will place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  This is how we “obey the Gospel” – the Good News that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, so that we can be saved!  Then, as we continue to walk in the light of His Word, the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from sin (1 John 1:7).

Wishum concludes: “Moving the mailbox doesn’t change the message.  Obeying the message does change things.”

Won’t YOU accept the Good News through your trusting obedience?

-- David A. Sargent

From “Moving the Mailbox” by Keith Wishum in A Word from Williams Road, a publication provided by the Williams Road Church of Christ.

David A. Sargent, Minister