I often hear people say they can’t understand why people reject Jesus. It often comes in the context of their having gone through great personal trials. It sounds something like this: “How do people deal with their hurts and troubles without Christ?”

While we can’t give every reason, there certainly are some biblical reasons to help us understand why people don’t follow Christ.

First, people do not accept Christ because they are caught up in the cares of the world.

In the Parable of the Soils, Jesus told about the word of God being scattered over various soils. Some of the soils were receptive to the word and others were not. Jesus said that these people had the word taken from them by “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of money, and the desires of there things enter in and choke the word” (Mark 4:19).

We all understand this picture. We have all been overwhelmed by “the cares of the world.” Life in itself creates many obstacles to knowing Christ and receiving Him as Lord and master. It is simply the truth that many things get in the way and keep us from making an honest assessment of the truth.

Second, some people actually love life as they have it and don’t want to change. The Bible tells us that “men love the darkness” and therefore reject the light.

Many people who have trouble believing actually have trouble because they don’t want to give up evil or change their life. They love the darkness and choose not to come to the light (John 3:19).

A third reason why people reject Christ is something we can do something about. There are many people – – even in the United States of America – – who have never really heard the gospel. They don’t know any credible Christians, and they have never heard the personal message of salvation.

I often can’t overcome “the cares of the world,” and I certainly can’t make people enter into the kingdom of heaven. I can help people who are open to the Gospel to know and receive Christ.

You can, too.

Yesterday, I challenged our church to make sure that we take other people to heaven with us. There are many people who would respond to a genuine, kind, caring, and sincere message like this: “I have asked Jesus into my heart. Because of that, he tells me that I will be in heaven with Him. I really, really want you to be there, too.”

Would you join with me in seeking to help family, neighbors, friends, students, and co-workers to go to heaven as well?

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