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Can Your
Life Really Matter?
SALVATION
HOPE
Any thoughts of mine in this paper reflect my
struggle to understand The Truth during the years since 1992. Every Christian must undergo
his own personal struggle ("working out" your "salvation"...Philippians 2:12-13) of his beliefs about God
(personal theology) toward The Truth! None of the following is submitted as
"PROOF", and a great deal is borrowed as sayings and positions taken from current and past
great followers of Jesus. Salvation = HERE. Check out some salvation miracles [here].
In a lifetime of believing that knowledge of "the
truth" would "set you [me] free", I sorely misunderstood that those words were said by Jesus
pertaining to very specific conditions:
- understand
that Jesus, Himself, says that no mortal can save himself (Mark 10:17-31, see verses 26 & 27)! Jesus' death on the cross is the "finished" work of God through Jesus...the price to
redeem all of mankind from sin was paid;
- CLAIM your salvation
in Jesus by coming to belief (truly believing in the truth of Jesus) & be divinely empowered thereafter by the incoming into you and indwelling within you of the Holy
Spirit (causing the joining of you in The Kingdom of God and the Church Universal for eternity);
- hold to ("follow")
the teachings & example of Jesus...do you "follow" Jesus?;
- be Jesus'
disciple. THEN...you will know The Truth; and, The Truth will set you free!
The Truth encompasses the
HUGE opportunity for everyone: that our God of
love so loved "mankind" that He sent/gave Jesus (and Jesus then loved God by obeying God fully)
to pay for mankind's sin.The Gospel ("good news") is first and foremost about God's love. ALL who will come to belief & realize the reality of
this gracious gift will find the freedom that comes with the fullness of the assurance of
eternal salvation, unconditionally...no strings attached. The heart of this Gospel is in the person of Jesus and about God's belief in His humankind creation. God placed us on earth primarily to make a life, not a
living!
Think about it! Where will you be 185
years from now?
All the activities we could ever be
interested in during our brief lives on planet earth can be done and lived with a sense of
connectedness (being a meaningful...you and your life matters greatly...part of a
great plan of life), peace, joy (a
word used some 326 times in the New Testament of the Bible), love, and goodness in the midst
of life's profoundly disappointing human-nature turmoils. Instead of being heavy, life can be
lighter. We just have to do it under the auspices of the correct authority (and the example of Jesus):
our one Almighty God, the God of love & grace.
Each person has a God-shaped vacuum in his heart that can only be truly
satisfied by God, and that is why all peoples search for a god (in absence of finding Him,
their hearts will be filled with other things). Belief in God is, at first, based on faith,
totally blind faith...at first....faith even so faint as, "Well, if he is so convinced, I'll
look into it." Your most important decision in life has to do with your relationship
to God. And, He wants it at the highest plane possible which is through His son, Jesus. Rather than a
relationship by rule-following, performance-based acceptance of you, God wants a "Jesus-based
acceptance of you" through which to more fully pour out His love onto you.
THE
BIBLE:
The original BIBLE words set down
in the original manuscripts are the actual word (The Word) of God as
revealed to special, extremely capable, divinely inspired humans who expressed it into oral and then written form in the
manner of the thinking of those times in history (suzerain thinking). The Phoenecians had developed an alphabet (1200 BC) that simplified written communication so that it was learned by a higher percentage of the population; and, the Jews developed a variant, the Hebrew alphabet (1000 BC). The Old Testament was not actually set into written form until during the exile of the Jews to Babylon (539-538 BC). Jesus finally came and cleared up
misunderstandings of The Word through His recorded speakings as well as through the record of
His actions. Think carefully about this, however: we can never actually know the exact words
God caused through the minds of those who the inspiration of The Word was given to. The
Word is declared to be foolish and indiscernible/"closed" (1 Corinthians 2:14) to all who go
into it for reasons other than seeking God!!! The fundamentals for dealing with life and
all of the questions and situations of life reside in this Word. The Word contains many
promises (but you must meet conditions..."buts" and "however"...of each) to mankind upon
which we can lean during our lifetimes (how can we really lean upon the promises of God if we
don't know what they are?). While humans contend and divide over the interpretation of
factual & other details of this Bible (the devil gets between Christian unity in the debating of those
details), the Truth The Word contains (factual stuff versus truth) is
without error. The divine mystery in theology & so many of our doctrines leads to division
among major churches and denominations. And, Christians have struggled for millennia to
discern the real truth of The Word... part of the reason for such struggle must be based on
the lack of intact, original manuscripts. This written Word is the story of God's love
for mankind as He put up with "fallen" man's attempts to live right and get right with Him. And, most
importantly, it contains God's will for mankind. He finally sent Jesus and
reconciled sinful mankind to Himself..."this is who I am and what I am like". God is all
about love, grace & reconciliation. Jesus represented The Word in living form so that we could
see the actual living example of what God intends for us by the example of Jesus, regardless of what had been discerned and written down, interpreted, and taught.
The Bible Old Testament book of Genesis tells of
God's creation of man in order for man to know God and to know that He (God) might have fellowship
with man and be honored and have His glory reflected in man (by man's ways and activities in
life and toward God). Man was created for this purpose, but man tends to seek benefits
without first addressing this purpose of his life in an on-going way. Fellowship
includes time spent in prayer, praise, thanksgiving (worship), love and service. For
God, love for Him is best expressed by us humans by our (1) commitment to right relationships
(righteous living), (2) obedience to God's commandments, and (3) willing participation
in and working out of His will.
THE FALL of MAN
God has made mankind with a "wiring" intended for
true freedom. God's original unbelievable Grace bathed mankind in full manifestation of this freedom "wiring" until
the rebellion and disobedience of Adam and Eve. Mankind then fell from Grace...The
Fall...and entered thereafter into an inherited state/disposition of (1) tendency
toward sin and conscious resentment of any authority over man and (2) pride of independence
and self-sufficiency. This results in the "fallenness" of mankind. Oswald Chambers has defined that the essence of this sin disposition
is: "my claim to my right to myself"...I'm not God's or anyone else's. Ungracious
self-realization is the essence of sin: self-centered, self-reliant, self-actualized, and all
those other "self" words. Whether you
lead a moral and positive life or immoral and negative/destructive life, you are saddled with that
sin disposition. And (whether you realize it or not) you are in need of salvation. Some
consider that the true coming to belief in Jesus triggers receipt of our
redemption (which Jesus had already paid for) from sins committed out of our state of sin
disposition ("the flesh"). Coming to
belief immediately causes the eternal indwelling of the person by the Holy Spirit within each
believer. The Holy Spirit overshadows (but does not remove) that old sin disposition with the
holiness disposition of Jesus brought into the believer by the Holy Spirit. The stage
is then set for the transformation and regeneration of the new believer (a sort of earthly
phase of experiential "baptism" and "salvation"). The believer can fail to...or only
partially...activate what is now the new basis (new birth), however.
In short, sin is a fundamental
state: the root of sin is wrong being which is the platform/foundation for
wrong doing. And that foundation remains untouched (or not further changed) when one
deliberately chooses (or returns to) separateness and independence from God. Don't do that!
Depend on God through Jesus and thereby quit hindering God's desire to bless
you!
SALVATION
Never forget: the powers &
mystery of eternal salvation are never turned over to humans (lest they boast)!!! His
greatest promise (through the huge opportunity of the Gospel...the good news) to us is
salvation, a TWO-PHASE, on-going process (as well as condition or state of
being). Should we actually claim/redeem/appropriate/realize this promise/assurance of both (1)
the earthly component and (2) the afterlife component of eternal salvation (that is, you actually
take receipt of the sin-debt-is-paid position...you come to belief), we will have 99.99% fulfilled
the way by which "God helps those who help themselves" (famous quote of George Herbert,
England's poet, 1593-1632; [Ben Franklin, 1736 in Poor Richard's Almanac, "God helps them that
help themselves"])". And, you will have avoided the worst sin which is to refuse to believe
The Truth if you are so fortunate as to hear it. I think Jesus died to spare all humans from the "death" of eternal complete separation from God (Hell?). While this (1) "sparing" and "eternal salvation" are blurred and tightly interwoven to the point that I used to be quite confused, I have now found peace about it in MY mind and heart: all are spared; believers have a huge earthly and eternal advantage in their potential for personal, private, intimacy with God Almighty.
Free will: Again, humankind was
originally created as perfect. Then, Adam and Eve fell from God's grace, and God converted mankind "fallenness"...the fallen state mankind was
thereafter given (cursed with?) which now included "free will". (Grace: If you have grace toward someone, you
treat them in a good way that their past activities don't deserve.) So, we are left to
(cursed by?) our free will to choose to love (worship & obey) or ignore God, as well as left to our
overall free will to do otherwise with all other relationships & choices in life (we are
thereby forced to make all choices ourselves; however, we have little personal, self-reliant control
over the consequences of those choices once made/done). "Free will" opens humans up to the
war of influences between the forces of "good" and "evil" (the influences of God vs.
those of Satan/the devil). Because a lifetime of one's free will choices invariably encounters such
poor human decision making, all human beings will fall (on their own) far short of God's measure of
"good". No one can live a "good" life on his/her own. So, to
GUARANTEE salvation, all humans (whether they know it or not or even
if they openly defy this crucial need) need a savior.
Time has no end; and eternity is, therefore, for
ever and ever and without end. Einstein showed us that energy (that which keeps a "state of
being" intact) can neither be created nor destroyed (by anything or anyone short of God).
Near-death human experiences
(throughout history & no matter the country of origin or cultural background of the
individual) often yield stories of visions of rising out of one's body and going down a
bright tunnel with a feeling of great peace and the sightings of angels and loved ones who
have previously died. I think that such can be taken as soft supporting evidence of what our
Bible clearly indicates: there is an after-life, a Heaven, an eternity after death. With
study, evidence, faith (even the atheist has faith in something such as his own intellect),
and the willingness to believe, we can find assurance that there is a worthwhile &
saved life on earth as well as eternal life after our earthly death. Being so (and so many of
us chose not to ponder this), it is said that there are only two ways to spend eternity: in
the fellowship of God (Heaven) or separated from God.
ONLY GOD'S WORD AND SOULS are
ETERNAL
Whether we want it so or not, our souls never
cease to exist; and we WILL spend eternity (1) somewhere and (2) in some condition. We can't eliminate the
fact of this truth just because we "don't believe in it". Only two things are eternal,
according to the Bible (Matthew 25:46): people (biological humans plus nonbiological such as souls) and God's Word (Jesus was/is the
living Word...the essence of the Bible...The Scripture being The Word in written form). There
are two time segments to "eternity": (1) the time of one's life on earth and (2) the time of one's
soul forever after the death of the biological body. If God's Word and souls last eternally,
then the length of time God has used in the hundreds of generations of mankind becomes
irrelevant because the ages of mankind on earth (much less the length of a single life) will
ultimately constitute a very brief segment of the whole of historical plus after-life eternity. Throughout all of these
ages, mankind has been given the chance to establish an undeniable and unforgettable
historical record of (1) mans'
inhumanity to man and (2) mans' failure to be good and righteous on his own. So, throughout
the history of man, the human race continually divides itself into those who "believe" and
are children of God while on earth and who will surely abide with God eternally and those who
don't believe (there are great religious debates about whether those who don't believe will abide in any way eternally with God). Now...how can salvation be GUARANTEED?
BORN AGAIN
In John 3:16, Jesus himself (the son of God; the
Savior; God Himself as a God-man) promises us: "For God so loved the world
[all humans past, present and future] that He gave His one and only Son that
whoever BELIEVES in Him [Jesus of Nazareth] shall not perish but have eternal life". The
word, "believes", above, is translated from an original word used
occasionally which is a verb of action meaning a faith commitment to rely upon and/or
trust the object of belief...Jesus. With THAT kind of belief, that person...whether they realize it or not...undergoes the internal indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
A Jesus "believer" is, by definition, a Christian
[note spectrum]; but there is a
process of "coming to
belief"..."saving belief" and maturation there-after! So, that coming to belief may be an evolving state on a spectrum/scale from weak
and tentative to strong and completely unshakable and committed (Mark 9:24). And this
"believing"...at the point of being "right" (a faith committment)...brings on spiritual baptism and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (entry into The Kingdom of God)...a
life-changing, regenerating power such that we should be born again. You may not feel so
yet but you became born again upon saving belief...(John 3:7). And you become, thereby,
a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17) in your then being a follower of Christ Jesus...a member of The Kingdom of God.You are not who your were. And all
who believe Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah, are thus born of God (I John 5:1).That is,
somehow, through Himself or through someone, somewhere, God draws us to a point wherein we may
declare that we believe in Christ (John 3:16) (starting on our journey of belief & continuing maturation). Hopefully
we can indicate this belief publicly (see baptism) in the local church congregation (the
Church Universal being the universal body
of Christian "new creation" believers) and by joining a local church (Matthew 10:32-33). At
some point on your personal spiritual journey on that evolving spectrum of belief
(possibly as a result of an "alter call" at one or more church services or revivals), you
will evolve into strongly sensing the TRUTH of your salvation and steadfastness of your belief. You will
feel born again...you'll then be aware of being a new person...your born again status
will eventually become more real to you.
It is common for persons to be convicted of their
need to be a believer but not actually to become converted because they held back (and maybe
just "played" cultural Christian). No other human can tell whether, for sure, you have come
to belief and have in truth been born again (Matthew13:24-30,36-43). Only you and God know.
You would think that a changed life would reflect evidence...the fruit...of the change. Have
you been changed? If suddenly a law were passed to jail all Christians, would there be any
evidence against you? Jesus is The Way [on whom Christians depend] for not being "on
our own" to live a "good" life in line with what Jesus taught.
A "born again" Christian: While
the media uses this designation to suggest extreme, wild-eyed, inflexible, judgmental, stubborn or
shrill Christians, even many Christians are confused about the term. The term "born again
Christian" should denote those Holy Spirit indwelt Christians who have professed their
faith and have come to belief with conviction that Jesus is the divine Messiah (Savior) who
came to earth. Jesus was The very God as a God-man, and was crucified, died, was
buried, and arose and ascended into heaven. The bones of Jesus have never been found. Once and for all, Jesus has paid the price for
the sins of all of mankind (past, present, & future) and made eternal
salvation into heaven (by way of the righteousness from God through the faithfulness of
Jesus) a certain future (some believe afterlife in Heaven is limited to anyone who will come
to belief in Jesus). And that same Jesus exists today in non-man form in that believer's
relationship to God.
SALVATION
GUARANTEE:
At any rate, on truly becoming a believer, from
then on we are irrevocably guaranteed eternal salvation, our soul irrevocably possessing the indwelt Holy Spirit (John 10:27-30).
"Eternal" has two old Biblical meanings: (1) for a long time during life on earth & (2)
afterlife "eternal". And Jesus' death (his death being the only possible perfect,
substituting, atoning sacrifice) on the cross sealed our salvation for us.
Salvation is
gifted free for the asking through God's grace (we didn't earn it or deserve it) and the
faith & faithfulness of Jesus [Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16]). And we must accept that gift in
Faith (there is no actual coupon, ticket or certificate of admission or scientific proof of "saved" status) in order to experience the full benefit.
Salvation then becomes the CONDITION ("saved") of the earthly believer.
Related to the material..salve...that we put on scrapes and sore spots, this earthly salvation has notable points of the salvation being re-emphasized (almost as if re-applied). Eternal salvation is a "done deal" for the believer. Earthly salvation is like a plea bargain which can be
accepted/realized but not earned! AND, while still on earth, in our
POSITION with God & undergoing the process of being sanctified, we
undergo a highly individualized sanctification transformation (saved...divinely
engineered so that our inner and outer selves become more like Jesus/God) process of:
"I was saved [the date of "saving belief" beginning], I am
saved [the present], and I am being saved [the future]." Jesus' resurrection
proved this earthly part of salvation for us: the promise of being personally raised again
(regenerated) into a new (saved and "born again") life while on earth. Eternal salvation is
free for the accepting of the gift from God; Christian growth and maturation in the process of earthly salvation is
expensive...lethal for some.
The positive effects of earthly
salvation, as Christians [believers in John 3:16 and that Jesus was sent by God to
die to make up and pay for and balance off God's anger at man for all past, present, and
future disobedience (sin; non-love of God)] are about right relationships (righteousness)
with our neighbors & related to obeying
(loving), worshipping, and relating with God. To the extent we can grow and build our state
of belief [committing all you know, on any given date, about yourself to all you know about
God on that date], we lead a life on earth more and more by the example of Jesus [the
greatest example in history of a life of love for God & His created humanity..."love is spelled o-b-e-d-i-e-n-c-e"].
Success is proportional to the greater the state of maturity of the earthly state of
salvation we achieve. The more we become "right" with God (righteous; relate with Him &
confess our wrongs and then obey God) the better off, more joyous is our earthly period of
salvation.
In our redemption & salvation status
(relationship, position, identification), it is tremendously important to know that when you
sin, God no longer (if He ever did so) hurts you or punishes you for the sin by making
bad things happen in retaliation. But, He may be saddened; he may use/allow
consequences of our wrongs (we are still within "fallen humanity") to
chasten/discipline us...give us "wake-up call" awareness of a need to turn back to Him. God
The Father's chief attribute is love, and it plays out in His magnificent grace toward us.
Old Testament judgmental wrath of God...if such actually be true rather than
misinterpretation by inspired prophets, has been bridled through Christ into a New Testament
discipline out of His love, grace, justice, holiness, and mercy.
The standard of all standards has been
manifest as both scripture (the Word) and the life of Jesus. Jesus the Savior has already
stood in our place to take the beating & killing and pay the price for all past, present, and future
sins (infractions of the standards). Our eternally saved and sanctified condition and
position with God as a believer in Christ is irrevocably secure. By the act of
justification, God DECLARES the believer (though the believer will
never be free of sin) to be righteous and worthy of salvation with a place in His heavenly
kingdom...the believer is thereby justified (believer doesn't become righteous,
believer is already 100% righteously justified through the faithfulness of Jesus by
divine declaration).
But, our sins hinder our fellowship
with God and move us back from however close we were (or could have been) with Him. They
hinder our ability to be in "right" (righteous) relationships with other humans. Satan is an
incredibly powerful entity who is less powerful than God, who God allows in the world. And
Satan is the originator of any & all sin. In mankind's fallen state, having been given
free will & choice by God, Satan is the ever-present evil force drawing our choice away from what
God would desire each choice to be. Satan is the prince of the Present Age. Garbage
in...garbage out: God's (under Jesus' control) wisdom or The World's (under Satan's control)
wisdom? We only become a threat to Satan when we turn our lives toward God. And it is then that Satan especially focuses on us to pull us back into sin. On our knowingly sinning, God
continues to hear our prayers but may choose not to listen/act (Psalm 66:18). It's as if
we've said to him, "I can handle this part of my life on my own" (and we might thereby remove
ourselves from His power and influence and protection in that area). But, by faith, we should
trust and depend upon God (who is all-powerful, all-seeing, and all-knowing) to be totally
sufficient for each of us: plug in to God; plug in to the ultimate power source. Jesus is
thereby our earthly and eternal Savior, our earthly Lord (boss/master), and our
shepherd and friend at our right hand.
As a believer in the above manner, we are true
Christians with "saving belief". The New Testament of the Bible is filled with promises to such Christians.
As Christians, we MUST be saved (Acts 4:12.....the
believer's guarantee). Most of the promises can be found to have degrees of fulfillment based
on the degree of our growth in the Christian life. But even as beginning infants of the
Christian life-long growth experience [school teachers, doctors, farmers, football players
all grow...gain life-long experience and skill...in their areas of life], we are guaranteed
that we are plugged into the POWER SOURCE of choice: the only and
all-powerful and all-knowing God of the entire universe (God's names...His attributes). We can and should talk
(pray) to God at any time, anywhere, and for as long and as often as we want to; and He
listens. As still-non-holy-acting, still-sinful Christians, we are able to approach Almighty
God in the name of (on the coat tails of) Jesus Christ our intercessor. We can make appointments (or instant calls
[prayer]) with the Creator of the entire universe (on the other hand, who can imagine having
instant access to even the Mayor of our city, much less the President of our
country).
A daily, regularly scheduled
devotional appointment with God, a quiet time, for prayer and study of the
Word (or sermons or enriching videos or books), is a daily opportunity you can't afford to miss. The Christian life doesn't offer
exemption from hard times; it offers a way to get through, deal with, and grow from good or
hard times. To the degree to which we meet the conditions of Bible promises, such as to love
(obey) God, we live a more fulfilled (earthly salvation) life on earth. The earthly existence
of the born again but "cultural Christian" exhibits a state of a less mature degree of
earthly "salvation" than that of the more-and-more committed or "spiritual Christian". At the
point that one can "let go...let God" or, in a YIELDED way, let each day
begin as a "blank check" given on your life to God, one can be said to be experiencing an
increased level of maturity of his "born-again"-into-a-new-life status (a regeneration of
your life in which God truly is seen at the head of your life, all day, every
day).
God exists simultaneously and separately as three
beings/persons though being of only one essence (the Trinity...the three-in-
one...the triune God).
THE TRIUNE GOD..."THE
TRINITY:
- God the
Father (the Creator, fabricator of His Will, sovereign and residing in heaven
and being the sustainer of all);
- God the
Son [Jesus Christ] (sitting in heaven at the right hand of the Father, in
perfect obedience, the embodiment of God's plan for the world, his action agent...executor of
His Will...as head of the body of believers on earth [Head of the Church], Lord and Savior of
all men, King of the Kingdom of God, orchestrator of the Holy Spirit both individually within
each Christian and independently or through believers, with His Holy Spirit probing toward the
reaching of non-Christians, and being the intercessor for us believers and our prayers to the
Father); and,
- God the Holy
Spirit (John 14-16) (God's working presence on earth, around and about as well as
within each Christian, to the Christian being a counselor, comforter, convictor, guide,
empowerer, and encourager who helps the Christian to evaluate goodness versus sin, risk, and
both specific personal as well as general applications of the Word as well as God's specific
will for the individual Christian's life). The Holy Spirit exists in...indwells...believers as
this guide or counselor, on-call 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year (and takes over the
Christian's conscience). It is the Holy Spirit who exerts the enabling power of God which makes
it possible for the believer to be what God wants him/her to be. [Since the three are one, it
can be confusing (but mysteriously correct) to the new Christian to hear a brother say that
David (Old Testament, before Jesus came to earth as man, referring to such as Psalm 62:1)
placed his trust in Jesus.] Through the obeying of God by Jesus, and at the direction and will
of Jesus, the Holy Spirit works in various ways and through various means (including through
Christian witness) to bring the non-believers toward Almighty God (toward
Christianity)...toward guaranteed salvation. [check out this chart of the
Trinity].
GROWTH AS A
CHRISTIAN:
Growth in the Christian life
depends on our obedience to God, our worship of and prayer to God, our learning more and more
of God and Christian principles from The Word [the Bible], and our discovering of (at each
fork in the road, after each major life decision) and following of the will of God by looking
around us for God at work and joining in as led by the Holy Spirit. His will for your life,
thereby, is the continual re-orientation (as your life changes) and adjusting of your life so
as to join into His working of His will. IN GENERAL, THE PURPOSE OR MEANING OF HUMAN
LIFE (GOD'S WILL) IS TO KNOW, LOVE, HONOR, GLORIFY, AND WORSHIP GOD IN ALL WE DO BY OUR
FREE-WILL CHOICE TO DO SO...and to love our neighbor (the rest of mankind) as we do
ourselves. We were created by God to fellowship with him, to worship him
(joining in with Him, obeying Him...these are part of how we worship Him), and to
KNOW Him (to have a living, ongoing relationship with Him). This, thereby,
involves our lives being somehow concerned also with "people". Christianity is not a
"spectator sport"; it is a life involved with people in a Christian way. Christianity focuses
all of our hopes and activities under the authority of God and Lordship of Jesus Christ the
Savior and is keyed upon four points:
- Prayer: communicate with God.
- The
Word: learn more and more of God (hear, read, study, devotional times, sermons, audio
and video tapes, books, radio, TV). We become what we fill our minds
with.
- Fellowship: with God (our personal relationship with Him)
and other Christians (ministry, witness, share, support) in the church (the body of believers)
as well as elsewhere.
- "Spread the
word": give witness to people, somehow or other, to the good news of the saved
Christian life (fellowship, ministry, evangelism, and the way you live your life). Christianity is not exclusive; it's freely
available to every single human being, even those on death row. Your life now matters! [You
don't stay away from non-Christians; when you "fish", you must do so where the "fish"
are.]
No matter the situation, each of us can "have it
all" and be in a positive state of peace, fulfillment, and safety independent of any of our
circumstances (essentially the definition of "joy", as opposed to "happiness"...happiness
being dependent on circumstances). Or we could "have it all" and yet "have nothing" in a
negative state of anxiety, fear, dissatisfaction, anger and sorrow, or multiple high and low
episodes of "happiness or unhappiness", with "happiness" being so dependent on circumstances.
God is our God of love, but it is His will that each of us choose by free will to believe and
obey him in Faith and in deep Trust. On becoming informed as to "how to", why would anyone
choose the negative way to live? If you want more out of life, seek out a
Christian you can identify with and ask for guidance. Become part of a church
dedicated to the continuing spiritual growth of each member. Search your life and consider
the prospects of eternity and who the true Master is. Just as life is so different under the
coach of a winning team (rather than a losing team), so life is different depending on which
Master (coach, boss, owner, idol, thing) we serve. A life served under God's authority is a
life worth living whether on a low or rich income or no income at all. The quality of life is
related to who the Master is. The Bible says we can only serve one Master
(Matt. 6:24) (God, money, sports, politics, job, family, power, etc.). The choice is ours.
When God is Master, all else can fall neatly into priority order beneath our
number one identity as "child of God" and Christian.
Off and on using the Holy Spirit, Jesus knocks for
God on life's door to each non-believer's life. [see the Election process] The Holy Spirit
uses circumstances, events, and people to accomplish the "Knocking". Where people are a
component of the "knock", they are usually Christians who serve as
witnesses/testifiers/representatives in direct or subtle ways (of which they themselves may
not even be aware). But God can use any human in order to effect His will. The character,
conduct, conversation, outreach, care, and sincerity of these witnesses serve as part of the
"salt" & "light" that gain some of the non-believers' attention...knocks at the
non-believers' door. This is why you may find Christians talking so much about their
"witness" and their "testimony". Thereby, God is always the initiator (God
seeks people; people don't first seek God). The handle to the door is on the inside (Jesus is
on the outside). By our free will, it is our choice (and ours alone) to open the door and let
Him in to save us (Revelation 3:20). Salvation is available to all who will "believe". Some
would say, "Prove it, and I'll believe it"; the correct faith attitude is,
"I will believe it (in child-like simplicity), and it will be proven (at the most learned
depths and breadths, if you like) to me." It works!
The Bible New Testament book of Revelation tells
us that (some time in the future) Christ will return, bringing a thousand-year period of peace
and goodness on earth followed there-after by the dwelling of the saved in Heaven. The Bible
also tells us that, for God, a day is like a thousand years; and a thousand years is like a
day (II Peter 3:8). No human, not even Satan or the angels, knows when Christ will return. It
is God's general will that we fellowship with and love Him. Each of us must
seek continually (following the leadings of the Holy Spirit) God's
specific...at various times possibly seeming to be
changing...will for each of us on earth (his will for us in each life phase
as it applies to each time period and activity). God is at work in the world all around us.
By prayer and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we are invited and led to join into the
workings of God as His will is worked out on earth. I wonder what all I will join into
throughout the rest of my life. The quality of our salvation during that period of eternity
which we spend on earth depends on how much we love, obey, and keep God foremost in our
thoughts and lives. Remember, having started a work in you, God will keep after you
to get you firmly into the fold as a true, born-again, committed Christian. And the
parable of the one lost sheep out of 100 gives hope that your brothers and sisters in Christ
will also help to keep you in the fold (once saved...always saved). Some
thoughts:
- John
6:44...No one can come to me (becomes a Christian) unless the Father who sent me draws
him,...(Jesus speaking).
- Philippians
1:6..."...being confident of this, that He [God] who began a good work in you will
carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ." (Apostle Paul
speaking).
- I
Thessalonians 5:24..."The one who calls you (God) is faithful, and He will do it"
[sanctify you...be saved...become more and more like Jesus...through and through and keep you
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ]. (Apostle Paul
speaking).
- Matthew
18:12-14 (and Luke 15:4-7)..."What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and
one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the
one that has wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that
one sheep than about the ninety-nine who did not wander off. In the same way, your Father in
Heaven is not willing that any of these little ones [being part of His flock...the all that
Jesus redeemed on the cross] be lost." (Jesus speaking)
YOUR WILDERNESS
EXPERIENCE:
When the more-than-a-million Israelites were
suddenly led out of slavery from Egypt by God through Moses, they were kept in the wilderness
for 40 years: no food except for daily (one day at a time, no storing up
allowed) manna and quail, no new clothes or shoes at all, and no new gear, etc. (nothing wore
out). They already knew where the Promised Land was. God wanted the entire nation of Israel
to understand that He was and would be their provider in the best and worst of circumstances.
He wanted them to take the worst first and then maybe they would continue to truly believe
God had blessed them in the best (in the fullness of the Promised Land).
Each of us may be allowed "wilderness exposure"
(to help initially draw our attention to God; maybe later to discipline or chasten or even
increase faith) in our own individual lives. We stay in (keep re-creating?) our wilderness
(an entire lifetime for many people [are you like those who have bet their life that there is
no God, no judgment day or eternity?...the ultimate gambler's bet!...see Pascal's wager]) until we "get the
picture": God wants us to understand his sovereignty (He is the boss) and know that
He is our provider. He wants credit and praise to Himself, wanting us to
depend fundamentally on Him for EVERYTHING by faith in his all-powerful
being (I Corinthians 2:4- 5). Otherwise "enjoy" your wilderness for as long as you want to!
Depend on yourself (apart from dependence on God) and your own measly power to overcome the
manifestations of the previous generations of dysfunctions in your generation, to the ruin of
your child's life. In your opinion, there is no God??? In that there IS a
God, imagine the arrogance of your puny opinion in the face of The Truth...who are you
anyhow? Take that risk! Go ahead; gamble on what you don't know! You have
never lived an entire life; any errors so far? God made you and has seen all of the generations of mankind and
already knows specifically what you are to face. In the devastating aftermath, after the fall
of your prideful self-sufficiency, then turn to God. He'll be there as promised. Only, rather
than being your power to prevent or soften life's troubles, He will be there to help re-build
a shattered set of lives...if you turn to Him. Otherwise, pride goeth before
the fall. Depend on yourself! You're doing well in the wilderness. It can be great fun; the
free-will choice is yours; the consequences are not
controllable. What a tragedy it would be to climb the ladder of life and get to the
top and find that you'd chosen to lean it against the wrong wall! So, ponder success; what
is success?
Each of us, sooner or later, will find that
only we can choose to change ourselves, and only then (meaningful,
transforming, significant change) with the help of prayer and the guidance and influence of
the Holy Spirit. Your only chance to change others is (after beginning self-change through
prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit working in you) when you exert change on them through
prayer, love, leadership, and example. On our own, there is no way to get around the
tremendous disappointment in life on earth because it is so imperfect. And there is no way to
get around our fundamental sinfulness in failing to love and relate rightly as Jesus instructed in His commands.
Our only hope is to turn to Jesus the Savior and his salvation, in the
meantime.
ON YOUR OWN???
What if you were a loyal, good employee in a
business (The World) which turned out to have been caught up in large-scale corruption. The Head of this far-reaching business had the power to destroy your record and
future unless your name was cleared. And, each employee was required to appear before the
Head for review and a decision: you're found okay versus you're tagged for ruin. But, there
is a catch. You can appear before the Head and argue your case. Or, you can
ask for admittance into a "class action" group guided by the son of the Head. The company
Head loves this son unconditionally and with an intensity of love which cannot be
comprehended by other humans. If this son vouches for you, you are deemed "okay",
automatically.
Regarding real-life salvation: God has, in
essence, said that to align yourself with Jesus guarantees salvation. The offer is open to
every single human being! Even if you'd like to believe that any religion worships the true
God, why take that chance of ending up before God on your
own? Jesus will be there with you to vouch for you if you'll only accept Him,
believe in Him, and focus your spiritual life through Him. Whether you would prefer it this
way or not, whether you (a mere human) think it is fair or not: the Bible is clear on the
point that God wants to save you (and all humans) His Way,
through Jesus. While some could say that it is heartless to demand only one route to
salvation, this is the true expression of God's heart; and it is a way open to all mankind!
How all-inclusive; how multi-cultural; the melting pot of all melting pots!
A SUMMARY
When the child of God looks into the Word of God
and sees the Son of God, he has the possibility of
changing into the Image of God to the glory of God. Jesus didn't
come to make us happy; he came to make us Holy. Invited into your heart, the "Holy
disposition" of Jesus (God's snow-fall blanketing of His righteousness deposited onto us as
believers through Jesus plus the indwelling within the believer of the Holy Spirit) gives
hope of out-weighing the universal "sin disposition" which characterizes the natural human
heart. God loves all people and is not a purposeless being. One of His many perfect
attributes is "purpose". therefore, He has a purpose in and for the life of each believer.
You are a lump of clay; and, the moment the The potter picking
up the lump clay to begin his work is
symbolic of the moment you become a believer and God begins His work in you.
To the extent that the "clay" lives thereafter so that the
indwelling manifestation of the Holy Spirit becomes stronger,
the greater the progress in the "sculpture". This life of
yours is unique and individual as portrayed in the story of the potter and the lump of clay
(Isaiah 64:8 and Jeremiah 18).
Therefore, envy, covetousness, and comparison (both positive
or negative) are sinful in their lack of appreciation and gratitude for that special,
unique, individual person
God wants for each of us to be. To "fear" God means to take Him seriously...
obediently. Accepting The Way of Christ is fearing God: read Psalms 103 and see how
God feels and acts toward those who fear Him. As Christians...designated as the children of
God...we are to be citizens of two kingdoms (#1, the true believer Christian Kingdom of God; #2, the secular
kingdom...country...we reside in/on earth). And, if we do it the Christian way, it's
IMPOSSIBLE to be a failure in any kingdom! Want your sins/transgressions
cast away? Accept Christ; fear God.
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TRUTH
[posted 1996;
latest adjustment 26 September 2014]
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