After I got off the phone last night with the most recent church to give me bad news in my search for a youth pastor’s position, I did something that I've been doing a lot in recent months. I got rip-roaring mad. I was not angry with the church. I was not angry with the committee. No, I was angry at God.
I had had just about enough. Every time it’s seemed that I was about to finally move up in life to the next level, one where I can actually have a job that will allow me to support myself and not have to live with my parents, it’s been like something gets in the way. Or, I guess I should say, Someone. Yes, as my mind remembers back to The Journey of Desire, I recall a chapter that Eldredge entitled "The Divine Thwarter," which is a section of the book that the author devotes to the thwarting action of God. Basically, the idea is this: we seek after things in life to find fullness of life in them, and God does everything in His power to thwart our success in gaining them. Eldredge tells a story of his continuous attempts to plan a fishing weekend where he would be able to enjoy the outdoors and wilderness while he did a little fly-fishing. He recounts the numerous times he attempted to take this trip when sudden snowstorms, mudslides, and the unexplained absence of fish ruined his plans. He likened it to a game of chess that he was playing with God—a game where he ultimately saw himself facing checkmate. It was as if God was purposely trying to keep him from enjoying a fishing trip. When I first read that chapter, I thought to myself, "Why does God have to be like that? I mean, really, how is going on a fishing trip harming him spiritually? Why can’t He just let him have it?" And, even more specifically to my situation, "How in the world can attaining a youth pastor's position, and with it my independence, not be something good that God would want me to get? Why can’t He just let me have it?"
I had been angry all day long, at times seething even, that God was thwarting my plans yet again. I actually considered going back to school to get my teaching certificate in history, since I wasn't sure I could go into the ministry and lead people into a relationship with a God who is out to do anything He can to deny me the life I desire. My anger with God had been steadily growing over the weeks, months, and even years of what I had perceived to be His purposely keeping me from the things I wanted most in life. And, after last night's phone call, I finally let loose and put all the blame where I knew it belonged for all those years of failure to attain the things I so greatly longed for. Not on Satan, but on God Himself.
Then, it was as if a light went on. It was like the Holy Spirit suddenly made it click in my heart. Whereas before I felt like God was keeping these things from me and thus denying me life, it suddenly dawned on me that the reason that God was keeping these things from me was because they could not give me that life! You see, I had become an idolater without even knowing it. After thinking I had gotten it through my thick head the other day that life in all its abundance was not possible this side of Heaven, I was back at it—once again seeking to find the fullness of life in things like a job, a wife, an image, and on and on and on. There was still a part of me that believed I could have it—life in all its grandeur—if I could just have this ministry, this person, this experience, this you name it. The problem for me, like Eldredge, was I wasn’t simply going to possess these things, I was going to worship them.
Suddenly, in a matter of seconds, the months and years of buildup of a hardness of heart toward God for His denying me these things melted away when I realized that God was not denying me, but saving me! He was saving me from a lifestyle of idolatry where I’d turn to other gods to find life (and fail) instead of the true God who is the Source of all Life.
It's like the lessons of the book are being worked out in my everyday life. I have had a sense of peace and relief since that moment that I haven't had in years. My practical atheism died hard today as God brought me in humble repentance to a place where I realized, finally, just as I had talked about and preached on so many times, that the true life that my heart seeks is only found in a love relationship with Him. I can finally stop looking for abundant life, for I already possess it!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Thoughts on "The Journey of Desire" (Part 01)
Lately, I’ve been reading The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge and as I’ve progressed through the book, I think the process that he is describing is happening to me. I think I’m starting to get it. Through all the days, dare I say years, of depression and struggle, I believe I have gotten it straight: We need life for our hearts, yet it’s just not possible, not yet anyway.
Isn’t that so disappointing? To be honest, when I first picked up the book I thought it was going to show me how to find the fullness of life that Christ talked about in John 10:10, a life that is, as the book described in its subtitle, “the life we’ve only dreamed of.” I had long left behind the fundamentalist notion of burying my hurt’s desire in the interest of “holiness.” And, obviously, I knew that seeking to indulge sinful desires was a dead end. I thought to myself, “My drivenness to secure the right ministry, marry the girl of my dreams, make enough money, and see my desires met is to live according to desire the way God intended us to.” After all, desire is at the core of who we are. Life is just beginning and I felt that I had just boarded a luxury cruise liner and was waiting for the festivities to begin. I was certain that Eldredge was going to show me how God wanted to bring to pass the life I wanted so desperately. And he did, except just not the way I thought.
His basic three points are (1) We need life, (2) we can’t have life now, and (3) someday we will have the life we desire. As I read, I thought, “You have to be kidding me.” Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that we don’t have tastes of life here and now, or that we aren’t growing into the experience of life as God brings our hearts back from the dead. It’s just that for all the dreams and idealism of youth, for all the well-laid plans, there is the sad reality that I have encountered many times already in my young life – no matter how hard we try, it just never seems to work out quite the way we expected. The perfect girlfriend decides they never really loved you. The job you thought you had in the bag, slips through your grasp, or, better yet, when it does seem to work out, there are always problems and the original high seems to always give way to the doldrums of the daily grind. The more he pointed this out, the more I got the feeling that the cruise liner I had boarded was the Titanic. Instead of thinking that my drive in life to go after these things was borne purely out of a desire to find life in all its fullness, I have been left with the sobering reality that in many ways it is one gigantic defense mechanism. These pursuits are my personal endeavors to make the pain of disappointment and the reality of life in the here and now go away. It’s my frantic attempt to steer clear of the unavoidable ‘iceberg of truth’ that derails my neurotic efforts to find the life I long for in a fallen world. That life, life in all it’s fullness – which is, if we’re honest, what we’re all trying to arrange for – just isn’t going to happen. It’s over. Give up. Fugheddaboudit.
Depressing? Not really. In fact, I discovered a strange paradox– in giving up trying to create this perfect life, I have found myself more at peace. It’s almost as if giving up on making this life “work” frees me to long for and look forward to the one that will. Then again, I think I heard that somewhere before (Matthew 16:25). You see, it’s not that all the things I was going after were sinful. They were good things! Nor does it mean I shouldn’t still seek them. It’s just that I was living my life in denial. I didn’t want to accept reality. The reality that no matter what I do, I’m not going to be able to make it happen, at least not yet. And that word “yet”, I learned, just three letters long, makes all the difference in the world. In letting go and accepting that life in its fullness is not an option in the here and now, I have found great peace in what the Bible calls hope. Hope, Biblically, is the certainty of a future with God and each other that will be everything we’ve been longing for since we lost Eden. It’s what enabled the saints of the first few centuries to endure horrific persecution and torture. There is just something about knowing that your heart’s deepest longings will one day be met. That’s what the Christian life is supposed to be about: beginning to grow into the life that we will experience in its fullness when we “see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
So, should we bother to desire now? By all means. That’s what Eldredge wanted to get across. We should enter more deeply into our desire, with the expectation that our desires will all be fulfilled – eventually. This is how we find true contentment in a life of ups and down, good and bad, and all the rest. And as we find contentment in the promise of hope, we will begin to delight ourselves in the Lord in a way we never have. We will find that He truly is our source of life. When that happens, ironically, God will see it safe to bring us “the desires of [our] heart,” knowing that we will no longer use them as worthless idols like we did before. We will be able to enjoy His blessings as they were intended to be enjoyed.
I guess that brings us to a moment of decision. Are you ready to stop trying to arrange things so that you can find life to the full now? Will you be wise enough to stop deluding yourself into thinking you can do it? I can guarantee you that if you don’t, you will be disappointed. But on the flip side, I can, on the basis of Scripture, guarantee, in some weird way that only God can pull off, that the life you think you are missing out on by letting it all go, will be the very thing you find in the process.
Isn’t that so disappointing? To be honest, when I first picked up the book I thought it was going to show me how to find the fullness of life that Christ talked about in John 10:10, a life that is, as the book described in its subtitle, “the life we’ve only dreamed of.” I had long left behind the fundamentalist notion of burying my hurt’s desire in the interest of “holiness.” And, obviously, I knew that seeking to indulge sinful desires was a dead end. I thought to myself, “My drivenness to secure the right ministry, marry the girl of my dreams, make enough money, and see my desires met is to live according to desire the way God intended us to.” After all, desire is at the core of who we are. Life is just beginning and I felt that I had just boarded a luxury cruise liner and was waiting for the festivities to begin. I was certain that Eldredge was going to show me how God wanted to bring to pass the life I wanted so desperately. And he did, except just not the way I thought.
His basic three points are (1) We need life, (2) we can’t have life now, and (3) someday we will have the life we desire. As I read, I thought, “You have to be kidding me.” Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that we don’t have tastes of life here and now, or that we aren’t growing into the experience of life as God brings our hearts back from the dead. It’s just that for all the dreams and idealism of youth, for all the well-laid plans, there is the sad reality that I have encountered many times already in my young life – no matter how hard we try, it just never seems to work out quite the way we expected. The perfect girlfriend decides they never really loved you. The job you thought you had in the bag, slips through your grasp, or, better yet, when it does seem to work out, there are always problems and the original high seems to always give way to the doldrums of the daily grind. The more he pointed this out, the more I got the feeling that the cruise liner I had boarded was the Titanic. Instead of thinking that my drive in life to go after these things was borne purely out of a desire to find life in all its fullness, I have been left with the sobering reality that in many ways it is one gigantic defense mechanism. These pursuits are my personal endeavors to make the pain of disappointment and the reality of life in the here and now go away. It’s my frantic attempt to steer clear of the unavoidable ‘iceberg of truth’ that derails my neurotic efforts to find the life I long for in a fallen world. That life, life in all it’s fullness – which is, if we’re honest, what we’re all trying to arrange for – just isn’t going to happen. It’s over. Give up. Fugheddaboudit.
Depressing? Not really. In fact, I discovered a strange paradox– in giving up trying to create this perfect life, I have found myself more at peace. It’s almost as if giving up on making this life “work” frees me to long for and look forward to the one that will. Then again, I think I heard that somewhere before (Matthew 16:25). You see, it’s not that all the things I was going after were sinful. They were good things! Nor does it mean I shouldn’t still seek them. It’s just that I was living my life in denial. I didn’t want to accept reality. The reality that no matter what I do, I’m not going to be able to make it happen, at least not yet. And that word “yet”, I learned, just three letters long, makes all the difference in the world. In letting go and accepting that life in its fullness is not an option in the here and now, I have found great peace in what the Bible calls hope. Hope, Biblically, is the certainty of a future with God and each other that will be everything we’ve been longing for since we lost Eden. It’s what enabled the saints of the first few centuries to endure horrific persecution and torture. There is just something about knowing that your heart’s deepest longings will one day be met. That’s what the Christian life is supposed to be about: beginning to grow into the life that we will experience in its fullness when we “see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
So, should we bother to desire now? By all means. That’s what Eldredge wanted to get across. We should enter more deeply into our desire, with the expectation that our desires will all be fulfilled – eventually. This is how we find true contentment in a life of ups and down, good and bad, and all the rest. And as we find contentment in the promise of hope, we will begin to delight ourselves in the Lord in a way we never have. We will find that He truly is our source of life. When that happens, ironically, God will see it safe to bring us “the desires of [our] heart,” knowing that we will no longer use them as worthless idols like we did before. We will be able to enjoy His blessings as they were intended to be enjoyed.
I guess that brings us to a moment of decision. Are you ready to stop trying to arrange things so that you can find life to the full now? Will you be wise enough to stop deluding yourself into thinking you can do it? I can guarantee you that if you don’t, you will be disappointed. But on the flip side, I can, on the basis of Scripture, guarantee, in some weird way that only God can pull off, that the life you think you are missing out on by letting it all go, will be the very thing you find in the process.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Why Don't They Care?
Have you ever asked yourself, "Why don't these people care about God and eternal things?" Today, as I was walking out of teaching Jr. High Sunday school, I asked myself why these kids just simply don't care. Our church, an Evangelical Free Church in southern Connecticut, has had all of its small groups and Sunday School classes covering the topic of serving this Fall. We are trying to find our S.H.A.P.E. (Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences) so that we may learn where, when, and how to serve God best. The curriculum is excellent and is probably the best one I've seen to help a person get a whole picture of where God is calling them to serve. The problem: the kids just don't care.
I stood while teaching the class today and, in the midst of trying to get them to quiet down for the fifty-eighth time, stood for a moment and just noticed the apathy on so many of the kids' faces. I mean, the looks of boredom they wore while they doodled on their handouts or made them into paper airplanes was as frustrating as it was discouraging. I realized that they couldn't give two hoots about what I was talking about.
Well, I griped and complained about it to God for awhile and then the Lord really challenged me to ask the question that always seems to bring these kind of things into better focus: Why? Why are these kids (and so many adults) so apathetic? The answer is rather simple actually. They're apathetic, because caring has become too painful.
Think about children for a moment. God has created them to naturally explore. Once a child begins to have the ability to move around by crawling or walking, they want to get into everything. The touch everything. They put everything in their mouths. They stare at things they've never seen before. Why? Because they're fascinated with all the stuff that makes up life. This is normal development! To be apathetic would be abnormal because God gave us a heart to feel emotion and be alive and interested in the things He has made! But something happens between this time of expressive wonder seen in a two year old and that of the apathetic 21st Century teenager. Namely, life happens. Pain, struggles, lovelessness, dissapointment. It's unavoidable. By the time they get to their teen years where you add the ups and downs of puberty, most young people have checked out at some level and the consequence is a heart that no longer feels. You see, if you care, then you might be let down, but if you lose all concern for things, then it won't really hurt anymore when things go wrong.
Countless teenagers have been let down. Fathers too busy to be involved in their lives, or, even when they are, they're not there emotionally. Mothers who think its their job to run their kids' lives and fail to give them appropriate freedom as they grow. School friends who promised to be there for them when the going got tough who don't even talk to them now. The baseball team they failed to make. The beauty queen looks they weren't born with. I mean, if we're honest, a person experiences a whole host of dissappointments by the first day of high school. No wonder so many are apathetic. Caring is just too painful. The love deficit that the young people of this generation suffer from borders on emotional and spiritual starvation. The bottom line: They don't care, because they have not been cared for.
I came to this conclusion in talking to a friend about all this over lunch. And I also realized that the answer to such apathy is genuine empathy - a deliberate attempt to understand and value these young people. And thank God that He has provided His church to be the people who will empathize with the disillusioned. I'm not talking about the church that thinks long hair on a guy is a sin or that you can only read from the King James Bible, or that if someone simply has more knowledge, they'll grow. Those churches don't know how to empathize. They're usually emotionally stagnant and they just make the problem worse. I'm talking about a church where the "grace of God is administered in its various forms" (1 Peter 4:10). A church where the people are building each other up in love (Eph 4:16). A place where young people can get back in touch with their hearts and find out why they've shut themselves off to life and then come to God for healing and restoration.
The church is meant to be a place where people belong to a family. A family where they get the things they failed to get in their family of origin such as unconditional love in the form of tender words, acts of service, quality time, or a loving touch. The church is the conduit through which God's love and mercy flows into the hearts of young people (and adults alike) and causes them to awaken to life. When older, God-filled people take the time to get to know and pour love into the empty heart of a young person, that teenager will be filled up with their love and with the love of God Himself. They will feel full in His love. They will feel cared for. And, wonder of wonders, when that happens they will do something else.
They will start to care.
I stood while teaching the class today and, in the midst of trying to get them to quiet down for the fifty-eighth time, stood for a moment and just noticed the apathy on so many of the kids' faces. I mean, the looks of boredom they wore while they doodled on their handouts or made them into paper airplanes was as frustrating as it was discouraging. I realized that they couldn't give two hoots about what I was talking about.
Well, I griped and complained about it to God for awhile and then the Lord really challenged me to ask the question that always seems to bring these kind of things into better focus: Why? Why are these kids (and so many adults) so apathetic? The answer is rather simple actually. They're apathetic, because caring has become too painful.
Think about children for a moment. God has created them to naturally explore. Once a child begins to have the ability to move around by crawling or walking, they want to get into everything. The touch everything. They put everything in their mouths. They stare at things they've never seen before. Why? Because they're fascinated with all the stuff that makes up life. This is normal development! To be apathetic would be abnormal because God gave us a heart to feel emotion and be alive and interested in the things He has made! But something happens between this time of expressive wonder seen in a two year old and that of the apathetic 21st Century teenager. Namely, life happens. Pain, struggles, lovelessness, dissapointment. It's unavoidable. By the time they get to their teen years where you add the ups and downs of puberty, most young people have checked out at some level and the consequence is a heart that no longer feels. You see, if you care, then you might be let down, but if you lose all concern for things, then it won't really hurt anymore when things go wrong.
Countless teenagers have been let down. Fathers too busy to be involved in their lives, or, even when they are, they're not there emotionally. Mothers who think its their job to run their kids' lives and fail to give them appropriate freedom as they grow. School friends who promised to be there for them when the going got tough who don't even talk to them now. The baseball team they failed to make. The beauty queen looks they weren't born with. I mean, if we're honest, a person experiences a whole host of dissappointments by the first day of high school. No wonder so many are apathetic. Caring is just too painful. The love deficit that the young people of this generation suffer from borders on emotional and spiritual starvation. The bottom line: They don't care, because they have not been cared for.
I came to this conclusion in talking to a friend about all this over lunch. And I also realized that the answer to such apathy is genuine empathy - a deliberate attempt to understand and value these young people. And thank God that He has provided His church to be the people who will empathize with the disillusioned. I'm not talking about the church that thinks long hair on a guy is a sin or that you can only read from the King James Bible, or that if someone simply has more knowledge, they'll grow. Those churches don't know how to empathize. They're usually emotionally stagnant and they just make the problem worse. I'm talking about a church where the "grace of God is administered in its various forms" (1 Peter 4:10). A church where the people are building each other up in love (Eph 4:16). A place where young people can get back in touch with their hearts and find out why they've shut themselves off to life and then come to God for healing and restoration.
The church is meant to be a place where people belong to a family. A family where they get the things they failed to get in their family of origin such as unconditional love in the form of tender words, acts of service, quality time, or a loving touch. The church is the conduit through which God's love and mercy flows into the hearts of young people (and adults alike) and causes them to awaken to life. When older, God-filled people take the time to get to know and pour love into the empty heart of a young person, that teenager will be filled up with their love and with the love of God Himself. They will feel full in His love. They will feel cared for. And, wonder of wonders, when that happens they will do something else.
They will start to care.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Jesus: The Friend of Sinners
You know, I got to thinking about how some Christians are so ridiculous when it comes to dealing with unbelievers. And I thought about it this way: Would unbelievers call Christians the friends of sinners? Hardly. The sad fact is that Christians today see unbelievers as the enemy and not the precious lost sheep that Christ came to find. And don't think that unbelievers don't see it that way. Why do you think that in numerous surveys, the last person someone will go to when their marriage is in trouble is their pastor?! Or why do people equate the church with political activism and self-righteousness rather than grace? It is not because we have failed to proclaim the truth. Never before in the history of the world has a nation been saturated with as much Bible teaching as we have today in America. At least not since Israel at the time of the Bible. We are full of truth, but we are sorely lacking on Grace (John 1:14). Grace is simply treating people the way they don't deserve. It's loving them though they're unlovable (Romans 5:7-8), sticking with them when you are repulsed by their lifstyle (Luke 15:2), being patient with them even though they are stubborn in their unbelief (1 Peter 3:9). You know, kind of like how God was with me and you?
I work with youth (I'm currently looking for a permanent, full time youth pastor position) and love kids with all my heart. I've learned something rather amazing. You want to know what it is? Well, here goes: you simply will not get a hearing with teenagers until you can demonstrate that you are a "safe" person. A safe person is someone that listens to them and values them for who they are. A safe person is someone they can be themselves around. A safe person is one who accepts them as they are because that's the way God accepted us (Rom 4:5; 15:7). It is only when they are loved that they will be open to hear the message of truth from us and be changed by it. You say, "But we can't condone their lifestyle!" We don't. As a matter of fact, while we make clear that we don't condone their lifestyle, we make it as equally clear that we love them regardless of the choices they make. You say, "But that will lead to licence and sinful living!" Wrong. It leads, if you give it time, to transformation and Godliness! When you love a young person unconditionally, or anyone for that matter, and they internalize that love, you won't be able to keep them from loving back (1 John 4:19). Remember, John 3:16 starts off "For God so loved the world..." You have to start with love and grace, otherwise truth comes off like fingernails on a blackboard.
So I say that we do something novel as a church. I say we start "so loving" the world. Not its system, but its people. Not its lifestyle, but the souls of its inhabitants. And for those of you who think the unbelievers are our enemies - God loves His enemies. Jesus gave up his life for people who couldn't give a hoot about God. Maybe we should too. And maybe, just maybe, as we do "evil" things with them like listen to rock music, go to parties with them, laugh with them, dance with them, and watch movies (oh my) with them, they will see that Jesus is still the friend of sinners, and that it is He that is loving them through us.
I work with youth (I'm currently looking for a permanent, full time youth pastor position) and love kids with all my heart. I've learned something rather amazing. You want to know what it is? Well, here goes: you simply will not get a hearing with teenagers until you can demonstrate that you are a "safe" person. A safe person is someone that listens to them and values them for who they are. A safe person is someone they can be themselves around. A safe person is one who accepts them as they are because that's the way God accepted us (Rom 4:5; 15:7). It is only when they are loved that they will be open to hear the message of truth from us and be changed by it. You say, "But we can't condone their lifestyle!" We don't. As a matter of fact, while we make clear that we don't condone their lifestyle, we make it as equally clear that we love them regardless of the choices they make. You say, "But that will lead to licence and sinful living!" Wrong. It leads, if you give it time, to transformation and Godliness! When you love a young person unconditionally, or anyone for that matter, and they internalize that love, you won't be able to keep them from loving back (1 John 4:19). Remember, John 3:16 starts off "For God so loved the world..." You have to start with love and grace, otherwise truth comes off like fingernails on a blackboard.
So I say that we do something novel as a church. I say we start "so loving" the world. Not its system, but its people. Not its lifestyle, but the souls of its inhabitants. And for those of you who think the unbelievers are our enemies - God loves His enemies. Jesus gave up his life for people who couldn't give a hoot about God. Maybe we should too. And maybe, just maybe, as we do "evil" things with them like listen to rock music, go to parties with them, laugh with them, dance with them, and watch movies (oh my) with them, they will see that Jesus is still the friend of sinners, and that it is He that is loving them through us.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Welcome to My Blog!
It is really exciting to start my own personal blog site. You may be wondering about the site name which is Free Grace Guy. Let me tell you a little bit about my journey as a Christian. When I was younger I was taught that all one needed to do to make heaven their home was to believe that Jesus died on the Cross for their sins and that He rose from the dead. This was simple enough and I believed it. I was, in the Biblical sense, saved. Saved from Hell. Saved from an eternity without the God who I now love and cherish.
It would have been wonderful had I remained faithful in this belief, but throughout high school and my early college years I began to doubt my salvation, because I was taught that real Christians don't do certain things, some of which I was doing. I lost my assurance and began a vain struggle to live up to a standard of works that would allow me to know for sure I was really saved. As time went on I got deeper and deeper into the teachings of Lordship Salvation which is the belief that a person must not only believe in Jesus to be saved, but must also surrender their life to Him and make Him Lord over every area of their life. Any hesitation in obedience could have been a sign of an unregenerate heart. Well, you can imagine what that did to me. I can remember days feeling numb as I pondered my eternity, certain that I hadn't committed enough to Christ, truly denyed my flesh enough to be certain I belonged to Him. There were nights I would wake up in the night with panic attacks, uncertain that if I died in my sleep that I would be in heaven.
Finally, one desperate night, I searched the internet in an attempt to read the beliefs of someone who I had read in a Lordship theology textbook believed Lordship Salvation to be false. I wanted to see if his arguments made any sense. Not only was I surprised that they made sense, but was overwhelmed at the clarity of the Bible teaching. I was seeing passages I thought were threats to live a holy life or go to hell in the light of their contexts for the first time. Passages I couldn't make sense of before started making sense. The fact was that these people, called Free Grace theologians, actually helped me see the real meaning of passages that I thought were demands to be saved as actually teaching about discipleship. After talking to one of the Free Gracers via phone one weekday afternoon, I wept in my bedroom for nearly half an hour. I could not stop crying as all the fear melted away and I for the first time since I was a child was relieved of my fears and certain I belonged to God. It was the beginning of true freedom for me. The beginning of understanding that because I simply trusted in Christ, I was saved.
It took me many months to remove all the baggage that came along with my beliefs in Lordship Salvation. In fact, I've come to see how Lordship Salvation really doesn't make any sense. I hope that in the days and weeks ahead, I will be able to share some of my thoughts on these topics and many others that have to do with God and life.
So let me ask YOU: Are YOU sure? Do you know that you have eternal life with God and will be with Him in Heaven when you die? He wants you there more than YOU want to be there. You see, all of us have sinned against God which means we've missed the mark and fallen short of God's standard of perfection. I know I've fallen WAY short of it. And you have too. The bad news is that God has to punish sin. The Good News is that God Himself took the punishment for you. You know Jesus Christ? He is God Almighty who became man and died on a cross as punishment for your sins and mine. He rose from the dead on the third day after His death to prove once and for all that our sins had been paid for. If you believe this to be true, then God gives you the forgiveness of your sins and the certain hope of eternal life. That's it! All you have to do is accept what Jesus did on your behalf. If you do, He charges it to your account and you are right with God.
And anytime you doubt whether or not you are going to be with Him in Heaven, just go back to the Cross and remember that eternal life is promised to the one who simply believes. You have joined the ranks of those who have been saved by God's amazing, free grace.
It would have been wonderful had I remained faithful in this belief, but throughout high school and my early college years I began to doubt my salvation, because I was taught that real Christians don't do certain things, some of which I was doing. I lost my assurance and began a vain struggle to live up to a standard of works that would allow me to know for sure I was really saved. As time went on I got deeper and deeper into the teachings of Lordship Salvation which is the belief that a person must not only believe in Jesus to be saved, but must also surrender their life to Him and make Him Lord over every area of their life. Any hesitation in obedience could have been a sign of an unregenerate heart. Well, you can imagine what that did to me. I can remember days feeling numb as I pondered my eternity, certain that I hadn't committed enough to Christ, truly denyed my flesh enough to be certain I belonged to Him. There were nights I would wake up in the night with panic attacks, uncertain that if I died in my sleep that I would be in heaven.
Finally, one desperate night, I searched the internet in an attempt to read the beliefs of someone who I had read in a Lordship theology textbook believed Lordship Salvation to be false. I wanted to see if his arguments made any sense. Not only was I surprised that they made sense, but was overwhelmed at the clarity of the Bible teaching. I was seeing passages I thought were threats to live a holy life or go to hell in the light of their contexts for the first time. Passages I couldn't make sense of before started making sense. The fact was that these people, called Free Grace theologians, actually helped me see the real meaning of passages that I thought were demands to be saved as actually teaching about discipleship. After talking to one of the Free Gracers via phone one weekday afternoon, I wept in my bedroom for nearly half an hour. I could not stop crying as all the fear melted away and I for the first time since I was a child was relieved of my fears and certain I belonged to God. It was the beginning of true freedom for me. The beginning of understanding that because I simply trusted in Christ, I was saved.
It took me many months to remove all the baggage that came along with my beliefs in Lordship Salvation. In fact, I've come to see how Lordship Salvation really doesn't make any sense. I hope that in the days and weeks ahead, I will be able to share some of my thoughts on these topics and many others that have to do with God and life.
So let me ask YOU: Are YOU sure? Do you know that you have eternal life with God and will be with Him in Heaven when you die? He wants you there more than YOU want to be there. You see, all of us have sinned against God which means we've missed the mark and fallen short of God's standard of perfection. I know I've fallen WAY short of it. And you have too. The bad news is that God has to punish sin. The Good News is that God Himself took the punishment for you. You know Jesus Christ? He is God Almighty who became man and died on a cross as punishment for your sins and mine. He rose from the dead on the third day after His death to prove once and for all that our sins had been paid for. If you believe this to be true, then God gives you the forgiveness of your sins and the certain hope of eternal life. That's it! All you have to do is accept what Jesus did on your behalf. If you do, He charges it to your account and you are right with God.
And anytime you doubt whether or not you are going to be with Him in Heaven, just go back to the Cross and remember that eternal life is promised to the one who simply believes. You have joined the ranks of those who have been saved by God's amazing, free grace.
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