Come As You Are Party!

"Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound"  (Psalm 89:15, NKJV). 

God wants us to celebrate a new life with Him, which began upon acceptance of Him as the owner of our life and in the dedication of ourselves to Him and whatever that may involve, known as our cross to bear.  We must be willing to follow through thick and thin, come what may, wherever the chips may fall, even when they are down,  nor to faint in adversity but go from faith to faith.   The Christian life, though no easy affair, is a family affair lived with the Godhead indwelling us and engaging the fellowship of the church body.

It has been said that Christian living is not hard, but impossible!  The only way to have victory is to walk in the Spirit and to abide in Christ, for without Him we can do nothing and are nothing but weak vessels of clay in the hands of the Potter (cf. Isaiah 45:9; 64:6).  We must live to glorify and enjoy Him as we desire to honor Him in all we do and think and rethink--for our religion isn't just externalism, but internally affecting our thought life and meditations.

God invites all to come to Christ in the message of the gospel and opens our hearts to have faith and repent, in that they are not meritorious works, but acts of grace by the Holy Spirit.  We believe through grace!  God quickens faith within us and we become alive in Christ with a whole new perspective and outlook on life.  We can do no pre-salvation works to prepare for salvation (the only qualification is to acknowledge we are unqualified as sinners), but we all must come as we are in faith and believe God for a miracle to transform us into new creatures in Christ--it's all a work of grace, God getting all the glory.  But the good news is that we will not stay that way, no matter what our prior condition was, Jesus is still in the resurrection business and the power that rose Him from the dead can be alive in us as we come to know it first-hand (cf. Phil. 3:10), not second-hand or hearsay.

We live our lives as works in progress realizing all the while God is not finished with us yet, till we arrive in glory.  God always finishes what He starts and He has begun a good work in us!   When we enter eternity we will receive a threefold commendation:  an affirmation of "well done, thou good and faithful servant!" a promotion of "thou hast been faithful in small things and shall be faithful in much," and a final celebration of "enter thou into the joy of the Lord!"  The party that will last for eternity and we must realize that this world is passing away and is temporal while we are pilgrims with our real citizenship and portion are in heaven forever. 

Oh, the joy of those who have learned to walk by faith and not by sight or even feeling, but have learned by faith that God is real and seeing Him at work in the world, in their lives, and in circumstances known as Providence.  Noah probably had the best resume in the Bible, for he was a just man and perfect in his generations, and he walked with God!  (cf. Gen. 6:9).  We all have the opportunity and ability to do likewise--walk with God, because we have the indwelling Spirit to convict us of our sins, illuminate the Word, and to enjoy in fellowship, even to inspire us for life.

What is worship, but celebrating what the Lord has done and who He is?  We can learn to appreciate and adore Him for all His works and to realize that we are His greatest miracle because He transformed us from the inside out and made us new creatures in Christ.  Christians realize that Christ is the Lord who made us and owns it all, and worshiping is a way of giving back to Him spiritually and acknowledging this ownership of our spirit as a mere token of our gratitude.  We are led by the Spirit to worship the Godhead and thus celebrate the glory of God realized in Christ's work.

In our celebration, we should keep certain things in mind:  our past is forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured.  We have a reason for living and can live on purpose for God's glory and not for ourselves.   Our salvation is more than mere forgiveness, it's a new adventure with Jesus, a way of life or relationship, turning our creed into deeds (cf. Titus 2:14). How shall we escape if we neglect such great salvation? (cf. Heb. 2:3).

Don't view the faith as an escape, a crutch, a way out, or a way to just cope with life, but how to live victoriously through life with the peace of God, and the purpose and power to overcome our sin nature--our worst enemy could be ourselves! (Cf. John 10:10)  We can view our salvation as past (saved us from the punishment due our sin); present  (being saved from its power); and pending (awaiting glory and freedom from the presence of sin in glory).  We even see new meaning in our trials and adversities that build our character, and it is our privilege to suffer for \the sake of the Name.  In the final analysis, it's not just forgiveness for what we've done, but deliverance from what we are! 

CAVEAT:  NO ONE REMAINS THE SAME AFTER AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE LORD, WE COME AS WE ARE, BUT ARE GUARANTEED NOT TO STAY THAT WAY!  SO ASK YOURSELF IF YOU ARE READY FOR A NEW LIFE WITH CHRIST AT THE HELM OWNING YOUR SOUL AND DESTINY.    LET THE PARTY BEGIN! THE BEST IS YET TO COME!        Soli Deo Gloria!