A Personal Invite: RSVP!

"For the grace of God has appeared with the salvation of all people" (Titus 2:11, HCSB).   

We must all realize that God's call to salvation goes out to us personally and that He cares about our welfare, lot, and future as well as about final destiny with Him.   His plan is personalized, tailored, or individualized with us in particular in mind as if only we we alive.  He knows the plans He has for us; to prosper us and not to harm us!  (Cf. Jer. 29:11).  God's best is for us, spiritually speaking.  But we must apply God's message to us personally (claiming it) and realize that He is talking to and has us in mind.  The only counsel that seems pertinent is to RSVP, because this is such wonderful news we cannot afford to lose the opportunities that are possible.

The offer has not only to do with our forgiveness from our past sins (justification), but deliverance from the power of sin and from what we are (sanctification)!  God never paints a pretty picture of our condition in solidarity with Adam, but tells it like it is--we are slaves to sin and not free before salvation and only Christ can set us free.  G. K. Chesterton said that the only doctrine that can be proved is total depravity!   In fact, the extension of our salvation is fourfold:  pardon from our sins, power over sin; purpose for living and to carry on; and peace with God, man, and ourselves (the four P's).

This means that we are not just sanitizing our life (cleaning up our act) and giving up sins, but turning our back and renouncing sin in general and it's power and influence in our lives, which entails not loving the world (cf. 1 John 2:15) nor the things of the world (the devil's delicacies which spoil our taste for the real thing); what we are doing, in reality, is salvaging our soul itself, not only staying alive but being alive in the real sense--entree into a new life from above in Christ.

For Christ "didn't come to make bad men good, but dead men alive!"  We are never more alive when we live in Christ and know His power that resides in us (the power of the resurrection per Phil. 3:10)).  When we know Jesus, we see Him in a spiritual sense at work around us, even using us for His glory.  To know Jesus, then is to be fully alive with this abundant life (cf. John 10:10) He promised, that involves our soul's participation.  We were dead in our trespasses and sins (cf. Eph. 2:1) especially to the spiritual before knowing Christ, but now we are alive spiritually and can comprehend and know spiritual things (cf. 1 Cor. 2:14).   The only healthy response is to obey ("For to obey is better than sacrifice..." per 1 Samuel 15:22)!  By faith we obey but obedience is the only test of that faith, not ecstasy or experience.  "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes" according to Bonhoeffer.

NB:  Our salvation is nearer than we realize, (cf. Rom. 13:11).   Jesus is as close as the mention of His name and we can do nothing to earn our salvation or even to keep it (cf. Jude 1)--it's all been done for us on the cross and we must just receive it as a free gift on God's terms (cf. Eph. 2:9).     Soli Deo Gloria!

The Puzzle Of Life

 "The LORD directs the steps of the godly.  He delights in every detail of their lives"  (Psalm 37:23, NLT).  
"Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory"  (Psalm 50:15, NLT).   

"God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble"  (Psalm 46:1, NLT).

God gave us the Great Commission and the Great Commandment as the general plan of action we should pursue, but the details are up to us to fill in the blanks and walk by faith day by day.  We have a general plan to know the direction we should go (to know Him and make Him known) but doesn't usually give us the specifics or details, which we work out as we go on our spiritual journey and grow in faith. No one knows the whole outline of his life, the whole plan:

God may call us to the mission field, but we will not know this of our own wisdom, we don't appoint ourselves to God's work, but are sent and called.   We basically learn from our mistakes and hopefully won't make the same one twice--no one ever learned anything new from the second kick of a mule! We must realize that God is the Lord of all, and His sovereignty isn't limited by our freedom, as we learn to trust and obey.

We can't figure out what God is doing behind the scenes, but must learn to trust God for His providence, that He knows what He is doing and that all things will work out for our good (cf. Rom. 8:28).  God doesn't lay out His will for our whole life, but in increments so that we will learn to walk in the Spirit, one day at a time.  "This is the day that the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it"  (cf. Psalm 118:24).  God directs us through Providence as it is written:  "A man's steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?"  (Prov. 20:24, ESV).  We can make our plans, but God's will is done:  "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps."  "I know O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps"  (Jer. 10:23, ESV).

Following the LORD is a little like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with no picture to guide or all in one color!  "For we walk by faith, and not by sight"  (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7).   We must get our act together and know what we are doing, following a rational and systematic methodology.  We must trust that God knows what He is doing and wouldn't deceive us that the puzzle is unsolvable--God doesn't waste our time!  God has a purpose and design for everything, and, if we have enough patience, we will eventually solve the puzzle. We don't see the end result but must trust God for bringing us to it.  However, we have a guide to lead us, the Holy Spirit, and if we walk in the Spirit, we will find answers or the answer.

Our life may seem like trial and error to us, but there's a method to the madness if we know Christ.  We see doors open and close and seize the day when God grants it one day at a time.  God has a plan for our lives and it's never too late to get with the program; there's no Plan B!  We may not be inclined to put this jigsaw together, because we don't have that kind of patience, and don't even want it, but if Christ were helping us we'd be glad to do it, having Him as our enabler and partner.

It would take 1.35 trillion years for a blind man to solve Rubik's Cube, making one move per second, and so we conclude that it's impossible for a blind man to do it in his lifetime.  But it is possible to solve this jigsaw, it just takes time, patience, and organization.  We are a work in progress that only God sees what we will look like when done, and solving this puzzle seems like an exercise in futility, but we would get the fulfillment of knowing we accomplished the seemingly impossible.  It's the same with the Christian life; it's not hard, but impossible.

God gives us an assignment or chore that we cannot complete on our own without the aid of the Spirit guiding us. He wants us to learn to trust and obey Him and lean on Him!   But we should know that whatever we do in the Lord will be rewarded at the Judgment Seat of Christ; our faithfulness will be reckoned, not necessarily our success. He doesn't want our achievements, He wants us!   God only gives us assignments we can handle and to whom much is given, much is required.

We don't have to understand why we are going through trials, but just to realize that they serve to further sanctify us.  Job and Joseph are examples of someone who didn't know what God was up to,  never given a reason for their sufferings, but Job was just humbled before God and found out that God is too wise to make a mistake, too kind to be cruel, and too deep to explain Himself.  Soli Deo Gloria!