The Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-of whom shall I be afraid?–Psalm, 27:1

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. -2 Corinthians 5:17

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.-Romans 5:8

If My Story is Your Story Too

Yea, though I walk through the Valley of Death
I have no evil to fear.
For, my God walks every step close to me
And He catches my every tear.
As He walks with me He comforts my pain;
Understanding the reasons I cry.
For, He suffered pain far greater than mine
As He hung on a cross to die.

I am loved by a King who died for me
Who, then snatched me away from death.
He held me up with His righteous right hand
Coaxing me to take one more breath.
I’d been shamed for my sinful nature.
I’d been told I was hopelessly lost.
But He showed me to ask for forgiveness,
Was all that redemption would cost
Now I am never alone in my darkest hour;
Nor in times when I feel my heartbreak.
For, my Lord is right there comforting me
Paying no heed to my past mistakes.

So if you’ve walked the same valley as I have,
Felt the shadow of death stalking you;
If you’ve long thought all hope was lost,
If my story is your story too,
Then please, let me share with you,
What the Lord Jesus shared with me.
There is no fear in His perfect love.
And if allowed to, it will set you free.
©Linda Troxell 3/20/2019

 

Who Knew There Was So Much Fear among Christians?
The Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-of whom shall I be afraid?-Psalm, 27:1

I thought the days of fear based Christianity were over. Didn’t you? Or are you among the astonishingly large number of Christians who pray to God out of fear? I’ve been sailing along through my life believing we were all set free by the love of God. That every other Christian was, like me, pretty much fear free.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still have fear. When a loved one is in danger, for example, I’m afraid for them. Or, when there is too much month left at the end of my money, I’m anxious about that. But praying helps me to remember that my God is bigger than any of my problems.

I’m never afraid God is mad at me or will forsake me, or that I won’t go to heaven. Because the God we worship is slow to anger and quick to forgive. I know that no matter what I do if I sincerely ask Him for forgiveness in prayer He will give it to me; for God wants me to spend eternity with Him.

I used to think all other Christians felt the same way. But increasingly, I am running into Christians who believe, as I did as a child, that they are just one sin away from hell at all times.

There are so many Christians out there who see God as some kind of harsh overseer who watches their every move just waiting to punish their misdeeds, rather than seeing Him as their loving Father, someone who loves and roots for them. I know how difficult it is to live like that.

I know because I felt that way myself for many, many, years. I’ve written before about my traumatic experience when, as a 6-year-old child, I answered an altar call. When nothing overt happened after I extended an invitation to Jesus to come into my heart, I was certain that Jesus had rejected my invitation. As a result, I believed that I was unworthy of the love of God. And I believed it as children believe everything, without room for question.

Children tend to make sense of what happens to them using reasoning at the level of which they are capable.  My reasoning was that because I so often misbehaved, Jesus didn’t love me and didn’t want to live in my heart.

I didn’t tell anyone how I was feeling, I was too ashamed. Therefore, no one had the opportunity to explain to me that there need not be harp music and doves descending to indicate Jesus had accepted my invitation.

Even today, my heart breaks for that little girl who at such a young age felt unworthy of the Father’s love. But the truth is, I was entirely too young to make such a decision without the involvement of my parents.

How Do We Know We’ve Been Saved?
“I believe; help my unbelief!”-Mark 9:24

As a result of that incident, I spent the next 10 years actively angry at God, cutting myself off from His love. And when I finally was able to open my heart a bit, it was to a poor representation of the true God. So, when I finally met my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I was so relieved, I danced.

Upon reflection, it seems to me that maybe we should talk more about the process of conversion as we preach the gospel to newcomers. We know there need not be harp music and doves to prove we’ve been saved when we repent and accept Jesus Christ as our savior. But it makes sense that a new Christian might expect something to happen. At least a strong feeling as confirmation of being reborn, if not outward then certainly within.

As humans, we are often confused by the order in which we come to faith. Somehow we believe that good or warm feelings must precede, or at least coexist with our faith; that somehow feeling warm and good confirms or validates our faith.

Well, thank God that we are mistaken. If we must have good feelings in order to have faith then we are all in trouble. For when we need our faith the most is when we are feeling the worst. It is easy to have faith when life is good. But it’s when life is bad that we need our faith most. Fortunately, good or warm feelings are the result of faith, not the cause.

The truth is that faith is a choice and a decision. It is the decision to believe that the gospel story is fact. It is our choice to believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to pay for our sins. Believing that He overcame death when He rose from the grave on the third day is a decision we make.

It is our choice to believe that when He died all of our sins died with Him. Just as it is a decision to accept Jesus as our personal savior and a choice to believe that we too will have eternal life.

Faith is a decision to believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God. It is a choice to believe all of these things are true even when there is no proof of their truth. In fact, faith is choosing to believe these things to be true even in the face of proof to the contrary.

And it is this faith that finally leads to the feeling we are looking for. That feeling might come right as we are saved, it might not come for days and it probably will come as a process rather than an event. But when we’ve been saved, we will feel differently about ourselves, about our world, about our brothers and sisters, and about God.

And then, finally, that change in our feelings will lead to a change in our behavior. We will find ourselves wanting to please God with our thoughts and our actions. So we will begin to think of our neighbors kindly and with love.

We will begin to care for people and for their needs. And we will begin to take care of those who need care and to share our faith and good fortune with those who have yet to be saved.

This then, is how we know we are saved. It isn’t hearing harp music or seeing white doves at the point of our conversion. It isn’t feeling overwhelmed with emotion when we accept Jesus; although that may well happen. And it isn’t whether or not we speak in tongues, then, or ever. No, we know whether or not we have really been saved by the way we live our life after we give our lives to Christ.

In the end, it is simply the life we live that shows whether or not we have been saved. This speaks to the need to prepare new Christians and perhaps to educate existing Christians about what to expect at conversion and how to know we are saved.

Because the final decision to accept Jesus as Savior is so often in response to an unplanned message or event, it is important that the preparation begins early and is ongoing in conjunction with the teaching of the gospel.

The Sacrifice of Christ
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.-Romans 5:8

Part of being saved is believing that Jesus is the Son of God, that He was crucified on the cross, and was resurrected on the third day. That story alone fills my heart with gratitude. We have a high priest who died for us to save us from eternal death. The love that implies is overwhelming. But it may not be the whole story. It may not even be the greatest sacrifice of the story.

Jesus had to die for God’s final plan for mankind to be successful. But did He have to suffer?  Could He have chosen to die quickly with a minimum amount of pain? Say, being beheaded or run through with a sword; both really quick and relatively painless. Maybe He didn’t have to suffer. I wonder if it’s possible that Jesus actually chose to suffer in His death. I wonder if He chose to be beaten and scourged, mocked and ridiculed before being nailed to the cross so he would understand the depths of human pain and indignity.

Is it possible Jesus chose to experience this pain and indignity because He knew we were going to need a God who understood human pain?  Did He choose to suffer knowing that because He suffered we could believe Him when He said, “I know how you feel, and it really sucks.”?

Maybe Jesus knew if we were going to live our life for God here in this sinful chaotic world, we would need more than a promise of eternity with a far off God in Heaven. Maybe He so loved the world, He chose to suffer in His death. I don’t know the answer, but I am comforted by the thought.

Do We Fully Understand The Gift Jesus Gave Us?
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. -2 Corinthians 5:17.

 We need to make sure we don’t lose sight of what Jesus did for us. But maybe more than that we need to keep sight of why He did it. It would be a shame if Jesus suffered what He suffered, accomplished what He set out to accomplish, only for His intended audience to miss the point.

So, I’m going to spell out what I thought was obvious to every Christian until I realized how many still walk on eggshells in fear of going to hell. Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sin so you would not have to. Because He died, if you have accepted Him as your Savior, your debt is paid in full. There is no reason to walk around afraid that God is going to catch you in a sin and condemn you to Hell. If you don’t believe me, believe the Bible.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.-John 8:36
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”Romans 8:12

Y o u  H a v e  B e e n  F o r g i v e n
Y o u  W i l l  N o t  G o  T o  H e l l

The most glorious result of what Jesus did for us is our knowledge that once we are born again, once we are saved, everything we did in the past exists no more. Of course, if we hurt others by what we did in the past we may need to make that right with them.

But God, remembers your sins no more. They are no longer part of who you are. Because you have become a new creature in Christ. A creature no longer crippled by guilt, shame, and hopelessness. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. –2 Corinthians 5:17. You can move forward in life as a Christian with all of the rights and responsibilities that implies.

The Responsibilities of Being Saved
For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home.-Matthew 25:35

 So, you probably noticed that word responsibilities. Yeah, being a Christian comes with responsibilities to your God and your fellow man. Being saved is simple but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. We Christians are often portrayed as childish, naïve, and even stupid because we say that in order to be saved, pretty much all we have to do is be sorry for our sins and believe in Christ. Well, as Christians we know that is only a caricature of what is required to be saved. It may be the bare bones but it is none of the meat.

There is actually a lot that goes into being saved. We have to truly repent of our sins before we make our profession of faith. And that can’t be faked. God knows our heart and He knows if we are truly repentant. For those of us who are serious, and that’s the only kind God will accept, it takes time and effort.

It takes time to learn what constitutes a sin. It takes time to understand which behaviors, thoughts and words are sinful, and which are simply bad behavior (not that we are free to do the latter any more than the former.). It takes time to consider of what we need to repent and why. Because we cannot be truly remorseful nor turn away from something we don’t understand.

And then it takes time to come to the place where we understand whether or not we are really sorry for all of it. If we aren’t then we may be committing a whole new sin by saying we are. It isn’t a decision to be made spontaneously, one day on a lark.

Once we are saved we are responsible for growing in Christ. I know some of you are wondering what in the heck that really means. It simply means that we are committed to living a Christ-centered life and to working toward living our lives as Christ lived His. We are committed to being of service to others, especially those who have less than we have. And not only less money.

We need to be of service to those who have less power than we have, those who have less health than we have and those who have less faith than we have. In a nutshell, we are to be of service to everyone we meet, including other Christians.

I’m a big believer that, as Christians, everyone we meet should be able to know that we are a Christian without us ever saying so. They should know because the love and character of Christ should shine through us in a way that no one can deny. Getting there is a process and should continue as long as we are in this life.

 Being Part of the Body of Christ has Benefits
Yea, though I walYeak through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.-Psalm 24:4

 The benefits of being saved far outweigh the responsibilities of being saved. Of course, the most important benefit is our freedom from going to hell and the gift of eternal life with God.

But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have incredible blessings of which we should take full advantage right here and now, in this life. After all, our responsibilities as Christians are really nothing more than things we want to do once we come to understand the love of God.

But being part of the body of Christ brings us the honor of being part of the family of Christ. I have to tell you it breaks my heart when I know someone is part of the body of Christ and yet they are not getting the full benefit of their membership in the family of Christ.

Why should we walk alone through the pain and the fear that this life can hold? There is no reason that we should be alone as we walk through the darkest valleys of life when God tells us very plainly He is there with us. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.-Psalm 24:4. And sometimes the way He’s with us is through other Christians.

There is no reason, as Christians, that we should be alone in our darkest hours or when life causes us heartbreak. For, we have a Savior who wants to comfort us right where we are. This then is a wonderful benefit of being part of the family of Christ. Whenever we are willing to reach out, there is always someone available to us who understands our world view, how we live our life, and who we depend on.

All Christians Believe the Same Thing Right?
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.-Psalm 133:1

All Christians are united around the basics beliefs that are required to be called a Christian. That is, they all believe Christ is fully God and fully human; that Jesus is the second person of the Trinity; that Christ was born of a virgin and He was resurrected after death.

From there they begin to differ. Because the church is one body in Christ, it would seem that we should be in basic agreement about the most important things Christian. Sadly, that is not the case.

There is a battle in Christianity that goes all the way back to the beginning of the church. The basic argument between the camps is whether we are saved, by grace alone or if we need to do good works to be saved.

One group asserts that without good works, faith alone is “dead.” They say that assertion is supported by this scripture:  “If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, ’you have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds-James 2:16-18. They interpret this verse as James saying that in order to have salvation we must do good works.

On the other side of the argument are those who say that our salvation is through faith by grace alone. That while good works are important, our salvation is given to us by God and we need not, indeed, cannot do anything to acquire it. The scripture used to support this side is from Paul: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.-Ephesians 2:8-9.

Now, this argument has been raging for years and years and I don’t think it will be settled any time soon.

An Even Different View
So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.”-2 Peter 1:5-10

I would never presume to tell anyone what they should believe. However, I believe they are both right; or more accurately, neither are wrong. I believe that our salvation was indeed given to us by faith through grace. That is, God gave us salvation and it isn’t revocable.

However, I also believe that if we are not compelled to do good works after we have been saved, maybe we were never saved at all. Meaning, someone who, after fully understanding the message of the cross, does not then feel the desire, indeed, the need to pass along that love, perhaps wasn’t fully repentant of their sin. Or perhaps they didn’t fully believe in the life of Christ.

This may sound strange, but let me explain my position. Someone who doesn’t fully understand the nature of sin, may not fully understand which thoughts and behaviors are sinful and which aren’t. That person may not be able to repent of all of his or her sin.

Or, if a person doesn’t fully understand the nature of sin, perhaps they, in turn, don’t fully understand repentance and therefore weren’t fully repentant and as a consequence were not actually saved.

Alternatively, perhaps someone who claimed they believe in Christ’s full divinity, full humanity, his crucifixion, and resurrection is confusing belief with intellectual assent of facts without conviction.

They believe which is to intellectually agree that the events took place, but there is no deep conviction in their heart of those facts. Maybe their intellectual belief isn’t sufficient to be saved.

If either, or both, of these things, are true, one could believe they’d been saved when, in fact, they had not. As I discussed earlier in this writing the true test of our salvation is how we live our life after giving it to Christ.

It seems to me that while good works cannot gain salvation for us, they certainly should be a result of our salvation. I just don’t understand how someone who fully comprehends the miracle of the cross and understands what it means to be saved could not want to replicate the love and kindness of Jesus.

But that is between each individual and God and not for me to determine. There is a saying I came across about this issue. it is: “We are saved by faith alone, but not by faith that is alone.”

However, I did, interestingly, come across another scripture while preparing this writing that seems to be something of a bridge between what is perceived as Paul’s position and what is perceived as the position of James. That scripture is in 2 Peter. “…These are the promises that enable you to share in His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.”-2 Peter 1:5-10. It seems to me that this might connect the ideas of Paul and James.

While I can see how the doctrine could be important and as such cause enough controversy. However, as far as my salvation it holds little importance for two reasons. First, because I am one who has always been pretty generous and never really had a problem doing “good works”. But more importantly, because, for me, there is no question. I believe that God calls us to serve our fellow man and especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. If as a Christian one avoids that, I’m not certain what it means for one’s salvation, but I know one does so at one’s own peril.

Obedience to God
If you love Me, you will keep my commandments.-John 14:15

 Aside from whether or not good works are required for our salvation, doing good works is mandated for Christians. And avoiding this mandate is probably the potential disobedience that gets the most time and discussion when speaking of the importance of obedience.

However, it isn’t the only Christian responsibility that we Christians often ignore.  Just as He calls us to do good works, God also calls us to evangelism, to go out and spread the good news of the gospel with the aim of bringing others to Christ. This is an important command in the New Testament. So important that it has been given a name, The Great Commission. It was recorded in all 4 of the gospels, something that if not rare, certainly isn’t common. The most complete description of the command can be found in Matthew 28:16-20.  

In the book of Matthew, the story goes like this: After the resurrection,  the disciples have gone to Galilee, to the mountain as Jesus had directed them. When Jesus arrives they worshipped Him for the last time on earth though some are still doubtful of the Resurrection.  As He prepares to ascend to be with the Father He gives them the Great Commission: Jesus came and told His disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”-Matthew 28:18-20.

 While good works may be disobeyed due to confusion or even laziness, the Great Commission is avoided most often due to pride. Very many Christian feel uneasy about evangelizing.

We certainly don’t want to be that guy who stands on the street corner yelling that the end of the world is near. We are embarrassed to approach strangers to talk about the Bible because none of us wants to be that “Bible Thumper” as they were called back in the day; the one that everyone seemed to avoid and make fun of. And even if we could get past that, what would we say?

While all of these are understandable and common fears, there is no getting around the fact that they are also pride based. We don’t want to do these things because we don’t want people to think of us as ________, you fill in the blank.

Fortunately, there are ways of sharing the good news of the gospels without putting yourself out there so publically, perhaps a more manageable beginning.

Paul speaks of the ministry of reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 3:18-21. To paraphrase, Paul tells us that God reconciled the world to Himself through Jesus by no longer counting our sin against us. As ambassadors of Christ, Paul continues, we need to get this wonderful message of reconciliation through Jesus out to the world.

Paul calls this the Ministry of Reconciliation and it goes hand and hand with the Great Commission. In the Points to Ponder section after the payer below, instead of the questions for thought or journaling that  I usually include in this section, I have listed 8 ways in which we can participate in the Ministry of Reconciliation perhaps as a way to ease ourselves into the more evangelistic Great Commission.

 Let’s Pray
Father, it makes us so sad to see how much fear still hinders your relationships with your children. It seems that there are many who don’t understand the gift we were given through the crucifixion and the resurrection of Your Son Jesus Christ. God, we know you are a compassionate, loving God who wants nothing more than to spend eternity in heaven with all of your children. So, Lord, we ask you to help us to help all of our brothers and sisters to understand that when we were reborn we became new people. We took off our coats of sin and put on Your cloak of righteousness and so you see our sins no more. Father, help us to not worry about our salvation as much as we worry about our obedience to you and pleasing you. For, we know we can always turn to you in prayer to repent and be forgiven when we do sin. Lord, none of us wants to be disobedient to You; we want to please you. So, Lord, we ask you to be with us and give us strength as we try to walk the path you have assigned to us and to follow your commands to the best of our ability. We thank you Lord for your everlasting, never-ending, and overwhelming love for each and every one of Your children today and every day. This we pray in the name of Jesus, Amen

 

Points for Pondering and Prayer or Perhaps for Putting Pen to Paper

Instead of questions to ponder as is usual in this section, this time I want to share with you some less direct ways in which we can participate in the Ministry of Reconciliation and in spreading the good news of the love of Jesus Christ while we grow in comfort toward the more direct evangelistic Great Commission.  I found these suggestions on a blog while I was researching this post and I want to be sure to give proper credit. So here is the address in case you want to check it out.
https://unlockingthebible.org/2017/04/eight-ways-pursue-reconciliation

Here, then, are 8 simple suggestions for ways in which we can slowly begin to participate in the Ministry of Reconciliation and at the same time become comfortable sharing our faith with others, something God requires of us all.

1. Evangelism:
   When God provides an opportunity, share the message of reconciliation clearly with your words to lost, estranged people who desperately need peace with him through Jesus Christ.
2. Online:
   Refuse to engage in divisive discussions on social media or to share divisive posts and tweets. Choose instead to post comments about God’s goodness and faithfulness. Share the blessings you and your loved ones experience, and give God the glory.
3. Generosity:
   Give a generous tip to a harried restaurant server and explain that it’s a privilege to share God’s resources with others.
4. Listening:
   Seek to understand opposing viewpoints when people speak against the values you hold dear. Choose to listen rather than argue and then thank them for sharing with you. Do not, unless asked, share your views. (Emphasis added as my way of underlining this very important part of the suggestion..)
5. Thanksgiving:
   Send a handwritten note of thanks to people who impact your life—a mail carrier, doctor, or neighbor. Tell them why you consider them one of God’s blessings in your life.
6. Hospitality:
   Invite a neighbor or coworker to share a meal with you. If you’re not a cook, meet at a restaurant or pick up food and bring it home. Express your appreciation and give God the glory for bringing that person into your life. Share experiences that point to your relationship with God.
7. Boasting in Christ:
   if someone compliments you on the way you handle a situation, glorify God by explaining that you sought his guidance in the matter. As we point to God’s work in our lives, the evidence of his grace, forgiveness, faithfulness, and attentiveness to us can create a hunger in other people’s hearts for such a relationship.
8. Scripture:
   You may also find it helpful to list the fruit of self (Galatians 5:19-21) and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) on a 3×5 card or on your smartphone. Each day read the two lists and ask the Spirit to help you produce fruit compatible with your role as a minister of reconciliation. As conflicts, problems, and frustrations rise, look at the lists and pray for guidance.
9. Expanding on Generosity
   I want to add a suggestion that elaborates on number 3, Generosity. This is something I have been doing for several years. Give your change to a homeless person and refrain from either telling them how to, or not to spend it. Refrain from judging them or being concerned with what they will do with the money. Remember, you are offering them God’s love and once you give it to them He will use it to bring about His will.

I urge you to pick one or two of these that seem the least intimidating to you and begin right away to practice them. As you get more comfortable with those, you can expand to three of four and on until you can comfortably do all of them. However, always remember that you are working toward the goal of being able to start a conversation with a stranger or new acquaintance about the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

May God be with you in your efforts.