Avoiding a DIY salvation!

 

On those mornings when I wake up tired and feel like staying in bed, an inner compulsion overrides that lethargy and I get up. On those days when I’d rather watch television than do the dishes, an inner prodding gets me off the couch and into the kitchen. In my heart, I know this is the mind of Jesus Christ at work, overriding my fleshy laziness and motivating me to do what needs to be done.

Today’s reading begins with the prayer of Jesus that is a promise for His followers:

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20–21)

The problem the author has is believing that the will of God’s people overrides His will and that He cannot keep His promises if we don’t want Him to. What kind of salvation is that! I’m saved only because I cooperate? If that were true, no one would ever be saved…

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10–12)

However, there is something deep in the human heart that wants to be loved, loved in spite of being imperfect and full of flaws. People usually don’t love flawed people, but when the Spirit of God reveals to me that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8) then that deep desire is filled. Believing in Him changed me, gave me the life of Christ and the growing realization of how much He loves me. Not only that, I love Him “because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

But then today’s reading spoils the wonder of this by saying, “We may have it all, dear Christian, if we are but willing.”

What? To be a Christian means that God made me willing, that He wooed me into His forever family with that powerful love, with grace and undeserved mercy and kindness. While I was still a sinner, He died for me. With that new nature,I am now willing.

The only problem I have with my will comes from that dead (separated from God) old nature that the devil appeals to with lies. He suggests God does not love me. He says I know more than God and I can run my own life, and I don’t need Him. The Bible is filled with warnings to not buy into those lies. Fleshy thinking cannot rob me of that new life that God has given, but it can trick me into thinking it can. Such nonsense can fill me with despair or with the notion to “try harder” to save myself by an act of my will. But God says:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)

He not only makes me willing but able to do His will. I’m fully aware that wanting the will of God is part of what Jesus does in redemption. Otherwise I would never want it. I pity those who are caught up in the idea that God only keeps His promises if we cooperate or in other words, even after being saved and reborn, my will is stronger than His? Really? I could not worship such a God.

PRAY: Lord, this morning my will is to forget Wednesday and have a long nap. Your will has other ideas. Yet my old nature could nap and You would not strike me off Your ‘fulfilled promise” list. I’d still be Your child, still be saved, still enjoy Your blessing, and still experience the reality that You can use even my disobedience in some way to make me more like Jesus. Just confessing it puts me back on track because I am safe in Your care, even when stubbornly sinning or not listening. You have saved me, still working to that end, and will not quit until one day I see you face-to-face and become just like You. My will is part of my old nature and will never want to cooperate with the perfection You have promised — it is only interested in do-it-yourself projects.

First in His heart

 

Being FIRST puts many images into my head. First in a race, first in other competitions, first in line, first in my to-do list, first to accomplish something, first kiss, first thing in the morning. The preachers and lyrics of much Christian music say to put God first, give Him my first allegiance, first thoughts, first priority —  yet what does the Word of God say about God being FIRST?

My Bible has more than 380 English ‘first’s with most of them referring to first in a series, like first day, first month, first time. How is God first?

I found many verses that tell me to put God first but only a handful that use FIRST to describe God. The word, in Hebrew and Greek, is an adjective describing Him as “preceding all others in time or space or degree.” Only one verse is specific. The others describe God as all-encompassing, first over everything. Examples:

Isaiah 41:4. “Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.”

Revelation 1:17-18. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”  

Revelation 22:13. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Two other verses say the Lord God is the Alpha and Omega, a figure of speech to say He is FIRST, last and that covers all that is between. One says He “is and was and is to come, the Almighty” and the other says He will “give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” This God is FIRST because He is the source of all that we need and because He is eternal. There is never a time nor a place where God is not and is not primary.

One specific FIRST tells about His love. Most love stories illustrate the principle: someone deeply loves another and that other person eventually responds by loving the one who cares. Thus a strong love also creates a disposition to love other people too. Genuine love is like that; it changes the way people look at their world and the people around them.

This is how it works in the spiritual realm too. As 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because (God) first loved us.” Knowing that God loves me sets my love-hungry heart free. Instead of looking for love from others to feed that hunger, I am more able to consider them and their need for loving care. God is my supply and those who know Him realize that His supply is inexhaustible.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. I’m told that if two people can gaze into each other’s eyes for three minutes without looking away, they will eventually fall in love with each other and get married. Apply that to God. As I focus on Him and His love for me, my union with Him deepens. Not only that, my ability and willingness to love others flows from Him to my heart, just as Romans 5:5 says. This love was the first thing I noticed when He saved me more than fifty years ago. Many things try to thwart it, but Almighty God persists. If I am going to put Him first, then the love He has for me must be my first motivation toward others, no matter how they treat me or ignore me. Love is powerful just as the One who first loved me is powerful. It changes lives and I must always be willing to let it keep changing me.