Salvation: What is it?

There is something that has been lying heavily on my heart for about a month now. At first, I thought God was having me check my heart on this issue, so I did—repeatedly. I have been convicted and I am working on changing some things. However, the nagging of it hasn't stopped. If anything, it has gotten worse and God has shown me many examples of it the last few weeks. I believe the nagging hasn't let up because He wanted me to write this and post it. When Pastor Clay spoke this morning, this blog was screaming to be written.

What does it mean to be saved? Is it simply a matter of believing in God? That Jesus is the Son of God? That Jesus did miracles? James 2:19 says "You say you have faith, for you believe that there is only one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror." The demons believe and are not going to be saved from eternal torment in hell.

Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved." What does that really mean? Can you CONFESS "Jesus is Lord" and BELIEVE that, but continue to live an ungodly lifestyle, and be saved? There are two key phrases in this verse—"is Lord" and "in your heart". Both imply a lifestyle shift. If you confess it, but don't make him Lord, you will not be saved. The word LORD means "a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler". Is that what Jesus is in your life? Have you surrendered to His authority? Is He your master? Or do you say He is Lord while still living your life your way? If you believe, but not in your heart, you will not be saved. I looked up heart on my dictionary.com app and this is what it says, "3 the center of the total personality, esp. with reference to intuition, feeling or emotion." (The first two definitions are referring to the organ that pumps blood throughout the body.) If you truly believe that God raised Jesus from the dead you cannot go on living an ungodly lifestyle. The Resurrection becomes the center of your total personality! It becomes the basis for your intuition, your feelings, your emotions. It becomes the core of who you are!

Luke 14:33-35 takes it a step further. "So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!"

Matt 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless."

Salt is an amazing substance! It is consists of sodium and chloride. Both are needed by the human body, but too much of either can be deadly. Chloride is only slightly soluble in water. The presence of excess chloride causes corrosion. Sodium is a metal that is completely soluble in water, however; when sodium alone (without chloride) is first introduced to water, it reacts violently and will explode! Keep in mind that the human body is 70+% water.

True love consists of grace and truth (spiritual salt) and it works the same way. Grace is like the chloride. Grace only goes so far and if given too much it begins to corrode the Gospel. Those who believe that hell and judgment don't exist have so much grace that it has corroded the Gospel. The problem is that without acknowledging sin or fault, they have led people to believe that there is no need for repentance. Truth, on the other hand, is like sodium. If truth is introduced without grace, the reaction is violent and explosive. I saw a t-shirt the other day that said "Repent or burn in hell." Now, while that is the truth, there is no grace and a non-Christian who sees that probably reacts violently to that statement and is not going to repent based on that statement alone.

To be the salt of this earth, we must walk in love while speaking truth. We cannot keep diluting the Gospel, but neither can we be the judge and jury of the world. We must live our lives in such a way that our everyday actions are full of grace and truth. We cannot walk around with a hateful attitude while saying we are Christians. When you encounter the unsaved, instead of looking down your nose at them, remember who you were before you got saved. When you encounter people who claim to be Christians while living a sinful lifestyle, instead of acknowledging how messed up their lifestyle is, show them with grace the truth behind James 2:19 and Romans 10:9, and lead them into a relationship with Christ.

Hell is real and we have been given the responsibility of sharing that truth with the people God has placed in our lives. "We have got to learn to love better."-Pastor Clay

Lost!

"Mom!" I heard a quiet voice say. Thinking it was a dream, I snuggled under my covers even deeper and settled in.

I get home from work at about five o'clock in the morning. After winding down a little bit by reading a novel, I fell asleep at about 5:30. Needless to say, I was sleeping GOOD by seven. Then, I heard it again. “Mom”. It was like a loud whisper filled with desperation and fear. I rolled over and said, “What?”

“I got up to get a drink of water and I looked in on the snakes and George is missing!” We have three ball pythons, Neo, the oldest and largest, Oscar, who is almost full-grown, and George, a six-month-old baby. Neo was our first, bought for Abby Christmas of 2009. Oscar is Paul's, but we are snake sitting indefinitely. George is mine. I bought him October 5 as a birthday present to myself. I have wanted a baby since we got Neo and when I saw them on sale for 60% off, I couldn't pass him up.

George and I have gotten quite attached, although I think I am a little more attached than he is. I know it is hard for you to hear me talk about snakes in such a loving tone. I am a little different, but then y'all knew that. If it helps you comprehend it, imagine George is a puppy. Or a gerbil. Or whatever animal you like. I love George and when Abby said he was missing, I jumped up out of bed and rushed into the living room.

Snakes seek out warmth and darkness, so we searched every warm, dark spot we could think of. George is so tiny that his head is about half the size of my thumb! He is eighteen inches long and about as thick as a Sharpie! We looked under the couch, the chair, the ottoman. No George!

We searched with flashlights under and around the stove, the refrigerator, the washer, the dryer. No George!

We took Neo and Oscar out and set them on the living room floor thinking maybe they could lead us to him. Where would they go? Maybe that's where George was. Snakes are nocturnal, though, and at seven-thirty in the morning, they just want to sleep. I'm right there with you, guys, but we have to find George. They didn't care and went straight into the terrarium.

We spent an hour looking everywhere for George before I sat on the couch. I didn't know where else to look. We knew he had to be in the house somewhere. It was twenty-eight degrees outside with six inches of snow on the ground and more falling. He wouldn't have gone out there.

Thoughts invaded my mind. I thought maybe he had gotten himself tangled up in the coils behind the refrigerator and burned himself. Maybe he was hurt and scared. He is just a six-month-old baby! He isn't prepared for the dangers in the jungle we call a house.

I began to pray as the first tear slipped down my cheek. “Lord, You know where George is. Please lead me to him.” I felt an overwhelming urge to look in the couch I was sitting on. We removed all of the cushions. No George!

Then I remembered that the interfacing under the couch was hanging a little on the one side, so Abby and I flipped the couch on its back. There in the corner, inside the couch, right under where I was sitting, a little brown head!

“GEORGE!” I ripped the interfacing out of the way, reached in and pulled him out. I was so relieved! I was so happy! I held him tightly and told him how badly he had scared us. I told him that I was so happy that I had found him, I couldn't even be mad at him for getting out and hiding. I wasn't mad at all. I was overjoyed!

As I sat down and hugged him tightly, I thought, “This is how God feels! This is the overwhelming joy that God experiences when He finds us!”

In Luke 15:3-10 Jesus uses a lost sheep and a lost coin to illustrate this exact thing. I have read those stories a million times, but until my baby was lost I never really personalized this story. I felt the devastation and grief at the thought that I might never see him alive again. I felt the joy of holding him in my arms when I found him. I wasn't thinking about Neo and Oscar at that point. I was celebrating my relationship with George.

God loves us so much more than I love that little snake. God mourns and grieves when we are lost. He looks everywhere for us. He searches for us relentlessly. If you have wandered away, or if you have never been found, you don't need to hide from God. He isn't searching for you so that He can punish you. He is searching for you because he loves you and He knows the dangers that you are exposing yourself to that you don't even see lurking in the shadows.

George was right there the whole time. He was right in the couch. He was less than a foot away from me. But he didn't come out. He remained hidden. I don't know why he did, but I know that when I have sinned and I know God is looking for me I sometimes remain hidden, too. Shame, fear, safety of the secret place, etc. make it easier to hide than to face the consequences. I don't realize what danger is lurking just behind me.

You see, Satan is also looking for you. “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a lion, seeking someone to devour.” I Peter 5:8.

One of them, God or Satan, will find you. Which one will you allow it to be? Are you going to be like George and keep hiding in the dark places just out of God's sight? Or will you come into the light and be held, coddled, and loved?

“I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance... In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:7, 10.

Help Dealing with Consequences of Sin

I was doing my devotions the other day and God spoke something to me loudly and clearly. Now, I have to admit I have been struggling with a certain sin and every time I fall, I confess it and repent, but I don't “feel” forgiven. I feel dirty and guilty. I know that usually means I have to forgive myself. I don't feel comfortable praying for help in dealing with the consequences of it. I feel like “I got myself into this boat and it isn't right or fair to ask God to help me through this.

I was reading Jacob's story. He had stolen his brother Esau's birthright. Esau threatened to kill Jacob so he fled. He ran back to the land of Abraham's family where he spent fourteen years working for his uncle. At the end of the fourteen years, Jacob wanted to return to the land of Canaan, where his father had settled. He sent servants along with some flocks to offer Esau as a gift—a peace offering.

Genesis 32:6-12 “After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, 'We met your brother, Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you—with an army of 400 men!' 7 Jacob was terrified at the news. He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups. 8 He thought, 'If Esau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape.' 9 Then Jacob prayed, 'Oh, God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father Isaac—Oh Lord, you told me 'Return to your own land and to your relatives.' And you promised me, 'I will treat you kindly.' 10 I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps! Oh, Lord, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my children. 12 But you promised me, 'I will treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.'”

One of the things that really jumped out at me in this passage is that Jacob didn't even bring up the sin he had committed which was the cause of Esau's attack. Despite our sin, God has a plan for each and every one of us. We cannot allow that sin to stand in the way of God's plan. Once you have confessed and repented of your sin, move on. God has removed that sin from you as far as the east is from the west. Yes, there may be lingering consequences, but God is ready and willing to help you deal with those consequences so that you can move on to your destiny.

We sang a song in church on Sunday that confirmed what I had learned in my quiet time with God the day before. A few lines from the song stuck in my spirit. “If grace is an ocean, we're all drowning... I don't have time to maintain regrets when I think about how you love me! Oh, how you love me! Oh, how you love me! Oh, how you love!”

Thank you, Lord for your unfailing love and mercy! Thank you for assisting me with the consequences of my sins instead of expecting me to fight the fight alone. Thank you for always coming to my rescue regardless of what I have done to get myself in this situation.

Angry and Dejected? Choose Life!

“'Why are you so angry?' the Lord asked Cain. 'Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.'” Gen 4:6-7 NLT

How many times do we feel angry and dejected when we are living in sin? We know that what we are doing is wrong, but yet, to some extent we expect things to go well for us. We must deal with the consequences of our sin, which we know is coming, but yet, we get upset when those consequences come.

Hebrews 12:6 says, “For the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes each one He accepts as His child.” If God didn't love us, He would just ignore our sin and move on. When we confess our sins He is faithful to forgive us of them (I John 1:9), but that doesn't relieve us of the consequences. If someone has sex out of wedlock and gets pregnant, when she confesses that sin, she is still pregnant.

“Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you,” Gen 4:7 says. According to I Peter 5:8 we are to “stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” This paints a very vivid picture. I have watched enough shows on the Discovery Channel to know what a lion looks like when he is prowling around looking for prey, or what a cheetah looks like when it's crouching in the tall grass getting ready to pounce. Satan is the lion, sin is the cheetah, and we are the prey!

The end of Genesis 4:7 gives us a plan of action, which in turn gives us hope. “Subdue it and be its master.” I Peter 5:9 says, “Stand firm against him and be strong in your faith.” We can overcome Satan. We can win the fight over sin. And when we do, according to Genesis 4:6 we will be accepted. By whom? By God the Father.

God promises us that we will never be in a situation where we HAVE to sin. I Corinthians 10:13 says, “...He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

Deuteronomy 30:19-20, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying Him and committing yourself firmly to Him. This is the key to your life...”

So, resist temptation! Choose God's acceptance! Choose life!

What people think of each other and the affect that has on our lives.

Let the words just flow. That is what I have been told repeatedly by many different authors. Don't try too hard, just write. Don't worry about things. Just let the story flow as it will. You can fix it later. Many times your characters are extensions of yourself; parts of yourself that you don't even know are there or you are not in touch with. Pain that you've suppressed or thoughts that you thought you had discarded but that are still there, buried deep within. Just write. Write what you are thinking about. But what am I thinking about? I don't even know.

Lately it seems like most of my life is just a blur. A thoughtless, going-through-the-motions blur. I get up, go to work, go to sleep, and do it again. That is my life. I love my job, but I hate the hours. I hate working all night and sleeping all day. I hate Abby staying with Mom so much. I love the money I make. I love the customers I carry. I love the friends I have made. I love what I do. I like dealing with people in small intervals (5-15 minutes per run). I love that they open up to me and tell their stories thinking “She's a stranger whom I'll never see again.” Then they take my card and call me again; most of the time forgetting all that they had said the previous time because they were so drunk. I get to see two sides of people—the sober side, the side that they have everyone believing that they are; and the drunk side, the side that is who they really are, the side they so desperately try to hide. So, question... do the “professional drinkers” know how to hide who they really are even when they're drunk? Or do they not care what people think and are just themselves at all times? That is really something to think about. I know me personally, am about the same when I am drunk as when I am not. I speak my mind, drunk or sober, but I do say things more tactfully when I am sober. When I'm drunk, if it crosses my mind, it comes out of my mouth as raw and as rude as it was when I thought it. I don't drink anymore, but I assume that this hasn't changed.

Why do we all care what others think anyway? Why is that such a factor in who we are? Should we not just be ourselves and stop worrying what others think? It would be much easier, I would assume, to just be oneself and not not have that hindrance. Who are other people anyway? But when I think about doing some things I think, “What will so and so think if I do that?” It seems to me that hiding from others causes us to hide from ourselves as well. I think the more we try to be what others want us to be, or what we perceive others want us to be, the more we become that someone and who we really are gets lost in the myriad of deceit.

Who are we hiding from? At what age do we start hiding? Jesus said we need to come to Him as little children. What did he mean by that? Could He have meant that we need to stop worrying about what other people think and give ourselves to Him with complete abandon of concerns about our reputation? Do we need to get back to that point in our lives, in our mindsets, where we don't care what people think? We just come running to Him—no concerns, no weights, no worries. Why is it that even after we do drop everything and run to Him we immediately begin worrying about what people think again? Why do we have such a hard time remaining as little children, basking in the presence of the Lord and ignoring the judgments of men?

Why do we allow them to dictate our lives? Who are “they” anyway? I mean, while I'm worried about what you think about me, you're worrying about what I think about you! It's a two-way street. But really we should only be concerned about what God thinks. He is the only one that we have to be concerned with. Live right according to the Bible, keep your heart in a right relationship with God and all else will fall into place, regardless of what mere mortals think.

A friend of mine once said, “If people knew what I really thought, they would think I am crazy.” To an extent we all think this and that is what we are hiding from, is it not? Many have said that writers are crazy. I don't think we are. I think we are just brave enough to put our thoughts on paper. How many times have you read something and thought, “That is exactly how I feel but I'm afraid that others would think I'm nuts if I ever said it.” Well, obviously you are not alone. The writer had to think it before he/she could write it.

As Christians, there is another level, another person we do have to concern ourselves with. You see, we have to be concerned about our witness. If people knew what we really thought and who we really were, and the things that we really do, would we be a good witness? Or are the things that we're hiding the things that would let non-believers know that we aren't perfect, that we're real? How deep, how intense are your struggles? Why are you trying to hide them? Doesn't the world need to see where we were and where we are now? I'm not perfect yet, and I won't be until I get to heaven, but the world can see the progress I've made. I used to drink, smoke, do drugs, have sex with men I wasn't married to, cussed like a sailor (ok, cab driver). All of those things are in the past, but I still struggle with other things like eating unhealthy foods, watching violent TV shows and movies, etc. Why are we so afraid to let the world know that we still struggle?

The line is being drawn between good and evil and in many ways that line is blurred. Take soft pornography for instance. In the world, a movie with a steamy love scene or a little nudity is really not that big of a deal, but to a Christian it should be. The world thinks we are crazy when we make such a big deal over it and refuse to watch that movie because of “one little sex scene”. Is our disapproval of the movie being a good witness or a bad one? Is that person going to be drawn to Christ if we refuse to watch it or will they think us judgmental? Is that person going to think we're a hypocrite if do watch it?

I wish I knew the answers to all of the questions I've posed in this blog. I don't. These are just my random thoughts on the subject of what people think of each other and the affect that has on our lives.