Say What?

So it seems that at the outset, Lordship Salvation folks may have a point because it appears at first as though if a believer does not remain true to Jesus, that believer will either lose salvation (Arminianism), if they actually had it, or they never had it in the first place (orthodox view). But is this what Paul is actually saying here? I say a resounding NO and here's why.

If you do not have that assurance but you do believe you have salvation, the problem may be due to the fact that you do not understand what salvation has provided for you. You might mistakenly believe that it is your works that provide the assurance you seek. Yet, you know you fail at external works and it becomes a terrible barometer for assurance because God never meant us to focus on our works at all and certainly not as any type of gauge of our spiritual condition. People can do all sorts of "good" thinks with improper motives, but their works look good!

In reality, if we look to Scripture, there are many examples of people coming to God (in the Old Testament) or Jesus (in the New), without the tremendous burden that LS folks say is needed for an actual change to be effective in the life of the believer who comes to faith in Jesus. Without a deep sense of near self-loathing for sins committed and a full desire to turn from them and live the opposite way, we are told there really cannot be authentic salvation. But is this what Scripture tells us? I see how they arrive to their conclusions, but I believe the picture is completely different from what many within evangelicalism tell us.

If we fail to understand the truth of what Jesus has done for us, we will continue living as though we are still slaves to sin and self. The blood of Jesus has not only forgiven us all of our individual sins, but has also legally separated us from our servitude to sin itself. The chains to our previous enslavement are broken.

The farmer or viticulturalist prunes sucker shoots to purge them away out of the life of the plant, which serves only to strengthen that plant so what when fruit appears, the plant is better able to bear it. Doing so cleanses the plant allowing for better fruit production.

God will do whatever He needs to do in the life of the believer to unhitch us from the world so that we learn to focus on Him and Him alone. He will "lift" or "take us up" from lying on the dirt so that we do not become thoroughly ensconced in the world's ways so that we gain motivation from the world around us. God wants us to focus completely on Him, so He will remove us from those things that want to become our gods.

John says we are literally called the children of God (1 John 3:1). Peter tells us we are a holy nation, a special possession, a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). There is so much to being a child of God through salvation, that it requires us to contemplate it a good deal of the time. We need to study His Word to allow the Spirit to illuminate our thinking, which will transform the way we think and free us to live lives that please God without the struggles we often face when doing things in our own strength.

Do we ever stop to consider what our approach to Jesus will be when we come face to face with Him in eternity?? It's difficult for us to shape that thinking because He is invisible to us. We are separated by this physical life, though He is clearly here within us via the Holy Spirit. When I finally see Him, I hope I will prostrate myself before Him. I hope I will caress His nail scarred feet and hands. I hope I will give Him all the love I possess for Him. I hope out of all the wonderful things in eternity, Jesus will be my main focus.

et's start with Ecclesiastes 12. Readers will recall that King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived - according to and aside from Jesus - pointed out flaws in human thinking and the way people pursue things. I will admit that originally, I tended to look at Ecclesiastes as being "off." In other words, here was the wisest man who ever lived, who had everything a person could possibly want and yet, he saw all human endeavors as vanity. In other words, he was saying that all the things people try to accomplish are borne in the vain imaginations from within our selfish natures.

As a young woman goes through the Jewish wedding process, she is focused on the day her groom will come back to take her to the newly finished room in his father's house. After his father tells him it's time, the groom will walk through the streets with his groomsmen behind him approaching the bride's home. He will call out to her as he gets closer. She will come running out to meet and greet him and will be swept up in his arms. They will then turn and go to the room that has been set up for their ceremony and dinner. She will forever remain with her husband as his wife in his father's house.