Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13b-14
Our past can be a hindrance or a help in moving toward God's purposes for each of us. For some, the past has meant pain and heartache, and grace is required so that we do not let that which shaped us dictate our responses and the outcomes of those responses in our future. If we allow our past to make us a victim, then we have not entered into the grace that God has for us. To be sure it is a decision we make. God's grace saves us and changes us or it does not. If we live on memories of past successes and fail to raise our vision for new things, we again are victims of our past. Our past becomes our highlight reel.
That is not God's vision for your life
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland - Isaiah 43:19.
Our past should only be viewed for what we can learn from it. We should understand it so we can trace the finger of God, even when we were in rebellion, in our lives. We must move forward and avoid viewing the negative or the positive for more than what we can learn; for how our Heavenly Father can take that information and build our future from and with it. Are you going to allow your past dictate your future.? God is always about doing new things in our lives. New things means He is doing something unique today and will again do something unique to you and I in our tomorrow's. He gives fresh insight of His purposes in our lives. At the very least these new adventures provide us with new clues to His calling and His election of us into the offices to which only He can call us.
Do not live in the past. Do not hold onto bitterness that may hinder God from doing new and exciting things in your life.
Our eternal Father turns our wastelands into streams of water to give life, not death. He means for each event and memory to lead to the glory of His name. Your quest, your adventure is to figure out how.
How are we viewing our past? How much time are we giving to it? Are we glorying in it? Has it hindered us to become more of Jesus Christ? Have you relied on past successes to dictate what you will do in the future or stymy you from moving forward toward new goals? Put your memories in their proper place. Allow God to do a new things in your life. Seek His guidance to assist you to see the new things He wants to do in and through you today.
"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" [Author unknown]...I remain...
InHISgrip,
~J~
Showing posts with label New Birth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Birth. Show all posts
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
The Fullness of Salvation - Just What Is Full to You?
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. I Peter 1:3-8
Last year the Church on Rogers did a big study on the Book of Peter. Peter’s epistles are stunning in their clarity, forcefulness and their last days focus. I would actually suggest in their focus on eternity and the idea of eternal life. And, my loved ones, those things are very different from one another. I love Peter! I am not sure I am a "Peter was the first Pope" adherent (some historical facts mess it up for me) but I am of the school of thought that indicated that Peter was one of the two or three most significant of the apostles; a true leader of the movement to which I am a follower.
Lately, since it has been such a big part of my thinking as I have had dialogues to many who were on the fringes of faith I have been studying the idea of belief and salvation. Within first and second Peter we, as the current Church can learn well from his words recorded in Scripture on this topic.
In the passage above Peter is declaring the glory of our new birth, what we would call our “salvation experience”. “In (God’s) great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope . . . into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (v.3-4). In recounting to us the experience of our rebirth through Jesus’ resurrection, Peter connects it immediately with eternity. And, in doing this for us Peter enlightens us to several things:
1. The fullness of our salvation is not just in being saved from sin and hell, and being viewed by God the Father as a new creation, though these are all true and wonderful. A "more" complete understanding has the regenerated/saved man or woman with our ETERNITY beginning when we are reborn. The magnitude of this is not shown in time. It is shown by emphasizing that the riches we receive will always contain their full value..."never fade" is not a term we consider when we count the cost in buying good and services and products here on earth. To be sure we value solid, long-lasting, great warrantied products (Yugo or Mercedes?) but the inheritance a newly birthed believer receives has unending, never fading and always "worth everything" value!
2. Salvation is not just the moment we surrender to the calling of Jesus, and receive Him as Lord and Savior. That is the moment of decision. We have that as a beginning, but the fullness of our salvation comes “in the last time” (v. 5). In other words, what we enter into reaches it’s completion when Jesus returns to reign on the earth and create a new heaven and earth; a paradise that will be similar to the original but that will never fade or tarnish. In this last time God and man dwell together in face to face intimacy free from the curse of sin and free from intermediary things; we no longer will talk in metaphors, analogies, similitudes and parables about what that will be like. We will simply live within the Glory of God.
What Peter describes is the transformation of your citizenship. Our salvation changes our citizenship from earth to Heaven, setting us on a course of Life that is Eternal! This Eternal Life is God's quality of living, being, moving and seeing. As such, it sets our vision on a life that is WAY beyond a one year plan; a 3 year plan; a 5 year plan or ever a few decades, but one that stretches on forever and that has significance, adequacy, importance, passion and meaning! It should cause us to long for and love the day of Christ’s return, so that we can receive the fullness of what He paid for with His shed blood.
I have to tell you guys that what I just described is much different than the common Christian mindset that views salvation as a “get out of Hell free” card; some plastic-coated, round edged, business card sized paper that we place in our wallet or purse and go ahead with our lives as “usual”. Salvation, Eternal Life, began at a moment in time when it was obvious to us of our need and that only in Christ could we fulfill it. It is an ongoing process of change and maturity. It does not leave room for a, "life as usual" mindset. No! It calls us to rethink and "re-heart" EVERYTHING about the way we live as we focus on a life with and in Jesus Christ.
So, what happens now?
1. Regenerated & Revitalized Worship! “In this you greatly rejoice” (v.6). We THANK Him for saving our souls and we worship Him for inviting us into His Eternal Kingdom. We worship Him NOW because it is a precious gift of faith that we give to Him. We worship now because it recognizes His leading and calling and daily work in us. For, when He appears, our faith will become “sight”, and worship will be automatic!! Today, we make a CHOICE and it is this: I WILL WORSHIP WITH ALL OF MY BEING & WITH ALL OF WHO YOU ARE MAKING ME — and this blesses Him even more. Our short lives in this “tent” (our natural body) giving Him our daily praise and honor fulfills what is working in us namely our salvation.
2. Trials (v.6-7). I call this the "hassles of faith”. Paul called it “fighting the good fight of faith”. Peter tells us we WILL “suffer grief, in ALL KINDS of trials”. These are NECESSARY components to purify and strengthen our faith. Our natural inclination in trials is to doubt everything we believe. But, as we stand firm, with our eyes on eternity and worship Him in the midst of trouble, frustration, etc. — our faith becomes real. Faith that isn’t tested isn’t really true or trustworthy. Trials are a gift to strengthen us so that the faith we have has true SUBSTANCE.
3. We Love Him, NOW. We love Him now, knowing that we will see Him, soon. And, as we look forward to our Eternity with Him present, and give Him the gift of our voluntary love today, we're filled with joy that has no fully expressible measure in this earthly dimension (V.8). Why? Because as we set our heart and mind on the things that are Eternal; as we grow to realize Eternal is more than just a "long time", we actually begin to taste of the eternal pleasures of God and it happens in the sweet now and now for it is this realized joy, evoked from our current love and relationship with Jesus Christ and through Him with our Heavenly Father that gets us to a life well worth living!
I remain...
InHISgrip,
~J~
Last year the Church on Rogers did a big study on the Book of Peter. Peter’s epistles are stunning in their clarity, forcefulness and their last days focus. I would actually suggest in their focus on eternity and the idea of eternal life. And, my loved ones, those things are very different from one another. I love Peter! I am not sure I am a "Peter was the first Pope" adherent (some historical facts mess it up for me) but I am of the school of thought that indicated that Peter was one of the two or three most significant of the apostles; a true leader of the movement to which I am a follower.
Lately, since it has been such a big part of my thinking as I have had dialogues to many who were on the fringes of faith I have been studying the idea of belief and salvation. Within first and second Peter we, as the current Church can learn well from his words recorded in Scripture on this topic.
In the passage above Peter is declaring the glory of our new birth, what we would call our “salvation experience”. “In (God’s) great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope . . . into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (v.3-4). In recounting to us the experience of our rebirth through Jesus’ resurrection, Peter connects it immediately with eternity. And, in doing this for us Peter enlightens us to several things:
1. The fullness of our salvation is not just in being saved from sin and hell, and being viewed by God the Father as a new creation, though these are all true and wonderful. A "more" complete understanding has the regenerated/saved man or woman with our ETERNITY beginning when we are reborn. The magnitude of this is not shown in time. It is shown by emphasizing that the riches we receive will always contain their full value..."never fade" is not a term we consider when we count the cost in buying good and services and products here on earth. To be sure we value solid, long-lasting, great warrantied products (Yugo or Mercedes?) but the inheritance a newly birthed believer receives has unending, never fading and always "worth everything" value!
2. Salvation is not just the moment we surrender to the calling of Jesus, and receive Him as Lord and Savior. That is the moment of decision. We have that as a beginning, but the fullness of our salvation comes “in the last time” (v. 5). In other words, what we enter into reaches it’s completion when Jesus returns to reign on the earth and create a new heaven and earth; a paradise that will be similar to the original but that will never fade or tarnish. In this last time God and man dwell together in face to face intimacy free from the curse of sin and free from intermediary things; we no longer will talk in metaphors, analogies, similitudes and parables about what that will be like. We will simply live within the Glory of God.
What Peter describes is the transformation of your citizenship. Our salvation changes our citizenship from earth to Heaven, setting us on a course of Life that is Eternal! This Eternal Life is God's quality of living, being, moving and seeing. As such, it sets our vision on a life that is WAY beyond a one year plan; a 3 year plan; a 5 year plan or ever a few decades, but one that stretches on forever and that has significance, adequacy, importance, passion and meaning! It should cause us to long for and love the day of Christ’s return, so that we can receive the fullness of what He paid for with His shed blood.
I have to tell you guys that what I just described is much different than the common Christian mindset that views salvation as a “get out of Hell free” card; some plastic-coated, round edged, business card sized paper that we place in our wallet or purse and go ahead with our lives as “usual”. Salvation, Eternal Life, began at a moment in time when it was obvious to us of our need and that only in Christ could we fulfill it. It is an ongoing process of change and maturity. It does not leave room for a, "life as usual" mindset. No! It calls us to rethink and "re-heart" EVERYTHING about the way we live as we focus on a life with and in Jesus Christ.
So, what happens now?
1. Regenerated & Revitalized Worship! “In this you greatly rejoice” (v.6). We THANK Him for saving our souls and we worship Him for inviting us into His Eternal Kingdom. We worship Him NOW because it is a precious gift of faith that we give to Him. We worship now because it recognizes His leading and calling and daily work in us. For, when He appears, our faith will become “sight”, and worship will be automatic!! Today, we make a CHOICE and it is this: I WILL WORSHIP WITH ALL OF MY BEING & WITH ALL OF WHO YOU ARE MAKING ME — and this blesses Him even more. Our short lives in this “tent” (our natural body) giving Him our daily praise and honor fulfills what is working in us namely our salvation.
2. Trials (v.6-7). I call this the "hassles of faith”. Paul called it “fighting the good fight of faith”. Peter tells us we WILL “suffer grief, in ALL KINDS of trials”. These are NECESSARY components to purify and strengthen our faith. Our natural inclination in trials is to doubt everything we believe. But, as we stand firm, with our eyes on eternity and worship Him in the midst of trouble, frustration, etc. — our faith becomes real. Faith that isn’t tested isn’t really true or trustworthy. Trials are a gift to strengthen us so that the faith we have has true SUBSTANCE.
3. We Love Him, NOW. We love Him now, knowing that we will see Him, soon. And, as we look forward to our Eternity with Him present, and give Him the gift of our voluntary love today, we're filled with joy that has no fully expressible measure in this earthly dimension (V.8). Why? Because as we set our heart and mind on the things that are Eternal; as we grow to realize Eternal is more than just a "long time", we actually begin to taste of the eternal pleasures of God and it happens in the sweet now and now for it is this realized joy, evoked from our current love and relationship with Jesus Christ and through Him with our Heavenly Father that gets us to a life well worth living!
I remain...
InHISgrip,
~J~
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