God's Will and Man's Will, In Regards To Salvation

Do we choose faith? Don't we have to choose to believe in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins, in order to be saved? It's biblical fact that faith in Jesus is a gift, something our finite intellects can't fully explain, aside from attributing it to Grace. But, through conversation, reading The Bible, and yes, sinning- through those things do we not arrive at a point in our lives where we feel in our hearts and minds that we are wretched and in need of a saviour? The actual scope of God's Will is beyond comprehension, but rationalizing it is part of our nature.

Charles Spurgeon (1834-92) was a highly influential English preacher, quoted by many of today's brightest Christian theologians. I am going to conclude this brief entry with an excerpt from one of his sermons entitled "God's Will and Man's Will" . Please take the time if you can to read the whole sermon.

"According to their theory—that salvation depends upon our own will— you have first of all this difficulty to meet, that you have made the purpose of God in the great plan of salvation entirely contingent. You have the put an "if" upon everything. Christ may die, but it is not certain according to that theory that he will redeem a great multitude; nay, not certain that he will redeem any, since the efficacy of the redemption according to that plan, rests not in its own intrinsic power, but in the will of man accepting that redemption. Hence if man be, as we aver he always is, if he be a bond-slave as to his will, and will not yield to the invitation of God's grace, then in such a case the atonement of Christ would be valueless, useless, and altogether in vain, for not a soul would be saved by it; and even when souls are saved by it, according to that theory, the efficacy, I say, lies not in the blood itself, but in the will of man which gives it efficacy. Redemption is therefore made contingent; the cross shakes, the blood falls powerless on the ground, and atonement is a matter of perhaps. There is a heaven provided, but there may no souls who will ever come there if their coming is to be of themselves. There is a fountain filled with blood, but there may be none who will ever wash in it unless divine purpose and power shall constrain them to come. You may look at any one promise of grace, but you cannot say over it, "This is the sure mercy of David;" for there is an "if," and a "but;" a "perhaps," and a "peradventure." In fact, the reigns are gone out of God's hands; the linch-pin is taken away from the wheels of the creation; you have left the whole economy of grace and mercy to be the gathering together of fortuitous atoms impelled by man's own will, and what may become of it at the end nobody can know."

Suffering Is The Gateway To Growth

It is not a sin to suffer, but in a lot of cases suffering is the consequence of sin. It's not always fair, but we go through it anyway. Whether we suffer by our own hands or someone else's, we still have to deal with it. It is inevitable.

From my viewpoint, suffering is an opportunity to seek Gods' strength. It is a valley we all must go through, and there's a clear choice put before us each time we enter it. We can make a choice to become embittered, or to humble ourselves and see that we are dependent upon something greater. Suffering is the gateway to growth. It magnifies our vulnerability, so that we can to turn to God and believe in His sovereignty.

Jesus Christ suffered. He took all the sins of the world when he was crucified, so that we could conquer death through Him. He died so that we don't have to. Through faith in His sacrifice and resurrection, life is ours. He is the peak at the end of the valley. Through faith we begin to see our sufferings in a different light, and we cultivate the wisdom of a victor, not a victim.

When you are suffering, think of what Jesus went through, and receive His hope. He did it out of unconditional love for you.

Nothing to Fear

We can look at every negative thing in the world with dread and anxiety, and make ourselves out to be victims. We can feel hopeless and lost in a world that doesn't seem to get any better.

It's true that every day is a battlefield, but we have nothing to fear through faith in the one who can strengthen us. Jesus Christ.

We can be saved through faith in Jesus, because He died and paid the price for all the sins of the world. Past, present and future. He then rose again to prove that He is our Lord. If we confess our sins to Him and repent (change our minds about the sinful lives we lead), a beautiful life is ours forever, and we can start growing in a way we've never known.

Through faith we can truly look at our troubled world with a confidence that we've already conquered it. This kind of faith is real, and there is nothing more powerful. I wouldn't be typing this unless I thought so.

I'm not a preacher, but I know that my faith has changed me. It began to free me from thoughts and behavior, things that clouded my life and truly kept me from Gods' blessings. Faith takes effort and a strong will, and the world makes it tough. But, there is nothing better than the feeling that you're doing Gods' Will by fighting the good fight in faith.

This is a blog, though it is still from the heart. I pray that you think about this message and receive Jesus into your life.

~

Employment: Far away, and yet so close

I was laid off in January from a retail job I held for two months. I was a victim of their budget cut. I signed a temp status agreement, but I was confident I would make the cut. I did a good job. All I could say to make sense of it was that it's typical bureaucracy. I didn't laugh enough at someone's non-jokes, or pretend to be something more than an employee performing a quality service.

I've sent a lot of resumes out since the lay-off, and only received an auto-response today from a phony job ad. It asked me to send a copy of my driver's license. I'm desperate, but not stupid.

It admittedly does make me feel slightly better, knowing that even Americans with masters and doctoral degrees are working at places like Burger King. It's a cheap comfort though, and despite that hard fact I'm trying to decide what I should go back to school for. I'm 29, so I need to get cracking. Music and visual art are the industries I have the most talent in, but they are the most volatile. Ugh.

Only once did I actually get a job through a family member. Other than that, family hasn't been a useful resource for me.

So, welfare or country hermitage? Only kidding.

On a lighter note, there are a lot of success stories out there. It's usually not as bad as you think it is. There's always a silver lining. Don't cry over spilt milk. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush(?). You get the point. In the end, all you have is faith, and that's where the power is.