Alive!

I am writing this obviously more for my benefit than for anyone else's. The seasons of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and now New Year have come.....and gone! So, now what? What do we have to look forward to? In a word....

LIFE.

So much of life happens between the bookends. As we read the book the title just draws us in and the contents page just lays out the progression, but until you turn to page 1 and begin to read, nothing really can be learned or appreciated from the book.

So much of life I feel falls in a similar vein. We can start this year with all the good intentions and can declare it by title...2010! Now the analogy breaks down, because as LIFE happens the contents of this year begin to be etched upon the pages of each day, month, and then in summation, the year's end. But nothing can be experienced apart from the living of this life.

We look back and see that from January 1st to December 31st we have experienced the real and the mundane. But is life really able to be mundane? When you take into account that somewhere right now children are born....and children die? When you take into account that there are those whose livelihoods were taken away this past year and others had great success? When you consider that someone's daughter or son went off to college, graduated, got married, or moved to another country?

How can we say that life is mundane? How can we call life routine? Life is what we are filled with, look forward to, protect with all our might. Life is who we are and what we live for.

So, what will our life be like this new year? What will we live for? What will we give up, let go, or claim as the moment of great delight, fear, hope, dread, or success?

LIFE

To know it, and to have it, and then to live it. As a Christian my life is sourced, founded and sealed in the ONE who alone has given to me real LIFE, real purpose, and real hope. LIFE has no real meaning apart from Christ and the life He has blessed me with. Yes, blessed me with. Even in death, in loss, or in great triumph and new found directions, all of these come together for His glory and my good.

As comes the New Year, so comes the opportunity to remember the New Life that we have because of Christ. May this new year afford us the opportunity to make Christ the real success in our lives. May we be found at December 31, 2010 as a faithful steward and a promoter of LIFE in Christ.

Held

There is a song I have come to really appreciate. Loss, pain, suffering are all part of the Christian's life. Yes, but the hand of God and His tenderness is ever present. To be Held! God is ever present; He is there! May we never forget that this is but a shadow, a fleeting moment, and heaven, eternity holds the joy of all that God has waiting.

Insecure Believers

I apologize for the delay in picking up where I left off on this topic of salvific certainty. I have enjoyed some needed time away and the opportunity to see some family I have not seen in actually years.

This topic is becoming more dominant as I travel and interract with other pastors and church attenders. The conversations usually are the same with baffled looks and expressions of "how can they believe this?" The fact of the matter is that there are those within evangelical circles that are being taught that they can lose their salvation. They can miss out on going to heaven. Where do they get this?

Now, last time I mentioned that I had spoken with a lady who felt that one could never be "kicked out of God's family, but you could choose to leave God's family." The basis of this was founded upon "logic." I am in no way trying to belittle this individual. However, the basis of such a dangerous position was not directly from Scripture, but from a feeling of logical conclusions.

To this one and many others the impression is that if I sin and make the conscious decision to abandon God, renounce my faith, and leave off following the will of God, then I am no longer a "born again" individual.

To some other individual's credit they will turn to passages of Scripture. One that really amazed me was when one used Luke 9:23 which says,

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Now I do understand that in Luke discipleship and salvation go hand in hand, but to equate this verse with a possible dropping of the cross meaning you have left the ranks and am no longer a Christian is beyond the context or the intention of what Christ is referring to.

Others use Hebrews 6; 2 Peter 2:20, 21; Romans 8:13; Revelation 22:18, 19; etc. I recently received a book entitled, The Believer's Condtional Security. It was written by David D. Corner who was unknown to me and no biographical information is on the book. The book runs close to 800 pages and tries to discredit the stance of eternal secuity. Corner's contintion amongst many is that an apostate is a believer that leaves the faith. Thus if this one is saved and is then described as Scripture does, then one can lose his or her salvation.

Now we will leave this hanging for a time and I intend to come back with some further provocation as well as some hopeful answers. Take a look at these verses and see if you see a problem with the direction these individuals take them.

Eternally Insecure

Although this is by no means a new debate or one that is fresh on the horizon of theological consternations, the issue of eternal security has been hitting me and some of my church members rather hard over the past few months.

I am amazed at the differing views this postion holds. Some would say that resident sin in one's life can lead to a "losing of one's salvation." Others would argue that God would never allow that to happen, but you can choose when to walk away from your faith. You and I have the power to renounce our faith and leave God's care, so they would argue.

Now on the other end of the spectrum are those who would say that once saved, you are always saved. Of course that is what I would agree with, but what of these statements.

Now again, I know that there are books written on this topic, but apparently those books are not being read by many well meaning believers. Just this past week at our annual "crusade to win the children of our community," or as most these days call it, VBS, a child came up to our missionary speaker and asked him what was salvation. David Flinck, missionary appointee to Chile, proceded to explain what God required for forgiveness of sin. The boy quickly responded that he asked God to forgive him every time he went to church. I was then speaking with the boy after one of the sessions and his mother came in to hear the discussion. Her affirmation was that God would never kick us out of His family, but we could leave the family. We have the choice to leave if we so choose, but God will always be there to welcome us back.

The greatest question I have for such statements is "where in Scripture do we read that?" Many run to Hebrews and into the Gospels, but many do not read these passages through with such interpretations.

Over the next few weeks, I want to "ramble" some thoughts down on this topic of eternally insecure. If you have any leading thoughts or questions I will do my best to interact. However, the greatest resource would be for comments on passages of Scripture that people (perhaps youself) use to come to such a conclusion that one can lose salvation or "fall from the faith" to such a point that eternal security is in question.