Since, as my most recent blog establishes, salvation is brought to us by the grace of God for our enjoyment here and now ... I can't help but wonder how many forgiven saints will arrive in heaven having so missed out on salvation by the Life of the Lord Jesus?!?
Some forgiven saints will simply miss out on salvation, because they have been made dull by the illusion that salvation is the experience only found in heaven. Many are left assuming that the only rescue is to finally decay and die, the rest is pointless.
I know this, because it was 16 years after I was born-again before I had my first moment of absolute surrender, and the experience that defies all explanation except to say that Jesus was actually living through me. That was real salvation, real absolute surrender, and though anybody could fake it (and many do) that was a real miracle in my life.
That was 12 years ago, and still I would say that my experience of real new-testament salvation is interrupted by (often extended) periods of time walking according to my flesh. Walking by the Spirit remains the exception for me; not the rule. At least God has it rigged so that in my wanderings from Him, I find trouble and despair that ultimately has me cry out for His rescue - salvation. I am just awakening to how weak and needy I am, and how little I can do on my own. By God's grace, I anticipate those carnal adventures to decrease as His life expands in me.
I can imagine that 15 years ago, this would all make sense to me, if it were written by another person, though 23 years ago, I was firmly in the clutches of self-effort religion ... and none of this talk about salvation by the Life of Jesus would register. I say that, because I had the cold-hard-facts of the exchanged-life memorized as doctrine, way before I put it into practice.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
If you want to live a life by the Spirit, where those words of Paul's begin to sound like the story of your life "I have been crucified. I don't live. The Lord Jesus Christ lives IN ME. I am living only by faith in this body; faith in the Son of God that loves me and is demonstrated His charity for me." ... then you are in good company at GraceHead.com. I want that to be the only way to explain my life, but it remains only a promise of the potential life as I take the simple focus on Jesus and make a habit of more and more consistently turning to Him.
I want to explain, the best way I can ... how this life is explained in the New Testament.
More on this, soon.
http://gracehead.com/junk/trackback.php/342
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