I'm back for my first domestic post. Sorry it took so long. It's weird how I can make it a point to find time to blog when I'm always on the go, but now that I don't have tons to do, I find it hard to make time for it.
I've actually had some pretty heavy stuff on my mind lately, and after a conversation with John last night, I can't keep my mind off of it. None of this is me trying to answer the questions, I'm just trying to make sense of it all, so feel free to chime in your thoughts.
I'm really trying to figure out the Gospel right now. What is the Gospel? What I always hear preached is that the Gospel is that Jesus died for my sins so that I can be with Him. And what I gather from that is that the Gospel is salvation. But is the Gospel more than salvation? Isn't there more to a life with Christ than just being "saved"?
And to be honest with you, I'm not even sure I fully get salvation? How does one become saved? I keep hearing it preached that saying a prayer doesn't make you saved, but I've never seen it done any other way. And I know that Biblically that can't be the only way to accept Christ because there are tons of Christians in the Bible and there isn't one example of any of them saying any version of "the sinner's prayer."
And really, I can't stand the sinner's prayer because, working in youth ministry, I've seen it be abused as a fail safe and students "get saved" four or five times. I guess in their mind they think, "Oh no, I feel bad for sinning. God must be mad. I'd better say this prayer to make Him happy so I can go to Heaven." Granted, that's a gross generalization, but there is some truth to it. But as much as the sinner's prayer gets on my nerves, I consistently use it when I have an opportunity to lead someone to Christ. Almost as if I feel like it won't count if I stick with Romans 10:9 and they just believe in their heart and say with their mouths that Jesus is Lord, like it's on me to make it official. It's just a lack of faith on my part.
So that's where I'm at currently. I've decided to read through John again in hopes that the Lord will start giving me some answers. I'm not having a huge crisis of faith or anything, but I am trying to figure out what I believe and why right now. And these are really only a couple of the many things I'm trying to figure out right now. Feel free to throw some of your thoughts out there. I'd love to hear them.
June Portrait
7 years ago
1 comment:
I think that the confusion here comes from our lack in ability to fully and satisfactorily explain God. We simply don't have the words that it takes to describe the entire process of salvation as far as what goes on inside of a person.
The teaching that "a prayer doesn't make you saved" refers primarily to the fact that we are able to lie with our lips. Just because someone says that they want Jesus doesn't mean that they are actually willing to die to themselves so that they can be fully alive in Christ. Speaking words does not save you. Speaking words does not cause a change in your heart. It's not what we do or what we say, but rather what Jesus has already done. Salvation is what results in us accepting Christ. Praying is one way to communicate to God that we receive what has been offered to us. However, I don't think that you have to say a particular sinners prayer in order for your salvation to be complete. I see no biblical evidence for this. Once the Holy Spirit begins to move, no words or lack thereof can stop that process(see Philippeans 1:6).
In a way, I guess salvation begins with death and concludes with life as we had previously never experienced before. You have to die to yourself so that you can be alive in Christ. That's not a conclusion or decision that you can logically or rationally come to on your own because it goes completely against human nature - we are born with that whole self-preservation, me me me thing. You can't talk someone into true salvation, because, if it's something you've been talked into, you can certainly be talked out of it. Salvation comes from God. When He moves in a person's life, they have to react one way or the other. That individual's salvation is not resting on you communicating the Gospel in some formulaic manner. If God isn't behind your words, they are just words. If God is behind your words, they are life to whoever hears it.
Salvation doesn't make sense. 1. Why would a sovereign and holy God offer us grace when we have completely separated ourselves from Him in the first place? 2. Die to live? Really?
Regardless of all questions, grace is irresistible. The best way for you to share the Gospel is to live as Jesus did - pull a 1 John 2:6. Love people the way Christ did. Talk about Jesus and the relationship you have with him. Tell people what he has done in your life. It's awesome and truly helpful to be able to walk someone through Romans if you want to share the Gospel, but the original disciples didn't have that. All they had to pull from was their knowledge of Christ that came from their relationship with him. So, start there.
This stuff is a little scattered, but let me know what you think.
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