Category: Bible promises

Being Held, Being Secure

Being Held, Being Secure

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  John 6:37

 

Being insecure is like sipping sulfuric acid from a teacup.  What we drink in is corrosive and harmful, when we think it is ok.  We become saturated with anxiety and overloaded with doubt.  We feel very unsure about ourselves, and become introspective to a fault.

Somehow verses like John 6:37 don’t work or apply to us.  Such is strength of our hopelessness.  It is durable and strong.  Christians who struggle with “feeling saved” have a formidable enemy just within themselves, not taking in Satan’s attacks on their mind.

This verse helps us understand some things.  First, there is a “chain of custody” in regards to spiritual headship.  What comes to the Father, gets transferred to the Son.  To enable this, there is something like a magnetic pull that people become drawn to Jesus.  (Aside note:  Jesus is wildly popular and esteemed among unbelievers; it is the Church that gives people heartburn!)

When we are attracted to Him, the pull intensifies.  We grow sensitive and more sure.  When we pass over that symbolic line we discover that we have great assurance of His love.  The statement is made, “I will by no means cast out.” 

“Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go”. –John 6:37, The Message

“He holds on”!  He doesn’t let go!  This attachment of Jesus to us is strong  and sure.  Our issue comes when we focus on self and forget about Him.  Thinking exclusively about your sin, and weakness, and mental illness takes back to the “acid in a teacup” analogy.  But enough of that; let us live confidently, looking boldly on Christ and feeling His grip.  He can’t de-attach Himself.

Spiritual Warfare

Salt That is Not Quite Salt

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”

–Matthew 5:13, NIV

In the Middle-East, salt has a real impurity problem.  Comparing it to what you have on your table would be foolish.  There is simply no comparison.  The idea of salt degrading to non-salt was expected.  It just didn’t measure up.  Jesus in declaring that His disciples were “salt”, was taking a risk.  Could His followers remain distinctive in a virtual flood of antagonistic hostility?

Salt has a challenging destiny.  It must remain distinct while preserving everything around it.  That is not easily done.  Salt has an inherent savor that makes it very distinctive.  As a Christian there exists a distinction and a uniqueness that differentiates one from the world about him.  I have become different because He has made me distinct.  We dare not think that we are believers simply because we are exceptional.

Jesus warns that we can dilute ourselves into a state of self-imposed obsolescence.  We simply compromise ourselves to the point of losing any distinctiveness.  We just become a non-entity, by choice.  We basically zero ourselves out and allow the World to roll over us, all without a squeak. In this case, compromise is disguised as flexibility.  We betray our Lord with a soothed and bandaged conscience.

Jesus stated that saltless salt would become a non-factor, an anachronism of devastating loss.  It would no longer be able to ally itself as an agent of change, but be as common and as ubiquitous as common dirt.  Lo, how the mighty have fallen! To be regarded as common dirt.

Warned of this outcome, we find ourselves in the unique position of needing to be authentic.  Authenticity however, directs us down the path of irrevocability.  We simply find ourselves in a corner, and we have to come to a decision.  Will it be faithfulness to Christ or compromise to soothe our conscience?  Trust me, it is easy to compromise.

Jesus boldly declares that His real followers will come through.  They will believe in Him to the point-of-death.  We have been given the blessing of both time and space to make our decision.  We, ourselves have been caught in the valley of decision.  Can we be able to make a choice that becomes a real spiritual difference?

PLEASE, do not continue to compromise.  Do not vacillate and attempt to call it enlightenment and adaptability.  You are salt, and you will be different.  Let the world go on without you.  You don’t belong anyway.

Resting in God, Completely.

 
My soul rests in God

 The Lord my God hath given me rest on every side.
1 Kings 5:4

This was part of the preparation for the building of the temple. Times of quiet in one’s life should not be idle times. There is other work to do then. These are days for temple-building. 

True living is not all activity – struggle, conflict, gathering money, toiling with one’s hands. 

Building of character is the great work of life. This goes on best in the quiet. We ought not to wait for idleness to compel us to be still; we should get the quiet into our life even in our busiest times. We must have a restful spirit if we would build up the inner temple. There should be “silent times” in every day’s life. 

The secret of Daniel’s noble character, while carrying a great part of the burden of the kingdom of Babylon was that he never forsook the place of prayer. Not even fear of the lion’s den could make him neglect devotion. 

There is no other secret of a true and noble life amid the world’s strifes and trials. We must keep quiet within, that we may build up in our hearts the temple of God. -JR Miller