I try not to just post links on the blog. It always seems like a cop-out from actually writing something myself.
However, this afternoon as I sat down to write a response to a recent article in Christianity Today, I came across a response written by my buddy and fellow pastor, Joe Burnham.
He nails the errors made in the CT article, and points us in the right direction. Take a read by clicking HERE. There’s also a good response posted HERE.
Bottom line, salvation is a passive event done to us; not by us or through us. Any other view only drives us further from Jesus in depression, thinking “dude, I suck. If I were God, I wouldn’t forgive me” or filled with a prideful attitude saying, “thank you Jesus that I’ve got all my junk together unlike all those other losers.” Which, is itself sin, thus leading you only to doubt your standing with God all the more.
That kind of thinking just don’t fit.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Having read the article, I think the main point is how do know we’re saved, not so much how do we get saved. That said, as our old buddy Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” I know Rene didn’t mean for me to use it this way, but I’m claiming it for my purposes here!! What we think determines how we feel, how we view things, and how we live. If I think I’m saved, I’m going to live a certain way, but when I’m feeling like a heathen, well, I might act a different way. It’s sort of like dieting. If you’re losing weight, and your pants are fitting better, and you’re significant other is complimenting you, you’re going to feel like passing up that cheesecake or at least eating it and then exercising it off the next morning. But if you’ve had a few too many helpings recently and are feeling engorged, you might resort to lounging on the couch with a nice big bag of Fritos. How we view ourselves is so often subjective and contingent on our mood du jour. Too many Christians fall into the yo-yo dieting mode of highs and lows based on how we measure our own worth. On the other hand, there is a danger in saying “salvation is a passive act done to us,” namely, some can say, “Well, it’s done, thanks God, now let me play on my Wii.” I’ve seen people do that, and then they lose the chances God has given us to live in and share his love. But I feel much more comfortable knowing that my salvation, and my knowledge of my salvation, is not based on my subjective measures of myself. My salvation is based on the most objective moments the world has ever known that Christ died on a wooden cross for my sins and left behind an empty tomb. I can’t measure myself against that!