Why The "Panicking Christian"?

Like most Christians, I occasionally find myself in a borderline, all out panic about something which I already knew, but seem to have forgotten or that I only knew in my head, as opposed to my heart. And mercifully, God decides to show me what is really going on or what it is that I needed to know, before I completely lose my mind.

So the writing within is just that. It is that which God has shown and taught me while I was typically in one of those times in my life. Since the way in which He has chosen to reveal things to me tend to be fairly easy to follow and understand, I am sharing them via this format. That said, I take no glory for any of this. It is God whom has given me the ability to write, and it is He who has given me the content to write as well and He who saved me by His glorious grace in the first place.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Matter of Life and Death

Faith in Christ does not make you sinless or "sin-free". The Bible tells us that anyone who thinks they are without sin is not only fooling themselves but is making God out to be liar (1 John 1:1-10) - strong words.  It is not sin we are free from but rather the power of sin, which is death, that we are freed (not will "eventually" be free) from (Romans 8:2).  But we still all die right?  Physically, yes, we do all die regardless of what we believe, but that is not the death we speak of.

Let us contrast this "death" with the eternal life we have through Christ.

What is eternal life?  It is not that we will live forever, for all of us - believers or not - are, in a very real sense, immortal.  That part which makes us "us" - our soul - does not die when our physical forms fade away and decay; this  part of our being lives on. So eternal life cannot refer to immortality.  Jesus Himself defined this in John 17:3: "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."  So eternal life actually refers to knowing - and being known by - God.  Something we have in the here and now through Christ, for "the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:23).

Romans 5 tells us that sin brought death into the world and the prophet Isaiah says that sin has cut us off - separated us - from God (Isaiah 59:2).  So we see that  the power of sin is in stark contrast to eternal life, for sin has the power to keep us apart from God.  But this is not in the sins we commit, for it is not the act of sinning which makes us sinners, it is the fact that we are all born as sinners which makes us sin.  If the reverse were true, then every stray thought or bit of frustration would plunge us back into darkness, but this is not what happens for God is faithful to us even when are less than faithful to Him (2 Tim.2:13) which, if you are anything like me, is really good news.

So, if you are a believer - that is, you have made the conscious decision to follow Jesus - know this:  you are free.  Sin no longer has the power to keep you and God apart, for God Himself took that power away from it on the cross and nothing - not angels or demons or anything else - can separate us from God (Romans 8:38-39).
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