This oversight is representative of the majority of people who call themselves Christian because are missing the big picture.. When one does not live with Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives, one may be perilously moving away from the narrow gate and instead traversing the wide path to destruction.
I’ve been blogging every week for over a year, with the only purpose to guide those who will be called to a saving knowledge and faith in Jesus Christ. Some friends have died in these times and I have this to offer you before one day I die. You don’t have to wait for my eulogy to find out what I think and what I live for or what my departing message will or would consist of.
Gladly, I have been blessed with a willingness to write for the glory of God through Christ as a witness to how He has worked in my life. If my posts have an air of redundancy, I offer no apologies. I publish a Christ-centered message from different angles, hoping one particular angle may speak to a person in a way that they may resonate with it, in a time of life where they are more open to the gospel.
I served my country in the military willing to sacrifice my life for it. Now I am just a foot soldier, armed with nothing except my witness to how the Lord Jesus Christ has worked in my life, in a spiritual war with eternal consequences that goes beyond my national boundaries.
Death is a fate we are all marching towards and at which point there is no recourse. Yet at the same time, the eternal hope, fullness of life through the power of God and saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, for many of you, remains at your fingertips, awaiting your answer to the call of the Holy Spirit. May you be so blessed as to receive the gracious gift that a merciful and loving God has to offer to all in a world filled with uncertainty, suffering and sorrow, where the war rages on with the evil that is inherent outside and within ourselves.
Image source: dadsteachthebible.blogspot.com
I know about the state of accepting Jesus as a Savior but not Lord, at least I have a personal perspective on it. Biased against surrendering to Christ in many ways, for most of my life I fell into this category.
I was a very secular guy who grew up in the church, not realizing how that secularism confounded my awareness of my spiritual bankruptcy. The words of reasonably correct doctrine came out of my mouth in terms of singing hymns, repeating ritual, partaking in Sacraments, and confessing doctrine. I believed we had great pastors who offered intellectually stimulating sermons that seem to make sense of humanity the uncertainties in life, but it wasn’t until 2022 that I had a wake up call to the truth of being a Christian. It all finally struck me in the way that it was intended.
Now I often think that the typical church goer understands Jesus is Savior, everyone can use someone to rescue them out of their troubles; however, for many reasons, it’s not natural for people to own the idea of Jesus Christ as Lord. It’s not simple for a person to give up their self-entitlement to be in control of their own lives, to willingly take the place as a servant to anyone, especially to an invisible God. It’s these obstacles that feed directly into theists and atheists the propensity for idolatry, which is the creation of our own personal view of God rather than an absolute reality of God’s revelations in the Bible.
This article is not about why people walk away from the church. The question is, had they ever been confronted with the reality that the life of a Christian is highlighted by the fact that one has to willingly accept Christ, not only as Savior, but as Lord and Master over their life. Did they truly understand the meaning of Christ taking their sins upon Himself and that He died for sins, taking the wrath of punishment from God that we deserve for every sin we have committed and will commit? In other words, did they miss the direct relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ and were they convicted by the Law and by His teachings?
It’s my belief it comes down to this key metric: Most people do not understand how serious sin is to a holy God, and therefore see no reason to be sorrowful or repent from them and they cannot comprehend the meaning or gravity of God’s holiness and righteousness. Furthermore, people lacks understanding what constitutes sin while dwelling in the perception of their relative goodness rather their absolute wretchedness in relation to the ultimate Judge.
Therefore, this suggests two ways to achieve that realization of the proper relationship between God and man. Either you, Step One, plumb the depths of human despair that results from the course of personal sin and then relief comes from God in His mercy – or – one is confronted by the true holiness of God which will bring you to Step One (i.e. ISAIAH 6:1-5).
I do not discount the possibility that some people achieve Justification or “saving faith” without necessarily having to be dragged through spiritual hell. We cannot see faith like God can see the faith of each believer. One can have the outward appearance of a believer and still be lost and the inverse can be true. We should not judge.
It is true, with me, despair drew me to the point where the blinders were removed so I could begin to recognize the power of the truth in Scripture. Before I was willing to keep it at arms length as another worldly enigma, part of the world of relative morality and ecumenical religion, but that is just what our sinful selves and Satan would want to keep it, to maintain the illusion of no real objective morality.
When one reads the Scripture as truth and not mystery or mythology, it is as though the weapon is now armed. You are no longer reading for personal fulfillment like some self-help book, you are reading the Bible to understand what God wants to reveal to you. The lessons can often be uncomfortable and are not easy to accept.
Once you accept that the Bible is a reliable source of truth, that is a major obstacle removed. The witness of how God actually worked in the lives of the Israelites, Gentiles, groups and individuals alike, it becomes sobering adult level reading. You also have to remain open to the supernatural, to think otherwise is idolatry. God becomes not just a figment of your imagination, God becomes real and He left many supernatural marks long the road of history, along with fulfilled prophecy, many of which were realized with Christ’s first coming.
God calls people into a direct relationship with Himself through His Son Jesus Christ. GENESIS 15, PSALM 119, and JOHN 14 are just a few of a multitude of examples that show us God in a personal and direct relationship with those who follow and serve by faith. Although there is a very important need for the community of believers (those of the Called), it is clear that God intends for no mortal to stand in-between themselves and God when they go through His Son and Salvation by Faith. Faith in God forms the foundation of the Gospel and one that the Apostle Paul defends in an entire Letter of exhortation to the church in GALATIA.
We need a paradigm shift in our Christian vocabulary: Let the “church” become the building we always get it confused with, let it represent a religion, just don’t get it confuse with being rightly CALLED INTO A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
A believer in Christ is Called by Christ. Let’s be clear, you a not part of a building where people get together on Sundays, a believer in Christ is CALLED to be a follower, servant, and, without qualms, a slave of Christ and a worshipper of God. We are the CALLED. That is a privilege and honor that does not require prodding or an institutional mandate to manifest the “fruits” of the faith (JOHN 15) which some people call “works”.
The religious-works-people do rightly criticize many self-proclaimed Christians in that they lack works, which can stem from the way they treat Jesus as only their Savior, so I hope that this post helps shine a little light on how the “no works” criticism is often warranted. This results from the lack of a saving faith.
It is not possible to remain a lukewarm Christian, that is, without the sanctifying fruit of works that is much touted in the Letter of James, when challenged with the conviction of sin that is revealed by the authority of Scripture and the Holy Spirit.
Let me leave you with the “My Lord” declaration of Thomas as the Resurrected Lord confronted him in the Upper Room from the Gospel of JOHN, Chapter 20:
24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
For a detailed explanation of who Jesus Christ is from the Bible’s perspective go to the video in this website , “Who is Jesus Christ?”
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
CKY
typos and all, I do not use AI
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