There have been a few things stirring around in my mind lately. The first I have written about quite a few times, but I think it’s necessary to repeat.
A while back, I wrote down in my notes this quote.
The most powerful force in this world is your belief or unbelief.
Both will influence how you live your life.
I find this true in just about every area of our lives, especially in the area of Salvation and how we live the Christian life. Most of us have been taught that in order to be saved, you have to recite some long, drawn-out sinner prayer, and I’m not knocking that, but religion has a way of adding more rules and regulations to the definition of Salvation. From what I’ve studied of Scripture, salvation starts with the belief in Jesus Christ.
Consider the following Scriptures:
John 3:16
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Acts 16:31
They replied (Paul and Silas), “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will
be saved, along with everyone in your household.”
Romans 10:9 – Note: we will address the “Jesus is Lord” bit later
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Ephesians 2:8
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
The list could go on and on, but hopefully, I hope you get the point. There is really not much God can do for a person until they believe in his Son, Jesus Christ. I wrote a blog a while back entitled “Sin does not send you to Hell.” It’s your belief or unbelief in Jesus Christ that determines your eternal state. In fact, I go so far as to say your unbelief is the unpardonable sin.
Once a person starts believing in Jesus, then God can do His work in them; the emphasis here I want to point out is God doing the work.
Philippians 1:6
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Here is another area where religion creeps in and twists things around, and that is defining the approach to living the Christian life.
Here is another quote I wrote down in my studies:
Any doctrine or teaching that causes you to focus on performing or having to earn/maintain your salvation or gain God’s approval is false.
Let’s take Discipleship and Lordship, for example. I have been taught in the past these teachings were to be the primary focus of the Christians’ development, but without the proper understanding that God is the one doing the work within us, these teachings can and will lead to works-based Christianity and we all know that Salvation does not come about by your good works.
Ephesians 2:9
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not taking anything thing away from these teachings, Jesus IS Lord, and it is right to be a Disciple, but I’ve been in circles where these truces have been used to manipulate people into obedience, and I’m not convinced this is what God had in mind.
So, what should be our motivation for living the Christian life? Let’s dive into this…..
First off, let me give two scenarios of motivation. The first is an Employer/Employee, or back in biblical times, we would call it a Master/Slave relationship. Here is what it would look like.
- Very rare, the relationship would be based on Love (this is key)
- The Employee does what the Employer requires out of duty.
- When the Employee makes a mistake, they may suffer the consequences.
- The Employee may live in fear of upsetting or disappointing their Employer.
Now let’s look at a Parent/Child relationship in a home where love is the focus.
- Parents will do whatever they can to give their children a good home and the guidance they need.
- Because of the first point, children inherently want to please their parents.
- The Children do not live in fear of being kicked out when they mess up, make a mistake, or misbehave.
- The Children will feel secure in their relationship with their parents.
Which scenario do you think God would like to have with His people? The most obvious would be the Parent/Child relationship.
I’ve repeatedly mentioned this before, but it cannot be said enough. It is vital for a Christian’s growth and development to understand and experience just how much God loves you. It is not in his nature to punish us, abandon us, or leave us to defend for ourselves. Now, He will correct us when needed, but that is for our good. It is out of His goodness, kindness, grace, and mercy that will lead us to a changed life (Romans 2:4).
Here is another example of how kindness can change a person. My Wife and I were at a restaurant, and the waitress did a good job at serving us, but this particular night, I was feeling quite generous and thinking she looked to be a college student; we left a very large tip. After she discovered the tip amount, she came back to our table with a completely different attitude, thanking us over and over and wanting to know if there was anything else she could do for us. This is EXACTLY what God does to us. We were just living life, not deserving anything, and then God showed up with His Grace and Mercy, and because of His love he showed towards us, it caused us to inherently want to please Him.
Sad to say, many sermons you hear today do not take this approach to living a changed life. Too often, the focus is on sin and condemnation, and you better get your life straight because that’s not the way of a disciple! That kind of environment is not conducive to changing an individual; in fact, it does nothing but drive people away from living a Christian life, but I believe in these last days, God is about to make some changes.
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