Posted on by Abe Austin

A Loving Relationship with Christ- Conclusion

Summary)

In this study I have considered those that excuse sinful behavior with their testimony that Jesus loves us all, which is used to imply that he will accept even those who live in a manner that is condemned by the scriptures. I have strongly disagreed with this statement, though I have also emphasized that the claims of Jesus’s universal and radical love for us is true. Those assertions I have no dispute with at all.

But as I have pointed out, being loved by Jesus is not one-and-the-same as being saved. Jesus’s own words make clear that not everyone who calls on his name and invokes his love will be able to join him in the kingdom of heaven. Some of those that he loves will not be found acceptable in the day of judgment. This is a sober statement, and not popular, but the scriptures are abundantly clear on the matter.

I made clear in this study that what actually does save us is a real and living relationship with Christ. And while half of that relationship is defined by him knowing and loving us, which is a gift that is given to us freely, the other half requires us to know and love him back, which requires deliberate action on our part. Specifically, the scriptures say that they require us to follow the commandments.

Only those who are willing to stop living in sin as a way of life, and who earnestly seek to obey Christ, and sincerely repent when they fall short, are going to genuinely develop a loving and knowing relationship with him. And only those that genuinely develop a loving and knowing relationship with him will be saved.

In my last post, I also made the point that living in a state of sin generally comes from a dearth of feeling the love of Christ, not an abundance. People habitually sin as a coping mechanism, and usually what we are coping for is how unworthy and fundamentally unlovable we feel. Even if we believe Christ loves us in our head, deeply feeling the reality of that in our hearts is necessary for us to stop coping and sinning as a way of life.

Words of Hope)

Thus, the call to surrender our sin and become holy is not a call of forced perfectionism. It is not a call to white-knuckle our way through life. It is a call to break down the walls we’ve built inside, let the love of Christ flow in, genuinely feel it in our hearts, and then love him back by following his way.

The call to repentance is not one of shame and burden, it is one of love, freedom, and hope. Does it involve surrender? Does it involve change? Does it involve following rules? Yes, but it isn’t really about the surrender, it’s about not needing to harm oneself anymore. Not really about the change, but about being restored. Not really about the rules, but about reciprocating our Savior’s love. It is a glad message, even the most joyful one the world has ever known.

Posted on by Abe Austin

What Benefit Do You Get From Your Sins?

There are a number of reasons why people break God’s commandments. Perhaps they do not believe in God, or they don’t see the importance of the commandment, or they don’t want to feel dictated in their behavior. All of these examples are a form of the person not agreeing with the commandment, so they don’t keep it.

But there is another category of commandment-breaking as well. We also break commandments that we do agree with. All of us have things where we say, “I know I shouldn’t do that…but I do it anyway. “I know I shouldn’t yell at my kids,” “I know I shouldn’t give in to my lust,” “I know I shouldn’t be so materialistic.” We can be genuinely convinced that that behavior really is wrong, yet have no plans or intention to stop it.

In these sorts of situations, I feel it is important to ask, “What is it that I am getting from this sin?” And that question should be asked sincerely. In our shame we might be tempted to respond, “Nothing, I get nothing from it, I just do it because I’m no good,” but that’s probably inaccurate. Most likely we continue with our sin because in the midst of all of the disgraceful, destructive elements of it, there is also something of value that we gain.

  • I know I shouldn’t yell at my kids…but it gives me an element of control.
  • I know I shouldn’t give in to my lust…but it soothes my loneliness.
  • I know I shouldn’t be so materialistic…but it motivates me to work harder.

Though we might not like giving into our vices, we’re not ready to live without the benefits that come with them. We might say that we don’t think that the ends justify the means, that the positive attribute isn’t more important to us than the negative ones, but our behavior would suggest otherwise. Part of us really does believe that the vice is the best way to get what we want, and it is terrified at the idea of living without that.

Identifying which benefit our vice provides us is the first step to being able to do something about it. Once we know what it is we are trying to get from the behavior, we can start to consider better ways that we can get it. Maybe we really do need more control in our home, or reprieve from our loneliness, or motivation to work hard. Is there another way that we can achieve that? A way that doesn’t compromise our conscience? A way that is harder, but more pure?

Hopefully so. But if not, then we still have our second option, which is to surrender the benefit to God. The fact is, we can’t always have all of the benefits that we want in our lives, at least not by moral means. Having identified exactly what that benefit is, though, allows us to be very specific when we lay it on the altar. We don’t just say, “God, I give you my will,” we say, “Here, God. I lay my desire for companionship on the altar. It seems for this chapter of life I just have to be lonely and I surrender to Your will in that. I will no longer seek to numb the pain from that loneliness by immoral behavior. I will embrace the hurt, that I may learn whatever lessons that You have for me in it. Amen.”