On living the Christian life
Q&A concludes, "Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholehearted willing and ready from now on to live for him." Our only comfort, belonging to Jesus, doesn't leave us in our misery but sets us free to truly live.
The
greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who
acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by
their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds
unbelievable.
~ Brennan Manning
On grace... grace alone!
Pelagianism (and her sister, "semi-Pelagianism") is essentially the belief that we can fix ourselves. But the catechism says we have a "natural tendency" to hate God and to hate our neighbors; that we are "totally unable to do any good...." We cannot fix ourselves.
The events
in Boston this week reminded us once again that we live in a broken world. Yes,
it’s a good world created by a good God, but yet it’s a world marred by sin.
Yes, it’s a beautiful world filled with amazing people—each created in the
image of God—and, yet, every single one of these amazing persons is marred by
sin. Yes, even you. Yes, even me. Yes, even the most important and best people
in our lives.
Each of us
is beyond fixing.
And yet, in
the upside-down, paradoxical world of Easter, this is good news. It's good news, because we don’t need
to fix ourselves; which is really a good thing because we can’t. It's good news, because even though
we’re like an old junk car that’s way, way beyond fixing, nevertheless, Jesus
didn’t come to condemn, but to save… FOREVER. In fact, it’s really GOOD NEWS even though my whole "fix-up-the-junk-car" analogy falls apart here because Jesus isn’t really the "Great
Mr. Fix-It"--not really--no, he’s the Great Physician! And instead of merely changing our plugs and tuning us up, the supernatural
Holy Spirit of Jesus makes us BRAND NEW AGAIN.
God isn't in the business of keeping score. God so loved the world that he sent his only Son. Not to condemn the world, but to rescue!
Though the Scriptures insist on God’s initiative in
the work of salvation–that by grace we are saved, that the Tremendous Lover has
taken to the chase – our spirituality often starts with self, not God…
We sweat through various spiritual exercises as if they
were designed to produce a Christian Charles Atlas. Though lip service is paid
to the gospel of grace, many Christians live as if only personal discipline and
self-denial will mold the perfect me. The emphasis is on what I do rather than
on what God is doing. In this curious process God is a benign old spectator in
the bleachers who cheers when I show up for morning quiet time.
Our eyes are not on God. At heart we are practicing
Pelagians. We believe that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps – indeed,
we can do it ourselves.
~ Brennan Manning
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As usual, your words are avid reminders of our need for grace.
ReplyDeleteI like how you explain thing, Randy. And your supplemental use of Brennan Manning is oh so helpful.
I posted a Manning quote on Monday but didn't read your Catechism Blog Post until Tuesday. What a great 'God-Thing' to discover that your rirst Manning quote was also what I had posted.
And by the way - thanks be to God...
Your posting came before and was the impetus for my reflections... but still a "God-thing" :)
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