Am I really saved?

I was recently at a Christian conference with several hundred other believers. It was great! I had a conversation with another attendee and I would like to share some of what was said and what I think about it.

Eventually the conversation that I was having with a fellow believer turned to people who were close to him that were living a lifestyle that the Bible identifies as sin. He said that while they continue behaving in a sinful way, that they had gotten right with Jesus and were saved.

I have heard this thought process many times in the past and it got me to wondering. If I am a follower of Jesus but I refuse to admit that something that I am doing in my life is sin even if the scriptures say so, am I really a Christian? Am I really saved?

The story that comes to mind is the story of a brief conversation Jesus had with a woman who was caught in adultery. The story is found in the Gospel of John chapter 8 verses 1-11.

Jesus was teaching at the temple when the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery in front of the crowd for her to be stoned to death. This was an attempt to entrap Jesus into saying or doing something that they could use against Him. So they told Jesus that the woman, according to the law of Moses, should be killed in this manner. They then pressed Jesus for a response.

Jesus was not one for knee-jerk reactions. He knelt down and began to write in the dirt with His finger. Scripture doesn't say what it is He was writing. The Pharisees continued to press Jesus for a response. When He finally did respond, they realized that their efforts to entrap Jesus had failed. He said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” (John 8:7) I find this very interesting as the only one who would be justified in throwing a stone would have been Jesus Himself. For Jesus was the original and only “totally righteous dude”. His record remains unbroken. Jesus lived just a bit more than 33 years and never sinned once. No one else has ever come close.

So after some more writing in the dirt, Jesus looked up at the woman who had been brought to the crowd to be stoned and asked if there was anyone still around who had condemned her. She answered that there was not, to which Jesus responded that he didn’t condemn her either. The thing that Jesus said next has always be very interesting to me. He said, “Go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11c).

As I see it, this is how Jesus sees my sin, your sin, and everyone’s sin. Jesus doesn’t deny that it is sin. However He does shine the light of a Savior on the dark secret that we would rather not talk about, the fact that we all have sin in our lives. So while we may not have the right to condemn others who have sinned, Jesus can. However, He doesn’t, at least not yet He doesn’t. And if we are to take His words to heart, we then too must “Go and sin no more.”

So here I see Jesus calling out the sin and not the sinner. Yet, it appears as if He is saying that we are to turn away from the sin in our lives (repent). So it would then follow that if we are believers, once we surrender to Him for the healing of our sin, that we should do everything we can to sin no more. Deciding that there are sins in our lives that we won’t turn away from is to tell our Savior that either we don’t believe that our sins are actually sin, or that we know better than He does on how we should respond to sin. Either way, we miss the boat, eternally.

I once heard it said that scripture is not like a bag of trail mix. You can’t pick out the parts that you don’t like. Following Jesus is an all or nothing proposition. And while we may be drowning in sin when we surrender to Jesus, He won’t leave us that way, but only if we have fully surrendered to Him. There are plenty of people who think that they have a better grasp of the way that they should live their lives that Christ does.

I used to be that guy.

But when I realized that you really can’t get full salvation from only partial surrender to our Savior, I was all in. I still mess up. I am most certainly still a sinner. The difference is that I now identify my sins and take them to Jesus and ask for forgiveness. I leave them at His feet.

Then I do my best to turn away from those sins and avoid repeating them the best way I can with help from the Holy Spirit. Otherwise I would consider myself to be a lukewarm Christian which is actually no Christian at all for Jesus has said (in Revelation chapter 3) He would spit that kind of believer out of His mouth.

So the question then is this: If your faith hasn’t changed you (to someone repentant of your sin) has it saved you? My answer? I’m not willing to test it to see. How about you?

Blessings,
-Bry

What is my identity?

There are days when I am not sure who I am. Oh, I know my name and most days I even know where I live. What I am actually talking about is my identity. I am talking about what I point to as that thing that I believe I am most connected to or says that more about me.

There are many things that people claim as their identity. Some say it is their career, or their money and possessions, or an accomplishment and some even claim it to be a moment in their life when something substantial happened to change the course of their lives.

In my case I understand that all those things are the things that people who do not believe that Jesus who was fully God and fully man was born of a virgin, lived, was beaten crucified, died, was buried and on the third day rose again from the dead all to free me from my sins. Because if I believe that, which I do, then that is where my identity should rest.

But maybe it hasn’t been that cut and dry for me.

You see, my marriage failed nearly 10 years ago. The circumstances are not important and there certainly has been enough blame to go around. But I was unwilling to be the guy who gave up on his family. I made it my identity. I so desperately wanted to be a husband and a father, that I was unwilling to let it go. I did my best to show others that a broken marriage could be healed. But mine never was. I was the guy who said “I do is forever”. And quite honestly I still believe that. But I have also come to understand that it takes more than my believing it, for it to be so.

But that was my identity. It was in my failure. I was going to tough it out for as long as it took, because it broke me to think that it would not ever be healed. Today, I find that I am much less likely to believe that it ever will. And that which was my identity for all those years has fallen away. For the first time I have stopped wearing my wedding band and actually I feel kind of naked.

I have not stopped loving my wife. I don’t think I ever could. But at the same time, maybe, just maybe I have enough love left to love someone who would be willing give me another shot at being the guy who would keep his promise.

Today I pray that God would give me guidance and direction to move in a direction that would be more in His will than in mine. After all as Jesus said in the Lord’s Prayer “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. That is where my identity needs to be first and foremost.

I like the way the message translation says it in 1 John 3:1-6, “What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.
But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.”

My identity needs to be in the knowledge that I am one of God’s children. I think that if I base who I am on that fact, that things in my life will become much clearer and that my priorities will be easier to understand. I am not the guy who is identified by his failures, but I am the guy who is instead identified by the victory of Jesus. After all isn’t that the determining factor in our eternal lives? Thanks Jesus, not only have you saved me from sin, but you have saved me from myself.

Blessings,
-Bry

Struggles, trials and stuff.

My apologies for being late in posting this week. I have been traveling. Today I find myself sitting in O’Hare International Airport. I am in the midst of a layover awaiting my next flight. I am returning from a trip to spend time with my mother after her surgery to repair her fractured hip.

A couple of weeks ago she tumbled down some steps into her garage causing the injury. Just before I was to leave to visit her, my 19 year-old experienced what originally appeared to be a stroke.

After an extended period in the emergency room doctors decided that there was nothing that was deemed to be life-threatening and he was sent home. I found myself between a rock and a hard place. I had made tentative plans to visit my mother, but had not yet made travel arrangements wanting to make sure that I was available to be there for my boy if needed.

In a text message to me he told me to go ahead and go to be with “grandma” because he was going to be fine. What a strong kid he is. So after praying about it I followed his advice. I went to help my mom. It turned out to be the right move.

This kind of a situation has the potential to be overwhelming. When trials come from one source they can cause all sorts of chaos, but when they come from more than one source at the same time they can lead to a flood of anxiety.

When I found myself with two loved ones struggling with health issues at the same time my first inclination was to freak out. Who wouldn’t? Then I thought, wait a minute, do I really need to worry about how this will work out?

It isn’t like God doesn’t know what is happening, of course He knows. He not only knows, but He also cares. In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31)
This points not only to the fact that God knows all that is happening, but also that our value in  His sight is never in question. What a comforting thought. God is fully aware of everything happening in our lives and as we read in 1 Peter 5 that we are to cast all of our anxieties upon Him because He cares for us. What a relief that is!

If we understand that God sees all that we are going through and that He is actively involved we can face any and all trials that we face. Max Lucado is quoted as saying that “No one can pray and worry at the same time.” So if we believe in God and if we believe His promises we can rest in the knowledge that He has things under control no matter how crazy things seem to be going around us.

Giving all of our cares and struggles to God is certainly easier said than done. It helps to take the long view. By that I mean when we look at our circumstances things look so much different when we do it with eternity in mind. This isn’t our home. We are just passing through so don’t hold tighter to the things of this world than you do the promises of God.

If He is our priority, then we begin to see things with an eternal perspective. And while believing doesn’t guarantee rescue from our struggles it does guarantee that we won’t go through them alone. Knowing this then allows us to go through these times in such a way as to point to the source of our strength, our Savior, Jesus.

So the next time that things start to get a bit crazy in you life, I highly recommend that you trust in our sovereign God who tells us that He will use all things for the good of those who love Him (Rm 8:28). That is ALL things! Trust in Him. God doesn’t expect us to necessarily understand His ways and His thoughts, but He does call us to surrender to Him. And why wouldn’t we? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rm. 8:31).

Hang in there, and believe. Our time here is only the beginning of our story.

Blessings,
-Bry