Tag: gospel

  • Renewal of Your Mind: Who Gets to Say Who’s a Christian?

    A gravel trail through a sunlit forest splits around a moss-covered rock mound thick with ferns, with fallen autumn leaves scattered along both paths. Sometimes a path diverges for a while.

    I recently got into a discussion with someone about what Christianity is and isn’t. This person began to give me a long list of “you can’t be a Christian if…” On the surface, I agreed with most of what my friend was saying, since his litany of “ifs” didn’t match my understanding of what a right-thinking Christian would believe.  But I had to disagree with the “You can’t be a Christian part”. No Christian short of glory is ever 100% correct and consistent in their theology, worldview and practice. Jesus was the only one to meet that bar.

    All of us have inconsistencies between what we believe and what we practice, between what the Bible teaches and how we actually think.

    Fortunately for all of us, Christ doesn’t require perfection before we become believers. He doesn’t require our theology to be exact or our thought process to align exactly with His teaching. It’s a process, a lifelong renewal of your mind. It was why Paul could say…

    Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 ESV

    The moment we trust Jesus by faith alone, we are accepted into the realm of believers, adopted as children of God and born again 

    He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.. Colossians 1:13-14 ESV

    We are justified; our sins are forgiven. We are in the process of being sanctified, that is, set apart and made holy. Eventually we will be glorified, and we will have fully right living (orthopraxy) and right belief (orthodoxy).

    In the meantime, we learn and grow. The Spirit and the Word correct us, and the Lord disciplines us. We learn to have grace with one another, forgive each other and guide one another in the truth.

    There is no doubt that Christians – all of us – have wrong thinking about some things. That doesn’t excuse our error; it just recognizes that we’re all at different points in our faith walk. We all need to work towards renewing our minds.

    Only Christ alone knows the heart and can determine the validity of our faith. When we step up to declare who is and isn’t a believer based on their beliefs on certain issues or preferences, we step way out of bounds and try to usurp Jesus’ authority (even with what we think are good motives).

    I’m not suggesting there is more than one path; Jesus is the only way. I’m not saying we accept error. I am saying we withhold judgment, have discernment and walk in grace.

    Some people claim faith but have none. Others will surprise us when we reach glory. Let’s learn and disciple together and live with grace and patience.

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    Only Christ knows the heart, so deciding who is or isn’t a Christian is not our call. We are all still growing, so let’s learn together and walk in grace and patience.

    TAKEAWAY

    No Christian short of glory gets their theology, worldview and practice exactly right. Only Jesus met that bar.

    Christ doesn’t require perfect theology before we believe. The moment we trust Him by faith alone, we are justified, and the renewal of our minds goes on until glory.

    Only Christ can determine whether someone’s faith is real. Our part is to withhold judgment, use discernment and walk in grace, without accepting error or more than one way.

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  • Darkness in Scripture: From Egypt to the Cross

    Hope in the darkness

    dark morning just before sunrise, a sliver of light visible

    It’s almost 7:00 AM, and it’s still dark outside my window. I know that’s normal for this time of year, but I miss the summer days when it’s already full daylight, and the birds have been singing for hours. I’m grateful I no longer live farther north, where the days are even shorter. Oh, well, in just over two months, the days will start getting longer by a small margin.

    Yesterday, I wrote about the crucifixion, particularly the hyssop branch used to offer Jesus a drink as He thirsted. As I read the various accounts of the crucifixion in the gospels, I was struck by the period of darkness that preceded Jesus’ death.

    And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Luke 23:44 ESV

    It’s just one short sentence in Luke, but the event is also included in Matthew and Mark.  Why a period of darkness in the Scripture? In the Old Testament, darkness was associated with the Lord’s judgment.

    “And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.” Amos 8:9-10 ESV

    The plague of darkness was the final plague on Egypt before the Passover.

    Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. Exodus 10:21-23 ESV

    Darkness is also a sign of the coming day of the Lord.

    Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.Joel 2:1-2 ESV

    The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. Joel 2:31 ESV

    If times seem dark or you’re going through a period of personal darkness, don’t despair. God didn’t abandon His people then, and He won’t abandon you now. His timing is perfect.

    Hold fast, my friends. The Light is nearby.

    Be blessed.

    SUMMARY

    Throughout Scripture, darkness signaled the Lord’s judgment. God didn’t abandon His people then, and He won’t abandon you in your darkness now.

    TAKEAWAY

    Luke gives the darkness at the cross a single sentence, but Matthew and Mark record it as well.

    In the Old Testament, darkness marked the Lord’s judgment, from the final plague on Egypt before the Passover to the prophets’ warnings about the day of the Lord.

    If you’re going through a period of personal darkness, don’t despair. God didn’t abandon His people then, and He won’t abandon you now.

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