Fight to the Death!

So this weekend my wife (April) bought me a Kindle e-reader. Ever since I graduated from high school I have loved to read (go figure while I was IN school I hated reading, at least it came in handy in college). It wasn’t long after she gave me this fun new gadget that she told me to get the free sample of the series she had just finished….The Hunger Games. I scoffed at the idea and rolled my eyes more than once. But later that night I succumbed to my curiosity and tried the free trial (if you don’t know about Kindle’s, you can download the first few pages of a book to see if you like it before you buy it). I was hooked and instantly had to buy the first book. I finished it in record time for me at least…which is in one day.

 
Now I am not going to go on and on about the book, but in the story the main character is forced to fight to the death and if she didn’t then she’d die. Now this might be a large leap from the story to your own life, but I ask what are you willing to fight to the death when it comes to your spiritual life?

 
God has sent His Son to die in your place for the sins you’ve committed in life, but what desires of the flesh are you willing to give up out of gratitude? God’s offer of salvation if free to everyone who accepts it, but faith without works is dead. Can we earn our salvation? No way! But God desires…no demands a changed life…one that is working towards becoming more like Jesus.

 
Sometimes God puts challenges or trials in our lives to force us to grow and trust God even more. I love James 1:2-4 where he writes, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” I know in the midst of a trial the last thing we probably feel is joy, but I came across an illustration that I think can help us see how trials and storms of life can actually drive us closer to God.

 
“The vine clings to the oak during the fiercest of storms. If the vine is on the side opposite the wind, the great oak is its protection; if it is on the exposed side, the storm only presses it closer to the trunk. In some of the storms of life, God intervenes and shelters us; while in others He allows us to be exposed, so that we will be pressed more closely to Him.”

 
What storms has God used in your life to draw you closer to Him? Hanging onto God and fighting through your trial to the end will give you victory and as James put it you’ll be, “Mature, complete and lacking nothing”. I recently read a sentence that stated…stop telling God how big your storm is and start telling your storm how BIG your God is! Hang on in the midst of the storm till the end!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2012. Many people make resolutions to begin the New Year. I have in the past, but this year I am not going to do one. This year I am NOT looking to start something new, instead I am going to seek to grow in the one thing I already love! It is safe to say that I love discipleship. For some people it is football, baseball, or hockey that gets their blood pumping but for me to help someone grow into a mature follower of Jesus Christ is what gets me excited.

I’ve seen so many people who claim to have a relationship with Jesus simply stay the same person for years on end without any change in their spiritual lives. It is sad. But it motivates me to share with others…there’s more to the Christian life than living in a lukewarm relationship with Jesus. Now I am not saying that we gain or earn our salvation through works because that is simply non-Biblical. We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), but there is a response or a duty on our part. God gives us the free gift of salvation but we need to do something with it. God has saved us FROM something (wrath and deserving death) but has saved us FOR something (spiritual fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, etc; and to a changed life) too!

I like how David Platt explains it in his book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream, he states, “The danger of spiritual deception is real. As a pastor, I shudder at the thought and lie awake at night when I consider the possibility that scores of people who sit before me on a Sunday morning might think they are saved when they are not. Scores of people who have positioned their lives on a religious road that makes grandiose promises at minimal cost. We have been told all that is required is a one-time decision, maybe even mere intellectual assent to Jesus, but after that we need not worry about his commands, his standards, or his glory. We have a ticket to heaven, and we can live however we want on earth. Our sin will be tolerated along the way. Much of modern evangelism today is built on leading people down this road, and crowds flock to it, but in the end it is a road built on sinking sand, and it risks disillusioning millions of souls.” I believe it was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who called this kind of Christian life, Cheap Grace.

 
Jesus came and paid it all with His death on the cross. How are you showing your gratitude for His sacrifice in your own life? Are living for your own ways and your own desires, or are you following hard after Jesus Christ…even when it goes against the American Dream?  If you’d like to share send me an email at rob@caldwellchristian.org, I’d love to hear from you.

Platt, David (2010). Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream (p. 38). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.