Two Fisted Salvation

   There are many reasonably reasonable Christians who do not believe in eternal security, perhaps because it sounds too good to be true or because of an inflated view of man's role in his own salvation. But the Bible is clear, salvation begins and ends with God. We are no more capable of maintaining our salvation that of obtaining it in the first place. We recently studied a passage at church that makes this clear--John 10:28, 29.

     "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand."

     Despite those unsure of what the meaning of "is" is, there is not a lot of wiggle room in these verses. Most believers agree that Satan cannot snatch us away from Christ, but some believe Christians can still wriggle themselves out of Jesus' hand like a sinful, slimy fish. One problem with this view is that it would require humans to be stronger than Satan, which is not the case. It would also require eternal to mean temporary, never to mean sometimes and all and no one to mean some and someone. That takes a lot of liberties with the language.
     An even greater problem in this passage is that salvation is two fisted. Even if we managed to squirm between Jesus' fingers, there is another hand holding us--the Father's. No saved sinner is that slippery. Satan cannot sabotage our salvation and neither can we. But he can undermine our testimony when we succumb to temptation and that is his specialty. And one might just remember when we choose to soil our lives with sin, that we are still sitting in our Savior's hand. He may, if He chooses, close that fist uncomfortably tight.

God Gave Us Rainbows

God Gave Us Rainbows

God gave us rainbows

in the first place

so we would not panic

every time it rains--

thinking it is the end of the world.

Not only that,

but He tells us about

the end of the world,

just so we don’t get confused

 or deceived.

After all these years

lived in the sunshine

 of God’s love,

why do I still panic

every time it rains?

When the storm has passed,

I stare sheepishly

at the things

made more beautiful

by the rain.

How often I forget

the rain is not

the end of the world,

it is the beginning

of the rainbow.

Poor Pattern Recognition

   I often tease my husband about his poor pattern recognition; I once had to help him take a personality test about his own life. But lately I have realized how poor my own pattern recognition is. This afternoon as I was sitting outside the hotel reading, I realized that I have lived most of my life at a level of safety and comfort unheard of in most of the world. I have never had to worry if I would have a warm place to sleep, food to eat or clothes to wear. After all the years of knowing the blessing of God's care for me, why do I doubt Him whenever things get hard?  Have I not recognized the pattern by now?  Will an omniscient God forget me? The omnipotent One drop me? Can an immutable God suddenly lose interest in those He claimed as His own?
     I am not sorry for asking for prayer when things at home got hard last week, but I do feel stupid for doubting God's plan again. This trip, which I was afraid would be ruined by our change in plans, turned out to be more enjoyable because of it. I am relaxed in a way I never could have been if God followed my plans instead of His. God's way works again. Who knew? Well, I should have, if I didn't have such poor pattern recognition.

Consecration Through Compost

     Pretty much anything used to make plants grow is disgusting. To sanitize a bumper sticker sentiment--Fertilizer Happens. Christians may flourish in happy, sunny times, but what drives our roots deep and hopeful tendrils to reach for the sun is the messy stuff. Consecration through compost. Lately, we have been hip deep in fertilizer at my house and I am latched onto Jesus like a starving leech. By now Reed and I should be the rhubarb of spiritual growth. Yet the hard things happening in our lives are not nearly as nasty or toxic as the stuff that makes plants grow. So when life stinks, fruitfulness can't be far behind. Grow, reach towards the Son.

Totally Unfair

     God has been unfair to me my whole life and I am so glad. Sometimes we Christians, with the best of intentions--to empathize and commiserate with suffering believers, offer the idea that the difficulty happening in their life is undeserved, unfair. Generally in life we reap what we sow. This principle is biblical. But so is the book of Job, one of the earliest written, to show us that there is an unseen spiritual context woven into the events of our lives. I am not God's fairness monitor. The only reason I have any concept of fairness is the glimmer of God's image in my sin distorted soul. Judging God's actions by our standards is like a toddler arguing science with Einstein.

     Here are some examples of the unfair things that have happened in my life:

• God sought and saved me as a teenager, when the fair thing to do would have been to leave me in the personal and church endorsed self-righteousness of Mormonism.
• He provided funds for me to go to Bible college where He also provided a husband better than I deserve.
• God pried our sticky fingers off our home in Billings to move us to western Montana, where we really wanted to be. Though it looked like unfairness, bordering on cruelty, at the time.
• He allowed me to be the stay-at-home mom of three healthy, challenging children, who made me grow up.
• Once again God came through with funds so we could send the above challenges to Christian school.
• My husband works hard, but the generous salary God has provided in our later years is much more than we expected to have or need to live on.
• God unfairly forced us wait a year hunting for a different house, because He had a much better one reserved for us.
• My childhood dreams of travel were driving a truck to some Montana Super 8 and spending more than one night at the hotel. What God unfairly provided was a major upgrade to beautiful hotels in interesting places for weeks at a time.
• Every blessing in my life has been greater than anything I deserved, therefore, totally unfair, and I have never once complained to God about it.

     So it would be totally unfair of me to whine at the God who has been generous and faithful all my life when I am in difficult circumstances. He knows all about it. There is a purpose for both the good and the hard things He permits. I do not want to waste my Christian life looking around to see who got more Kool-Aid in their cup than I did. The last thing I want is fairness. What I want is mercy and mercy is totally unfair.

Peter Principles

     For the past two weeks our pastor, aptly named Peter, has been preaching on 1 Peter (probably no relation). When he asked us to notice certain phrases in chapter 1, verses 3 - 9, I began to key in on two word phrases. The two words are not necessarily side by side in the text, but they go together. So, yes, I got off on a rabbit trail, but it was Peter's rabbit.

  Peter Principles

3 Praise God 

new birth

 living hope

4 imperishable inheritance

heaven kept

5 powerfully shielded

trust God

6 greatly rejoice

suffer trials

7 fire refined

8 unseen love

inexpressible joy

That Look

     A few days after our son's surgery, as he was dozing in the recliner, I noticed Reed looking intently at him. It had been a long time since I had seen that expression of joy and love on his face. It is the look a man gives his bride as she walks down the aisle on their wedding day. It is the gaze of a parent seeing their newborn for the first time. And I expect to see that visual caress when he meets our granddaughter later this month. His expression revealed joy that our son was still with us, despite those times we could have lost him, and tangible love. Reed saw me looking at him, but his eyes teared up when he tried to speak, so he reached back and took my hand. And in that wordless moment, we spoke--hand to hand, mind to mind, heart to heart.
     And when I die, what I hope to see in heaven, when I meet Jesus face to face, is that look.