March 2, 2022
This may seem
to be an obvious question on the face of it, and maybe it is, in the answer we
give. But is the answer different in the
life we live? The obvious answer is that
God is in control. But is that how we
then live?
So here is a
big assumption. I am assuming the living
of an examined Christian life. I am
assuming that the reader who takes on this question is taking it on from a
point of view of someone actively pursuing life in Christ. It means active consideration of what is in
need of confession to the Lord. It is an
active embracing of that part of the person that is in need of God’s grace to
allow for change. It is not simply
jumping from worship to worship, Sunday at 10 to Sunday at 10.
While this
may sound like a shaming commentary, an indictment of a Christian life indifferently
lived, that is only a byproduct of what I hope to get across. Am I in charge of my salvation? If I live my life in Christ with
indifference, that points to a life where consideration of salvation is not even
an issue. We are left with the baby food
of who we are, “I am a good person” or “I try my best.” Superficial at best.
What I am
considering is the person whose life is given to Christ, whose perceptions are
active, who is considering their life by the measure of the Law of Love, and those
moments where they fear they come up short.
But even that comes in different dimensions.
There are
those sins that we commit intentionally in our lives that we confess to the
Lord and, if we follow the Old Testament, there is the confession to the sins
that are unintentional, even unknown, so that we receive both the forgiveness
and the awareness that what we have done has hurt another of God’s Children (I
would argue that white privilege is a HUGE area of growth for personal perception
that the Lord should open to God’s Children).
I am talking about
dimensions of sin that have grown to a place where the Child of God feels their
very salvation is at stake. When Sharon Obsourne
came out so very publicly when she ‘fell off the wagon’ during the Covid
pandemic, that is the kind of personal shame I have known Christians to
have. They have slid from a life in
Christ back into old patterns or into new patterns that have drawn them so far
(in their own minds) from grace and forgiveness, that they are unsure if they
can find their way back.
I am from the
school of Biblical interpretation that considers Christ to be the only arbiter
of my faith and salvation. To someone
who is so fearful that they have sinned so egregiously that salvation itself is
on the line, I would remind them that salvation for our sins, the solution to
our problems, begins with admitting we have a problem. And that Jesus is so loving, there is no sin
we cannot come back from. Lest someone wish to call me out on the sin of
grieving the Holy Spirit, it will be another topic.
With Jesus in
charge of my salvation, the assurance of pardon is irrevocable. Jesus does not let us go. Now, there are always the ‘what about that
person’ questions. There is someone each
of us can name that, to us, has a questionable reputation for entering
heaven. Praise the Lord that Jesus is in
charge of salvation, that is not my call.
I do not know the heart, I know only what I can observe. Good and evil in the mixture of humanity is FAR
more complex than what I see from the outside. But Christ knows. That is enough.
With Jesus in
charge, does that lessen my need for an examined life of faith? It most certainly does not. But in this case, instead of examining our
lives to see what we are doing wrong, by the grace of God, we can examine our
lives to see what greater wonders and opportunities await us in Christ’s name.
Peter Hofstra
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