I had been talking to a friend of mine, we attend different churches, and the subject came up of people in church not agreeing on doctrinal things. The thing she mentioned was eternal security. Wow - out of no where - I know she is a believer, but I didn't know where she stood on this and I didn't want to offend her, so I said something like, ' I think all true Christians agree that our faith is about knowing and pleasing God and growing in a relationship with Him by serving Him and learning to lean on Him.' She agreed and that was that - she never did really say what she believed about eternal security.
A few days later I read Romans 3. I know I have read this several times, but it never quite hit me like it did a few days ago. I have included it and highlighted some things below.
Does it really make a difference if a Christian believes in eternal security? I think it really does. God is loving, faithful, and accepting. God NEVER leaves, NEVER forsakes, NEVER gives up on us. NEVER!!! Any other doctrine could lead to false conclusions about God. If God would leave us - how could we be sure he would ever be faithful at all, If God would forsake us -what would it take to anger God in that way, If God would give up on us - how could we know if we were in his good graces or abandonned?
But I think this is a bigger deal than that even. As a Christian I should pattern my actions after Christ - I should try to live up to His standard - I don't always - but I should be trying. If God wasn't always faithful - could I leave whenever I felt like it? If God did forsake, or turn his back on people, would it then be ok for me to turn my back on others? Would it be ok for me to leave if things got too hard, if someone ticked me off, if I felt that someone had hurt me and not really been repentant? Would it be ok to give up on someone who continued to sin? Are some sins worse than others?
Thinking this through I think it explains A LOT about why some Christians look just like the world. They do not know God's Love in their lives. They are living the same way the lost do. You hurt me, I leave or I hurt you back or both - is this how they see God!?!?!
How about a God that NEVER lets go - no matter how bad you are, no matter how many times you fail! What peace, what love, what restoration in their lives are missing because they believe that God would or could forsake them.
Drason said something in a Sunday School class a few years ago that cracked me up - but it is kind of a picture of who God really is. The ice breaker question asked "Are you a go with the flow kind of person, or are you an 'It's my way of the highway', type?"
His answer - It's my way or my way, nobody's leaving. =)
God never leaves, His Faithfulness is Forever, once you are His, you are His - He's not leaving =)
Romans 3
1 Then what’s the advantage of being a Jew? Is there any value in the ceremony of circumcision? 2 Yes, there are great benefits! Firstof all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God.[a]3 True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful? 4 Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him,
“You will be proved right in what you say,
and you will win your case in court.”[b]
10 As the Scriptures say,
“No one is righteous—
not even one.
11 No one is truly wise;
no one is seeking God.
12 All have turned away;
all have become useless.
No one does good,
not a single one.”[d]
13 “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
Their tongues are filled with lies.”
“Snake venom drips from their lips.”[e]
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”[f]
15 “They rush to commit murder.
16 Destruction and misery always follow them.
17 They don’t know where to find peace.”[g]
18 “They have no fear of God at all.”[h]
19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses[i] and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
29 After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. 30 There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.[j] 31 Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.
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