Saturday, January 15, 2011
Securing a win
Well, tonight my beloved Ravens had a heartbreaking loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Interestingly enough about half way through the game I got a call congratulating me on my team's excellent performance (and rightlly so). However, in the second half the tides turned and the Steelers won the game. As Yogi would remind us, "it ain't over until it's over." I mention all this to highlight a point. For centuries there has been this debate about how sure a person's salvation is (sometimes called "once saved always saved"). I have seen church members argue whether or not a person can lose their salvation. There has even been some division over the issue. The way I see it is that we can't make the call so early in the game. By trying to determine the outcome (salvation) now we are trying to take control out of God's hands and put it into our own. We want to determine the outcome and not let the game play out. I am not saying this to make a point for one side of the argument or another... I am simply saying the argument is foolish. This is a case of trying to be God instead of letting God be Himself. In our Reconciled series we mentioned needing to love God for who He is... not who we want Him to be. Let's accept his soverignty with more dignity and stop trying to be in control.
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2 comments:
Profound...makes for some deep thought. I've always believed you could go back to "the dark side"and with that decision lose your salvation. As a parent you make tough decisions and consequences that might seem to your child your love isn't real. Tho heartwetchingly painful to experience the voice of your child saying "you don't love me...because if you did you would..." So why would it be different for God with his children. If you choose to not follow his direction he does not have to give you salvation...it is your choice. He still loves you unconditionally and I'm sure his pain is great for his children that refuse to listen.
Those who believe Calvinistic ideas would say that once saved a person can not loose their salvation. When faced with a lifestyle of sin they would simply say that person is lost and was never saved. Those who hold the opposite position (that salvation can be gained and lost), when faced with someone in a lifestyle of sin would say that person lost their salvation. The end result is the same- a person who is considered unsaved. That is tragic. My hope is that the grace of God is as big and wide and deep and strong as I think that it is.
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