Privatized Salvation 2.0
Previously I dropped a post and spilled some opinions about Privatized Salvation. Of some 36k views, this post was the second most read post from Ministry in Motion.
#Pkes #MetroLifeChurch #MinistryinMotion
Today I was moved as I stumbled upon this quote from the late American Presbyterian minister, scholar, theologian, author, and poet, Eugene Peterson: “Jesus is our primary revelation that God is personal....Everything we know about God we know through and by means of Jesus. And Jesus is nothing if not personal--a living body and soul, who eats bread and fish and drinks water and wine."
The Apostle John wrote in his Gospel: “…And this is eternal life: that people know you, the only true God, and that they know Jesus Christ, the One you sent…”
When I speak of knowing God, it is important to understand that I’m are not talking about an abstract or speculative thought concerning a heavenly deity. Or a mystical experience or a climactic event with the Eternal, but about a coming alive to God. Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets in his hands. They were a tangible testimony to being in the presence of the Creator, Yahweh . Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone. [1]. In a manner similar to Moses’s reflection of the glory of God, Christians who have communed with Christ are to be transformed.
Intentionality. Getting to know God more deeply doesn’t happen spontaneously or even overnight. It takes time and focus, purposeful attention. Wholehearted appreciation of God, through Christ, also calls for a smidge of grace, appreciating and applying forgiveness and effort, intentional concerted effort.
The one thing I ask of the Lord—
the thing I seek most—
is to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
all the days of my life,
delighting in the Lord’s perfections
and meditating in his Temple.
These beautiful verses from Psalm 27 settle into my mind. The words have depth, they are an intentional commitment; settling, not hopeful or passive. To place ourselves in the space where God is, to contemplate God, not ourselves, is to seek God’s deliberately — this is the very stuff of the life of faith. As I seek God and to follow Christ through this fallen world, I continue to find that it’s not always easy. I’m reminded that the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life. [2] But it is so worth it.
#Pkes #MetroLifeChurch #MinistryinMotion