Chapter 12 - Living in Grace
Ahh...procrastination. We completed our book study almost a month ago and I'm just no getting to my final entry. No excuse. I apologize. The others in the group have decided to continue meeting weekly and are studying Frank Viola's & George Barna's Pagan Christianity. A Biblical study of the origin on religious practices and traditions and whether they are Biblical. I expect we will start another book study in late spring/early summer.
So...where have these 8 weeks left us? Hopefully with a new understanding of who we are in Christ and a revelation of what the Bible says about what McVey has labeled, "exchanged life." It is so very much to grasp and at the same time so simple. Those of us with a church history have to unlearn an awful lot of law-based teaching about the kind of life we are called into. But even someone with the most basic understanding of exchanged life will see that truth jumping off the pages of the Bible. It is so clear! I think the authors of the New Testament took it for granted the readers would understand exchanged life, and for much of the history of the church that was true. But somewhere in the recent past (1930's or so) we lost touch with those truths and salvation and evangalism become the all-in-all of the church. As I've said before, salvation is absolutely vital and true, but it is not complete. We are saved from our sins by Jesus' death on the cross -- but the story does not stop there. We are given new life through His resurrection. So many believers completely miss the other side of the cross. We get stuck on the front side and live a life focused on sin-management and the hope of eternity with God somewhere in the future. "Eternity" in itself cannot start somewhere in the future. It has no starting point. We are invited in and accepted and start living eternal life the minute we become believers.
The struggle for all of the group is that this freedom in Christ that flows out of exchanged life is so different than what we have heard our whole lives from Christian leaders and the pulpit. It is counter-intuitive to what we have been taught God expects. And it is very difficult to talk about with others who are still eating off the wrong tree. I have shared this book and others with new believers and they soak it up like a sponge -- it makes perfect sense and so obviously flows throughout the whole story of God. THIS TRANSFORMING LIFE IS SOMETHING I CAN SHOUT FROM THE ROOFTOPS, SHARE WITH OTHERS, CELEBRATE, SACRIFICE FOR, ACCEPT, BELIEVE IN -- THIS IS A TIP OF THE "GOOD NEWS" THAT IS THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!! This transforming life cannot be understood in its fullness, nor does it make "sense" in traditional Christian circles. So what! As we did thoughout the study, I urge anyone to challenge this teaching Biblically. This is not a fad or a human invention -- it is truly revelation from God in book form. And if it is hard to understand, that's okay. Can't we pray, "God, I don't understand how this works, but I do believe what your Word says. Please make this visible in my life." God is not hampered by our inability to understand. And He has no desire to keep Himself from us.
In our journey to know Jesus more intimately the most powerful tool we have is faith. Experience has shown me that the mysteries of life fall into place when we accept God's word as true. All of it. The difficult parts. The amazing parts. The to-good-to-be-true parts. "Okay, God, I don't get this and it doesn't make any sense to me with my limited understand. But if you said its true...I am going to believe you. And I am going to live in the faith of that truth." God will do the work after that. We're often much too rational thinkers for our own good. If we can easily accept that a dead person came back to life, why should we struggle with anything God says?
We can trust that God's word is true. We can trust that we are accepted and loved beyond belief. We can trust that NOTHING can separate us from God's love. We can trust that God has chosen to not see our sins anymore. We can trust that Jesus lives in us and desires to live His live through us, as us, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We can trust that we each are an irreplaceable piece of the Body of Christ. We can trust that we are called to experience this Jesus-in-us in a community of believers -- this is not a solo journey we are called to. We can trust that there is no condemnation toward us. We can trust our eternal life has already begun. We can trust that in the midst of the ups and downs of life that God will stand true to His promise to use ALL things for good. And we can trust that all God asks of us is to believe in the one He sent -- Jesus. Amazing as it sounds -- He IS your life and ALL things in all of creation were created by Him, in Him, for Him, and He holds ALL things together. Through His death on the cross and resurrection He invites us into this wonderful, magical, mystical, unknowable dance with Father, Son & Holy Spirit -- for all eternity. And He invites us into a new life here, now, today. The prayer I find myself praying constantly is, "Jesus, please do whatever You want in me, with me, to me, through me," because I know whatever His life entails it is more exciting, fulfilling, challenging, and blessed than anything I can think up. Go for it Jesus! I want your life fully alive in me!
Want to keep going? Lots of suggestions on the right hand side of this page.
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