Saturday, October 31, 2009

The Three Are's

We've all heard about the three R's of education, reading,righting,and rithmitic. As a boy I used to hear that expression used occasionally by folks as a retort to some confusing modern curriculum, it was based in a belief that kids were learning all kinds of new stuff in school but perhaps weren't covering the basics. What I'd like to do is draw a few comparisons between the three R's of education and what I see as being the three "are's" of living a Christian life.

Reading, it's number one for a reason. The ability to read and more importantly the level at which you can comprehend what you read is everything. You obviously can't write without being able to read and doing math in the traditional way would be quite difficult as well. When we read, we take the word's into our mind where they can be received into our intellect,our memory, and can serve to entertain us, inform us, and yes even change us! My first "are" is...

salvation

#1. Are YOU washed in the blood of Jesus?'

It's first because like reading it's the most important thing ! Without the blood of Christ we've really got nothing, all of our righteousness is as filthy rags, none of us could do for ourselves what Christ did for us! Like reading, which opens up our minds to receive the written word, our salvation, which is personally receiving what Christ did for us, opens our hearts up to His word and His great love for us.

It changes us, our understanding of His sacrifice for us and of what it saved us from is the "Pearl of great value" that is His gift to us,our possession, but not to keep because it's just too good not to share with others! That brings me to "are" number two,

evangelism

# 2. Are YOU, eager to share the "good news" about our Lord and Savior? Eager because of the forgiveness you've received and your compassion for people who don't know Jesus as their savior who are just like you were at one time. Does your heart break for people who suffer under the lies and deceptions of the enemy that tear their lives apart? Just like writing, which is an expression of whats on our minds, telling others about our victory over sin through Christ is an "expression" we share with others out of the gladness of our heart! Knowing how to write doesn't do anybody any good if it's not used to meet a need, similarly, If our faith in God is without works then our faith is dead! I'm so thankful to have this blog to share my faith with others, because if I didn't have it I think I'd bust! I feel as though the Holy Spirit is constantly pouring into me and what I'm hearing is just such great stuff that I have to write it down here! Like I mentioned before, if you can't read, writing is out of the question...likewise, if you're not washed in the blood there's not going to be any God honoring motivation for you to share Christ with others. You might be the pastor of the biggest church in town, but if your ministry is got more to do with you and lifting you up than it does with really desiring to serve God you'll start to notice the odor of a "dead church".

I've already began the third "are", and like mathematics, it's the one that gives folks a lot of trouble!

mathmatics

#3. Are YOU living a God honoring life?

There will always be different opinions theological interpretations as to what that specifically means, and also of our ability while in this cloak of flesh to fulfill them. Some people believe in a very uncompromising definition while others not so much, but Rather than get into all of that I'd just like to share with you a few of my answers which are of course in the form of questions and illustrations.

Gods perfect plan of salvation is perfect because mans only role in it is to either accept it or reject it. Why would God have made our salvation contingent upon our own abilities to be obedient when He knows that even though we have the Holy Spirit as a guide and counselor as long as we're in this flesh we're going to fall short?

Last Sunday my family and I had church at home because of our car not running. My 8yr old daughter brought the message which had to do with how to have a relationship with Christ. She actually did a pretty good job, we also did a bible study during which I was compelled to expand on her understanding of what it means to know Christ. Because my daughter has SO much stuff and her room is SO small, cleaning and organizing it is practically impossible for her to do. I asked her, "If Jesus cleaned your room, completely,perfectly, and put everything in it's place for you, and you knew for sure that it was Him who did it would it affect how you play? If you believed that He was standing in your doorway watching you, would you make more of an effort to keep it clean? If not, then I have to wonder what type of relationship you see yourself as having with Him or weather you really know Him at all".

I know, that's heavy stuff for an 8yr old but she understood it and I don't think that a more complicated explanation is nessesary...

What about you? If you were accused of being a Christian and then put on trial for it would there be sufficient evidence to convict you?

Or would you be like the pharisee's and look good from the outside but be dead on the inside?

One thing that I'm really thankful for is that Living a life that honors God isn't as hard as mathematics, here's a little formula I found that I can understand...

One savior + three nails= forgiven!

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