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coram_deo 16-Aug-21, 10:20 |
 How Secure Is Your Salvation In Christ?The true answer to that question cannot be learned from pastors, priests, church doctrines or feelings. It can only be found in the Holy Bible, which is God’s revelation of Himself to mankind. I believe in eternal salvation and agree with this short article from gotquestions.org: “Eternal security - is it biblical? When people come to know Christ as their Savior, they are brought into a relationship with God that guarantees their eternal security. Jude 24 declares, ‘To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy.’ God’s power is able to keep the believer from falling. It is up to Him, not us, to present us before His glorious presence. Our eternal security is a result of God keeping us, not us maintaining our own salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed, ‘I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand’ (John 10:28-29b). Both Jesus and the Father have us firmly grasped in their hand. Who could possibly separate us from the grip of both the Father and the Son? Ephesians 4:30 tells us that believers are ‘sealed for the day of redemption.’ If believers did not have eternal security, the sealing could not truly be unto the day of redemption, but only to the day of sinning, apostasy, or disbelief. John 3:15-16 tells us that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will ‘have eternal life.’ If a person were to be promised eternal life, but then have it taken away, it was never ‘eternal’ to begin with. If eternal security is not true, the promises of eternal life in the Bible would be in error. The most powerful argument for eternal security is Romans 8:38-39, ‘For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Our eternal security is based on God’s love for those whom He has redeemed. Our eternal security is purchased by Christ, promised by the Father, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.” www.gotquestions.org I believe that eternal salvation vs. conditional salvation is simply a variation on salvation by faith vs. salvation by works. Those who don’t believe in the Grace of God but want to earn their salvation and make themselves righteous before God are typically those who believe in salvation by works and conditional salvation - it’s an ego and pride thing with them and their ego and pride blind them to God’s love and the price and power of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and blood. This thread will look at the Biblical evidence for each position and why verses that have been cited to support conditional salvation have, imo, been interpreted incorrectly. |
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coram_deo 16-Aug-21, 18:35 |
youtu.be |
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coram_deo 16-Aug-21, 18:43 |
If he doesn’t do both regularly, I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. Fortunately, Pastor Joseph Prince repeatedly references both the Bible and Jesus Christ. That’s how you know you’re hearing the truth. |
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coram_deo 13-Sep-21, 18:23 |
We can quench the Holy Spirit and we can grieve the Holy Spirit, but we cannot cause the Holy Spirit to leave us, and that’s a good thing because it’s through God’s Holy Spirit that we are raised to eternal life. This is a good explanation of that: “Salvation Defined One of the main reasons that so many teach that you can lose your salvation is because they do not have a full understanding of what salvation is. I have asked many people what their understanding of salvation is. Most of the time the response I heard was "Jesus died for my sins". While this is an absolute truth, it is only half of the gospel. We have a bigger problem than being a sinner in need of forgiveness; we are born spiritually dead, separated from God, in need of life. That happened the day that Adam and Eve disobeyed God's one and only command to Adam, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:16-17). And guess what Adam and Eve did? Yep, they did exactly what God told Adam not to do. That day, the whole human race was given a spiritual death sentence. What that means is that all of us were born into this world without the Spirit of God. That is our real problem. In 1 Corinthians 2:14 the Apostle Paul writes... ‘The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.’ In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul again writes.... ‘As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.’ That is the bad news. From Death to Life The good news is that God had a plan all along to offer new life to all mankind. Jesus Christ not only took away the sins of the world but then rose from the dead so that anyone who believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life. Why did God raise Jesus from the dead? Good question. It was more than to just prove that Jesus was God. Jesus was raised from the dead to offer new life to the spiritually dead, which is everyone. The same Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, will raise us from the dead, when we put our faith in him (Romans 8:11). This offer of new spiritual life comes by faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (John 3:16, John 3:36, John 6:40). Notice in John 3:16 the words ‘shall not perish’. That means, if you believe in Jesus, you shall not perish spiritually, but have eternal life. The Apostle Paul puts it this way...’If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved’ (Romans 10:9). The resurrection is more than just an Easter holiday we celebrate each year. It's through belief in the resurrection that guarantees us heaven one day. One of my favorite verses to describe this transaction from spiritual death to spiritual life is John 5:24, ‘Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.’ Can it get any clearer than that?” www.gracecoach.org And this article explains that God’s Holy Spirit never leaves us; therefore our salvation is eternally secure. From gotquestions.org: Simply put, no, the Holy Spirit will never leave a true believer. This is revealed in many different passages in the New Testament. For example, Romans 8:9 tells us, “…if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” This verse very clearly states that if someone does not have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, then that person is not saved. Therefore, if the Holy Spirit were to leave a believer, that person would have lost the saving relationship with Christ. Yet this is contrary to what the Bible teaches about the eternal security of Christians. Another verse that speaks to the permanence of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence in the life of believers is John 14:16. Here Jesus states that the Father will give another Helper “to be with you forever.” The fact that the Holy Spirit will never leave a believer is also seen in Ephesians 1:13-14 where believers are said to be “sealed” with the Holy Spirit, “who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” The picture of being sealed with the Spirit is one of ownership and possession. God has promised eternal life to all who believe in Christ, and as a guarantee that He will keep His promise, He has sent the Holy Spirit to indwell the believer until the day of redemption. Similar to making a down payment on a car or a house, God has provided all believers with a down payment on their future relationship with Him by sending the Holy Spirit to indwell them. The fact that all believers are sealed with the Spirit is also seen in 2 Corinthians 1:22 and Ephesians 4:30. Prior to Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, the Holy Spirit had a “come and go” relationship with people. The Holy Spirit indwelt King Saul, but then departed from him (1 Samuel 16:14). Instead, the Spirit came upon David (1 Samuel 16:13). After his adultery with Bathsheba, David feared that the Holy Spirit would be taken from him (Psalm 51:11). The Holy Spirit filled Bezalel to enable him to produce the items needed for the tabernacle (Exodus 31:2-5), but this is not described as a permanent relationship. All of this changed after Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Beginning on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit began permanently indwelling believers (Acts 2). The permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of God’s promise to always be with us and never forsake us. While the Holy Spirit will never leave a believer, it is possible for our sin to “quench the Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) or “grieve the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 4:30). Sin always has consequences in our relationship with God. While our relationship with God is secure in Christ, unconfessed sin in our lives can hinder our fellowship with God and effectively quench the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives. That is why it is so important to confess our sins because God is “faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). So, while the Holy Spirit will never leave us, the benefits and joy of His presence can in fact depart from us. www.gotquestions.org And here are some verses cited in the first article that speak to eternal salvation. From gracecoach.org: Bible Proof God Will Never Leave You Here are some other verses, which mention that you can not lose your salvation. Hebrews 6:18 "it is impossible for God to lie" Hebrews 7:25 "he is able to save completely" Hebrews 13:5 "never will I leave you or forsake you" Ephesians 1:13-14 "having believed you were sealed" Ephesians 2:8 "For it is by grace you have been saved" (Past tense) John 3:16 "you have eternal life and will not perish" John 5:24 "you have crossed over from death to life and will not be judged" John 6:37-40 "whoever comes to me I will never drive away, I shall lose none of them." John 10:28 "No one can snatch them out of my hand" John 10:29 "No one can snatch them out of my fathers hand" John 11:25-26 "Who ever believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" 1 Peter 1:4-5 "we have an inheritance which can never perish, spoil or fade." 2 Timothy 2:13 "if we are faithless, he will remain faithful" Titus 1:2 "God does not lie..." Romans 8:35-39 "nothing can separate us from the love of God" Romans 11:29 "....for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable" www.gracecoach.org |
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coram_deo 21-Sep-21, 12:54 |
First, consider these three verses from the Gospel of Matthew: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) Next, consider these verses from the Gospel of Mark: “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:34-37) They seem contradictory, but I believe the verses from Matthew 11 refer to salvation and gaining freedom from the Law - having righteousness (right standing with God) imputed from Jesus Christ to a new believer as a gift and not through obeying the Law, which man cannot do and was never expected to do (at least not adequately.) The “divine exchange” that occurs when one accepts and believes in Jesus Christ is Jesus takes all of their sins (past, present and future) and gives them His righteousness. So the believer is righteous not by obeying the Law (because no one can do that to God’s standard) but by receiving the righteousness of Jesus Christ. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) The Apostle Paul in the book of Galatians talks about the purpose of the Law and the freedom from it found in Jesus Christ: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (Galatians 3:13) “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:24-26) The verses from Mark, I believe, refer to what’s often called “sanctification,” which is the ongoing process *after salvation* by which a believer becomes more and more conformed to Jesus Christ by, as another verse from Galatians says, “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2) But we don’t follow Galatians 6:2 through self-effort, but through following (what the Apostle Paul calls “walking in”) God’s Holy Spirit. In addition to the “divine exchange,” what also happens at the moment one accepts and believes in Jesus Christ and in His Resurrection is the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit, which helps a believer become more and more conformed to Christ. But the influence and power God’s Holy Spirit has in the life of a believer is dependent upon how much the believer communes with God (reading the Holy Bible, prayer, hearing or reading Grace-based teachings and sermons, fellowshipping with other believers, etc.) The Holy Spirit’s influence varies in the lives of believers because the believer retains his or her free will after accepting and believing in Christ and receiving His Holy Spirit. God doesn’t force anyone to accept Christ and be saved or to become more like Christ through regular fellowship with Him. The process of sanctification is gradual and continual and lasts for the entirety of a believer’s life. Not everyone goes at the same pace because not everyone starts from the same place, and everyone is unique. That’s why the Christian life is all about a personal relationship and walk with Jesus Christ. We’re all unique - we have unique experiences, unique personalities, unique mindsets, unique challenges, unique interests, etc. Jesus knows this and He leads us according to our unique selves and circumstances. I got saved after looking in a bookstore for the chess section (the bookstore had moved it.) As I was looking for the chess section, I saw at eye level a book with the symbol of the king in chess on its cover. Turns out the book was a King James Version of the Holy Bible. I bought that Bible and became saved shortly after reading the New Testament and investigating the veracity of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection (and determining the Resurrection happened.) Anyway, this is a great article that talks about salvation and discipleship. I think discipleship is essentially the same as sanctification - becoming more and more conformed to Christ. From justdisciple.com: Both discipleship and salvation are important facets to the Christian faith, spoken about widely throughout the church. As followers of Jesus, it’s crucial to be sure of our salvation and to be disciples. Sometimes it’s also easy to wonder if discipleship is a requirement to being saved. So, is discipleship a requirement of salvation? According to God’s Word, salvation comes from faith in Jesus Christ from forgiveness of sins alone, it is a free gift of grace, by faith, and not of works. Discipleship is not a requirement for salvation by most definitions, but it is a requirement for growth and is a command given by Christ for Christians to obey. I’ll go over exactly what this means throughout the rest of the post. The Difference Between Salvation and Discipleship Discipleship is growing in your faith in Jesus and helping others do the same after you’ve made the decision to trust Him with your life. Salvation is the state our souls are in through faith in Jesus. We have been saved from the grip of sin and shame in our lives and saved for eternal life with God. As he was saying these things, many believed in him. Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ John 8:30-32 CSB From this verse, I believe we can see that belief and salvation come first, then the act of discipleship. After the Jews had believed, Jesus told them to continue in His Word, which is a sign of being His disciple. When we read God’s Word, we are allowing the Holy Spirit to minister to us and to lead us, and we obey and follow that lead as we are discipled by Him. Discipleship is also being in community with other believers and helping each other live lives worthy to the calling of God. It involves calling each other higher and helping people grow in their relationship with Jesus. Look at what the disciples actually did. They followed Jesus and believed in Him, so how could we be expected to grow in belief and relationship with Jesus without even being saved? This is why discipleship is not a requirement of salvation, and though important, it is entirely different. The Requirements of Salvation For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10 CSB Salvation is a free gift. God sent Jesus to bear our sins on the cross, not because of our great qualities or because we’ve been such good people, but because He loves us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and for this reason, we get to rejoice in the free gift of salvation, but it is also our job to actually receive that gift. From here, God gives us good works to do out of love for Him, not out of necessity for salvation. These works are not for ourselves, but for His glory. Discipleship: A Requirement of Spiritual Maturity Discipleship is not a requirement of salvation, but instead a requirement of spiritual maturity. Once we have been saved, it is the love of Jesus that motivates us to grow in spiritual maturity, to obey His Word, and to follow Him. Not the other way around. We do not have to obey or be perfect Christians to be loved and saved. Jesus already loves us, even in the worst and hardest times of our lives. But in those hard times as Christians, we need people around us to minister to us and disciple us. Discipleship within a tight community of believers is a sign of spiritual maturity. Being spiritually mature means that we are continually growing in all areas of our walk with Jesus, including reading His Word, serving, and loving others. The easiest way to grow in these things is to be surrounded by like-minded Christians who build you up in all the spiritual disciplines, and that is what discipleship is for. Judas: The Unsaved Disciple Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present. Luke 22:3-6 NIV Despite the fact that Judas knew Jesus, walked with Him in His ministry for three years, and saw Him perform miraculous signs and healings, he still betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Talk about the dumbest mistake of the millennium. Judas, a disciple of Jesus himself, was not saved. The Bible prophesized that this would happen and even Jesus confirmed it in His prayer to the Father: While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. John 17:12 ESV Jesus is talking about Judas here, and He knew that Judas would allow Satan to enter his mind and heart. Yet Jesus still let this evil happen so that through His life, death, and resurrection, He could glorify the Father and save all of us. The Man on the Cross: The Saved Criminal Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other answered, rebuking him: ‘Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? We are punished justly because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.‘ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And he said to him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’ Luke 23:39-43 CSB A perfect example of someone who has been saved but was never a part of discipleship is the man on the cross, a criminal who deserved punishment and death. Who knows what this man’s life was like, what sins he had committed, or what opportunities for change he had previously rejected. But it doesn’t even matter, because he believed in Jesus, recognized that he was a sinner, and asked to be accepted into God’s kingdom. What was Jesus’ response? He forgave him. Even as Jesus was suffering, as He was bearing all of our guilt including this very man’s sin, He forgave him. How does that make any sense? How could He allow this man to join Him in paradise as He hung from that rugged cross, bearing every bit of the man’s sorrow that He did not deserve? It was because of Jesus’ sacrifice for sin. Salvation Through Jesus’ Love Jesus’ love is miraculous, full of grace and mercy, and there’s nothing we could do to deserve it. The criminal on the cross had never been in a discipleship group before, had never gone to church, and probably never realized the importance of following Jesus until that very moment he accepted Him. Jesus has given us this beautiful gift of grace, and because we love Him we have been given the privilege of being His disciples and discipling others. Now, we don’t have to wonder anymore if our salvation depends on discipleship or anything else, because we know that we don’t have to work to be loved by God. Ultimately, belief and acceptance of Jesus is the only requirement of salvation, and that is a beautiful truth to hold to. justdisciple.com |
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coram_deo 21-Sep-21, 15:16 |
Here again is Matthew 11:28-30: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” And here again is Mark 8:34-37: “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:34-37) Here’s the article: The Yoke of the Cross: Why Does Jesus Call It Light? Updated: Sep 29, 2020 Many think that living a life of humility and love is a burden too heavy to bear. Especially when viewing the cross of Jesus as the chief revelation of this love, one is compelled to ask, Who can bear the weight of such a heavy load as this? How can we love like Jesus did! We look up to “saints” who seem extraordinarily gifted with love as they trudge up the mountain of obedience to Jesus, admiring them from a distance. They’ve made divine love the overarching purpose that determines and guides all else that they do. Even as they enjoy life for the sake of personal renewal their ultimate goal is still to gain higher ground in the joy of humble self-giving. How can we be expected to live like that! We are tempted to respond by accepting a much lower standard of love for ourselves. Albert Camus has written, “To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others.” This is the ethic of the masses: one should not take on more than a little concern (a modest dose of love) for others. A life governed by self-giving love seems impractical, even unbearable. The fact is that this common-sense justification for placing self-regard above concern for others does not align with the gospel of Jesus Christ, which means it’s not good news at all. In fact, the assumption that the dominantly self-serving life is the lighter and happier load to bear is delusional. Self-centered living is actually the heaviest of all loads to bear, for its promises are empty and its rewards are hollow. Sin is a cruel task master. The lighter load is rather that of divine love! Note this most intriguing text from Matthew 11:28-30: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The above text is intriguing because it seems so counter intuitive. A yoke on the back is restful and light? In fact, the precise meaning of this text of Scripture seems so ambiguous. Hans Dieter Betz even wrote of this text, “it is like a vessel which itself has no content, but which stands ready to be filled.” However, this text’s ambiguity might be partly cleared up, as Matthew Mitchell points out, by noting that a key word in it seems to have been widely mistranslated. The word for “easy” (as in “my yoke is easy”) should be translated “beneficial” or “good.” Thus, the closing phrase of our text should read, “For my yoke is beneficial and my burden is light.” With this translation, Christ’s yoke is described as “light” for a reason, namely, because it’s a good yoke, the best yoke imaginable, the most beneficial for the good life. But what is this yoke of which Jesus speaks and why is it so worthwhile to bear? Jesus describes it as his yoke, namely, his lowliness and humility. Unfortunately, misunderstanding has tended to shroud the meaning of this phrase as well. We often assume that Jesus refers here to a meekness of spirit, which many understand as a lack of self-confidence, self-assertion, or even the presence of self-deprecation. Jesus meant nothing so abstract and shallow as this. Karl Barth rightly notes that Jesus is here describing instead the lowliness of his entry into flesh and his path to the cross, in other words, the lowly and humble path of self-giving love. The Messiah of Israel will redeem creation through an unexpected path, not one of self-serving aggrandizement or aggression, but rather one of humble, self-giving love, the path that took him to the cross to die for us. This is the lowly yoke he carried and now offers to us to share with him. It has the insignia of the cross, of self-giving love, engraved on it. “Join me at my yoke” is the same as saying, “Pick up your cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24-26). The lowliness of Jesus’ yoke of love for others did indeed bear up under the rejection of others, but it was not passive; it was a mighty force for good. Christ took a strong stand against evil, even clearing out the temple court in protest against a calloused religious system that lacked concern for the poor (Matt. 21:12-17). Many among the Jewish leadership had no proper concern for the poverty, sickness, or dehumanization of those who were the most needy in their midst. The witness of the law to the liberating life of divine compassion, mercy, and justice within the Kingdom of God was muted. Their religious traditions thus tended towards self-justification, a masking of their own spiritual callousness. They used the law of God as a weapon to exclude the outcasts, which they labeled as “unclean.” By callously applying these religious rules and traditions to them, they ended up only worsening the weight that the outcasts had to bear in life. Jesus said to these leaders: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matt. 23:23). These leaders gave a tenth of their spices while neglecting (even worsening) the much greater needs all around them, thinking that they were well off in doing so. They were fools. Paradoxically, one must take on the heaviest weight of the law’s witness before one can discover its joy and lightness. It’s the seemingly light path of a meticulously-protected and self-centered status that ends up the heaviest load of all to bear. Jesus offered the masses a much better yoke. Here is how he described the witness of God’s law to the good life: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matt. 22:37-39). Left only to our own resources, this yoke of love does indeed make us feel helpless to bear it. But we are not called to bear it from our own resources. Divine love carries its own weight. As the embodiment of love, Jesus went to the cross, where he paid our debt of love to God and overcame our state of helplessness in the process. His path was costly and dotted with anguish and tears, but it was also upheld and carried by the joy of love’s fulfillment. Hebrews 12:2 says of Jesus: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Love wins! Christ then pours his Holy Spirit into us, imparting God’s love abundantly to us (Rom. 5:5). The presence of the Spirit makes present Christ in us. We learn from him daily what it means to bear his yoke. Sharing this yoke of love’s cross with Christ, Paul wrote poetically, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). It’s Christ in us that bears the weight. Love carries its own weight. When I say that divine love carries its own weight, I refer also to the inherent rewards of this love, which make this yoke so liberating, so light a load to bear. The yoke of Christ’s love is beneficial, a fitting and worthwhile yoke. It fits us well and fulfills us richly, because we were made for it. Even in our fallen state, we find ourselves discovering this truth about our joint yoke with Jesus more and more as we wear it, mimicking him in doing so. We do indeed grow weak, especially when we turn our gaze away from Christ. It is even possible to lose our first love, to fall short of the joy of service. But renewal and strengthening are always at the next turn for those who once again let God have his way in them. In fact, we are meant to find divine love so freeing that it can be likened to a rest from the really unbearable yoke in life, a life plagued by self-serving ends and all that comes with it, including fear of others and hate for them. As Martin Luther King said, hate is the hardest of all burdens to bear. Simone de Beauvoir once said concerning love, “You give your all and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.” Such love as Jesus displayed costs everything, indeed; but, paradoxically, it feels as though it costs nothing; in fact, one is made to feel that one has actually gained everything instead. Sin takes and never gives, even though we might reach to possess everything. As Jesus said, “whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Matt. 16:25). frankdmacchia.wixsite.com |