So Great A Salvation

I believe there is a danger creeping into modern Christianity.  That danger presents itself in two different ways.  The danger is so serious that many books in the New Testament dedicate at least a portion to the proper understanding of what God intends.  The danger is over the nature and results of our Salvation.

Make no mistake, it is the grace of God that allows us to have forgiveness from sin and a restored fellowship with Him.  Yes, there are other benefits that we often talk about (like going to Heaven), but the primary purpose of Salvation is to apply Christ’s payment to our sin account.  That payment allows the restored fellowship with God.

There is a danger in this; however, when we think that there is anything we can do to restore that fellowship with God.  It is only the finished work of Christ on the cross, paying the penalty for our sin, that allows that restoration.  And it is only the grace of God that gives us access to this.  The Bible is clear that Salvation is “not of works”.

Unfortunately, in our zeal to avoid a “works-based” Salvation, we often go too far and miss the truth.  Once we are saved, that isn’t the end of the story.  We are saved for a purpose.  Consider the following passage:

For the grave of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world;

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

~ Titus 2:11-14

This is very clear that we are to pursue good works after our Salvation.  Not in order to redeem ourselves, but because that is what we are saved to do.  If there isn’t desire and effort in our lives towards good works, then we should evaluate our Salvation.  Make it sure before God.  Salvation should produce a change in our life.

However, this pursuit of good works has also developed into another error that is almost as common as the lack of change.  This error is the error of legalism.  A belief that our good works affect our standing before God.

Often legalism is narrowly defined as trying to earn Salvation with good works.  This is indeed a form of legalism, but legalism also extends to our lives after Salvation.  Our standing or position with God isn’t based on the number of good works that we do.  In reality, the Scripture is clear, submissive obedience to God is our “reasonable service”.  Good works don’t gain us extra favor, and we aren’t held in a higher esteem if we do good works.  They are simply what is expected of us.

The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Galatians to defend the truth of Salvation that was already under attack in his day.  How much more can we expect the truth of God to be under attack today.  Do not allow Satan to deceive you into accepting either of these errors.  Salvation is not without good works, but neither is salvation (or standing) dependent upon good works.

CC

Bowlin’, Bowlin’, Bowlin’, Keep Those Pins A-Rollin’

So we went out Saturday with some friends for bowling and dinner.  First, let me say we had a great time and need to do it again soon.  That was the good part.  It was really fun and nice to catch up again with Sara and to get to know James better.  Sara was in one of teens in the Youth Group that Shannon and I worked with a few years back.  Busy lives had kept us in touch only once in a while, and we all decided to spend some time together to catch up.

So, the fellowship was great!  The food was great as well.  I got to eat steak (always a good thing) and some shrimp, and Shannon had a seafood platter.  Of course we started with calamari appetizer.  It was all delicious.  We followed dinner with coffee so we could keep on talking some more.  That was all fun and great.

Now, on to the bowling!  Ugh.  Bad enough that I am not a very good bowler, but that wasn’t the worst of it.  We bowled two games, and while I lost both, I did beat Shannon in the second game.  (PS- If Sara ever asks you to bowl, be prepared to lose, she is a shark!)  But no, losing wasn’t the worst either.  The worst part was that I am not in shape to bowl.  Or at least from the pain after it was all done, I guess I am not.

Now you would expect maybe my arm or shoulder hurt.  Nope, not really.  OK, well, if I try to keep a semi-proper form, maybe my left leg hurt since that is where I balance when I actually let go of the ball.  Nope, again, not correct.  My right leg was sore all night after we left the bowling alley.  And not the whole leg, just the small muscle/tendon/ligament/whatever above and to the inside of my right kneecap.  At one point my leg almost buckled from that small muscle being sore.  What I don’t understand is why this was the sore part, all my right leg does is walk like normal, then sweep behind while I release the ball.  Go figure.

Anyway, I survived the weekend without too much more pain (mostly gone by Sunday morning), and I would definitely go bowling again if/when the opportunity presents itself.  And we will most definitely be getting together with Sara and James again.  I just hope they had as much fun as we did.

CC

March Madness

OK, so I’m not the biggest college sports fan.  Yes, if you read here long enough, you will know that I like to cheer for LSU, but that is another story for another day.  By the way, did you notice that LSU made it to the NCAA this year?  Sure, they likely won’t make it past the first round, but they are there.

Anyway, March Madness is one of the few times that I pay attention to college basketball.  I do enjoy watching a good college game (there seems to be less showmanship and more teamwork than the pros), but most of all I enjoy the competition.  So, I fill out a March Madness bracket.  This year was no different, and I filled out my bracket yesterday.  (For those of you not familiar, the tournament is 64 basketball teams in a single elimination tournament.  The brackets are your picks for who will win each game.)

Since I don’t pay too much attention to college basketball during the season, I always have an interesting time deciding who will win.  I used a slightly different approach this year than in years past, and actually looked at some statistics rather than just picking who I liked better.  I’ll have to keep you posted about how that works out for me, but I have Gonzaga winning it all, so maybe it wasn’t such a good idea.  (I do have until tomorrow to change, so I may have to re-evaluate.)

The biggest fun with March Madness, though, didn’t start until a few years ago when I invited my wife to fill out a bracket in our online group.  Now, she doesn’t particularly pay much more attention to college basketball than I do (although she does seem to remind me whenever UNC beats Duke).  That year, and ever since, she has done a much better job than I have at picking teams.  Perhaps she does like my mom used to do with football and pick the prettier colors.  Whatever she does, it works.  I think what makes it fun is that we are on such equal footing, neither of us really following the sport.

So, hopefully this year, my special secret selection method will help me make better picks.  Maybe this year I will be able to beat her (FINALLY)!

CC

Pride

Well, I survived the weekend. My wife, my mom, and my eldest daughter went to a ladies retreat Friday, leaving me to care for the rest of the clan. My dad, perhaps wisely, decided to stay home in Mississippi. So I was on my own with the wee ones and Christian (at 14 I can’t really call him wee anymore). We survived.

The ladies retreat was very good from the information I got. One of the key points my wife was telling me about was pride. I was thinking on this since we talked.

Pride is such an all-encompassing sin.  It is so pervasive that it pushed its way into every corner of our life.  God has much to say about pride, and many passages in Proverbs deal with this wickedness.  I am often amazed at the depraved picture of the fool in Proverbs 26.  ThenGod tells us there is more hope for this fool than for a proud man.  And then goes on to say that a lazy person is full of pride.  Wow, better stop reading that one, it is convicting.

But think about pride.  I think that much of the sin we see in our own life, and much of the sin around us can be attributed to pride.  Even the very service we do for God can be sinful when it is laced with pride.  Are you doing these things because of a true love for God and desire to obey him, or is it more secretly a desire to look better to those around us?  Or even a desire to look better in God’s eyes?  We all know that our righteousness is filthy rags, but we still try to impress God with our goodness.

We should rather pray that God would use us as He sees fit.  Not that we should leave the “right” things undone, but we should indeed do the right things for the right reasons.  If we cannot, we should seek God’s face until he changes our heart and gives us the right motivation for obeying him.  So often we fail in this little point.  We forget that it isn’t about us, it is about God and His purpose and plan.

Pride!

CC

Civil Air Patrol

One of the things that has happened while I was away for a while is that Christian (my oldest son) and I have joined the Civil Air Patrol.  CAP is a civillian auxiliary of the US Airforce tasked with emergency services, aerospace education, and cadet programs.

Emergency Services includes both search and rescue as well as disaster relief.  Search and rescue activities cover both ground and air crews assisting in locating downed aircraft.  Disaster relief activities are mostly centered around area natural disaster recovery operations.  Christian is further along than I am on this.  He has done all of the training for his ES rating, but still needs a few tests.

Aerospace Education involves both education for CAP members and for the local community.  There is a chance that Christian may be able to get free pilot lessons from this.  At the very least, he will get many free chances to go flying.  In a few weeks he will be going to a local grassy airstrip for some free glider flights.

Cadet Programs is what Christian does.  Much of it is leadership, morality, and physical lessons.  He gets to promote through the CAP Cadet ranks.  He is hoping that this will help with his preparation for the Air Force and eventually NASA.

Here is our local website:  www.cap-greenville.org .  That is part of what I am working on.  I’m the IT Officer.

There should be a local CAP squadron in your area if this sounds like something you would be interested in.  Check out the CAP website for more information.

www.gocivilairpatrol.com

CC

Goodbye Sattelite Radio

A little over a month ago, I called to have my sattelite radio service* cancelled.  After the big merger, several changes took place over the course of a month or so that I really didn’t like.  Not just programming changes, but firing announcers that I liked and cancelling their shows.  This was not pleasant to me at all, so, after a couple months of not listening, I decided to stop paying as well and called to cancel service.

Not as easy as it sounds.  A dramatic recreation for your pleasure:

“Hello, yes, I’d like to cancel my sattelite radio service.”

“OK, sir, I can help you with that.  Now, why did you want to cancel the service?”

“Well, you guys went through that merger and changed the program lineup.  The show I liked best is gone and you fired the host.  The only other channel I listened to has all new announcers that are not interesting at all.  The only reason to keep the service would be for baseball games and I can get that from the web.”

“I see, sir.  Now you are aware that we have over umpteen-hundred** channels,right.  Perhaps there is something else you would like listening to.”

“No, I’ve checked out the other channels, and while there are some that I find interesting, there are none that I’m willing to pay to keep.  Like I said, the only program that I listened to regularly is no longer aired and the host was fired as part of the merger.  I just want to cancel my service.”

“I understand, sir.  Here’s what we can do.  I can offer you an additional month of free service.  This will give you a chance to listen to some of our other channels and see if there is anything else you might enjoy.  Now, this free month will come with no obligation on your part, we just want to give you a chance to find something you would like listening to.”

<Sigh> “No, that isn’t necessary.  You see, the program that I listened to quit broadcasting several months ago.  I actually listened to other stations and programs for several weeks after that, but nothing really interested me.  I actually haven’t listened to my satellite radio service in over a month now and I just want to cancel my service.”

“Of course, sir, and I can help you with that.  What if I were able to offer you our service for free for the next three months.  There would be no obligation by you and it would give you a chance to try some of our umpteen-hundred other channels.  Perhaps there is something on one of our other channels you would enjoy.”

“OK, so if I take these three free months from you, will I have to call again to cancel my service once those three months are done.”

“Yes, sir.  After the three months are over, we would go back to your regular billing cycle.”

“See, there is the problem.  I called today to cancel my service today.  Not to set something up so I had to make another phone call in three months in order to cancel my service.  I wanted to cancel today.”

“Yes, sir.  I’m marking your account as cancelled.  You have already paid for this full month, so your service will terminate at the end of the month.”

“Thank you.”

“Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

“Nope, I just wanted to cancel my service.”

“Thank you, sir, have a nice day.”

“Thank you.”

<click>

—–

Wow, I had no idea that would be so difficult.  I wonder if I kept up better with my calendar whether I could have taken the free three months and then called again to cancel and get another three free months then.  I wonder how long I could have kept going with free service offered three months at a time.  Shame there wasn’t anything I was interested in listening to. 

CC

 

* – The name of the sattelite radio service is being withheld to prevent anyone from trying to sue or otherwise inconvenience me, but I will say that it wasn’t AM or FM.  I don’t guess that really matters though since they are all the same company now.

** – No, she didn’t really use the word umpteen-hundred.  She was actually very nice.  I’m sure most of the frustration I had over the situation was that she was simply following her script.