Salvation – Page 2

Restore the Joy

Depression afflicts millions of souls around the world and it’s a growing problem. Medication, therapy, busy-ness and distractions … it doesn’t really set us free. Very few find ultimate, sustainable victory. What exactly is depression? What causes it? How do we overcome?

We can define depression as a season of joylessness, ingratitude, heaviness, hopelessness, despair, being cast down and despondent. Depression can incapacitate us, rendering us socially awkward and unproductive, alienating us from the life of God, from our families and community. It sounds like the work of the enemy, the thief who steals, kills and destroys (Jn 10:10a), because it is. Depression isn’t God’s will for us, not even for a moment. (10b)

To say depression is a sin may be a stretch, and a cruel one at that; we’re all sinners, and shaming one who’s already depressed isn’t the least bit helpful. A better way to think of it is a state of spiritual captivity resulting from an incomplete, inaccurate perspective. (Jn 8:32) Prisoners of war need to be rescued, not lectured and reprimanded.

We get depressed when we believe lies about God in the midst of our suffering, then we get our focus on the wrong thing and it blows up all out of proportion, and then we literally get in our own way, opposing ourselves. This is how the devil ensnares us and takes us prisoner. (2Ti 2:25-26)

Overcoming depression is simply a matter of re-focusing, getting our perspective more aligned with God’s. (Ps 42:5) It’s a journey, and easier said than done, of course; we can’t do this all on our own. God must give us repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, a fundamental change in our thinking, to set us free. (2Ti 2:25)

Medication and counseling may indeed help give us an edge to jump-start the healing process; spiritual problems can be inseparably intertwined with our physiological and emotional states. We should treat depression holistically, without dismissing its spiritual roots.

Similarly, proper rest, diet and exercise are all part of a healthy mind, soul and spirit. (3Jn 2) We can’t function as we’re designed while we habitually neglect and abuse ourselves; self-hatred isn’t Love — it displeases God because He is Love. (1Jn 4:8)

Yet such external remedies are ultimately superficial, band aids for broken bones, dealing with symptoms rather than the deeper core issues: the root cause of depression is a corruption in our relationship with God. At the root is the lie that God is not good, that He cannot be trusted, that there is no hope in Him. One who is in love with God, who knows the goodness, power and love of God experientially (Ep 3:19), who implicitly trusts God in all their suffering and calamity (Ps 119:75), knowing all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Ro 8:28), who are continually abounding in thanksgiving to God (Co 2:7), praising God for His lovingkindness and tender mercies (Ps 63:3), who are delighting in the nature and character of God (Php 4:4, Ps 104:34), who are feeding in the majesty and strength of God (Mi 5:2), who are meditating in the treasures of His Word night and day (Ps 119:97), who are rejoicing in eternal salvation and in the heavenly glory that awaits them (1Pe 1:4-6) … no, they are not depressed: they cannot be.

So, what should we do when we find ourselves trapped in a season of depression?

First thing is we stop lying to ourselves: we admit we’re depressed and angry and bitter and resentful and despondent and that we have lost all hope. We confess we don’t like the way God is treating us and that we feel like we’re suffering unjustly and that God has left us. We pour out our hearts before Him (Ps 62:8); He can handle it; He already knows. (Mt 6:8) But it’s good for us to admit where we’re at: to cry out to God and admit our weakness, our inability to help ourselves, and confess our infirmity. (Ps 77:10)

Once we get real with our own hearts we can begin to heal, to identify the lies behind every one of these beliefs, attitudes and feelings. We go to God’s Word, the living Sword of the Spirit, and let it pierce down into the deepest places of our heart (He 13:8), and lay ourselves out bare and naked before God. (He 13:9)

We identify a wound, a hurt, a bitterness, a disappointment, and ask God to show us the lie underpinning it, the deception holding us captive in depression. (Ps 139:23-24) Then we ask Him to show us what parts of His Word to focus on to correct this lie. (Mt 4:4) Then we hide these texts in our heart, memorizing them, meditating on them and praying over them, asking God to quicken us and help us believe (Mk 9:24), until the lie is broken and we’re set free in that area. (Ps 119:11)

One by one we cast down these imaginations, these broken perceptions, these twisted beliefs which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. (2Co 10:5) We are rooting out and pulling down the enemy’s strongholds in the battlefield of our hearts, neutralizing them one at a time by the power of God. (2Co 10:4)

We know we are getting free as we experience more joy in God (Ps 51:12), more gratitude, more peace, more trust, more satisfaction in Him. (Is 26:3)

This isn’t a quick fix, certainly, but it actually works, and in the end, I think it’s the only one that does.

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Lay Hold on Eternal Life

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Getting the Everlasting Gospel right (Re 14:6) — understanding it, accepting it, internalizing it and living it out (1Co 15:1-2) — is how we lay hold on eternal life. (1Ti 6:19)

Yet Satan relentlessly and cleverly corrupts and distorts the Gospel to hide the truth from us; his counterfeits abound and they’re appealing. (2Co 11:13-15) So, we have a sobering challenge before us, the ultimate life-and-death struggle – the fight of all fights: to lay hold on the true Gospel for ourselves. (1Ti 6:12) Little if anything is more important than this, and very few of us will get it right. (Mt 7:13-14)

The Apostle Paul claims he was taught the Gospel directly and personally by Jesus Christ Himself (Ga 1:11-12), and then proclaims an eternal curse upon anyone, including himself or any other apostle, or even an angel from Heaven, preaching a different gospel than what he had already preached. (Ga 1:8) We may derive several practical truths from his remarkable claim.

By pronouncing an eternal curse upon anyone modifying the Gospel, Paul implies the Gospel message was already sufficiently clear to be correctly and fully understood by anyone presenting the Gospel; Paul effectively expected all those in the Galatian churches to understand his prior teaching for themselves and compare all Gospel proclamations with that particular expression of the Gospel.

This implies that the true Gospel message can be understood by anyone carefully considering the scriptures, particularly the writings of Paul, and searching out the truth for themselves. (2Ti 3:15) Therefore, any claim that the true gospel was merely hidden “in seed form” within Paul’s message, only to be revealed later through subsequent developments, may be confidently rejected.

Paul’s sense of urgency in presenting the Gospel correctly, in its pure form, in the midst of counterfeit gospels which were evidently already common (2Co 11:4), implies it is extremely important that we each strive to fully understand what Christ taught Paul; we can easily be misled if we’re careless. (2Pe 3:16-17) Getting the Gospel wrong, either in our understanding or personal ministry, may be eternally and incomprehensively devastating.

Paul’s determination to openly challenge those who had been deceived by a false gospel, even those who had been taught by Paul himself, tells us Satan is actively at work to deceive and corrupt the Gospel and that he is often very successful. Paul was on the lookout for gospel deceptions and anticipated them because he understood our enemy. (2Co 2:11) We should soberly consider Paul’s admonitions and carefully verify that our personal understanding and application of the Gospel aligns with everything in the Word of God.

By including angels from Heaven in his list of potential deceivers, and even including himself, Paul is warning us to anticipate corruption from the very highest levels of spiritual authority. We should expect any religious organization or individual claiming authority to interpret scripture for others to be a magnet for satanic infiltration and deception. Paul is effectively saying we should ultimately trust no other Gospel claims than what we can verify for ourselves in the source material, the Word of God, which He has already given us.

Paul rejected the right of any being in Heaven or on Earth to alter or adjust the Gospel itself in any way. This implies there never has been and never will be any revelation from God that modifies or amends the original Gospel message in any manner whatsoever. The everlasting Gospel has never changed since the beginning of time; it will remain constant forever, just like Jesus Christ. (He 13:8)

Finally, Paul’s lack of reference to any external authority as a final arbiter in any dispute over gospel claims, such as the other apostles, a counsel of bishops, an angel from Heaven, or even Paul himself, implies his audience already had a reliable, faithful, unchanging standard by which to evaluate any subsequent preaching of the Gospel and that they were each individually and personally responsible for doing so. Paul, in writing to the local assemblies of Galatia (Ga 1:2), comprising all the saints and not merely bishops, could easily have set himself up as such an arbiter, or pointed believers to church leaders for approval, but he did not. Rather, he admonished them all for having allowed themselves to be deceived by a false gospel and removed from God as a result. (Ga 1:6)

Claiming otherwise, that someone else could be the final, authoritative arbiter in interpreting Paul’s Gospel for anyone but themselves, is effectively indistinguishable from giving a sinner authority to misinterpret it and preach a different gospel. This would remove the responsibility and accountability from the individual believer for believing the true Gospel, which neither Paul nor God ever does. Thus, Paul’s claim implies each believer is individually responsible to evaluate any presentation of the Gospel for themselves, based on their personal understanding of that eternal standard which they already have, interpreting it for themselves, and rejecting any gospel presentation which they find to be inconsistent with it. (This is the essence of Sola Scriptura.)

God’s prescription for addressing Satan’s gospel counterfeits is therefore not self-appointed spiritual authority telling others what to believe, but the humble, earnest searching of scripture by each individual believer (Ac 17:11), seeking a common, mutual, personal understanding of the Gospel (Php 2:2), based on an unchanging, written, supernaturally preserved standard (Ro 16:26): holy scripture. (2Ti 3:15)

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Casting Down Imaginations

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In our daily battles with sin, if we’re not intentional we can find ourselves continually playing defense, reacting to our own sins after the fact, trying to recover and undo the damage.

Yet how can we ever win a battle if we’re always on defense? How do we go on the offensive in striving against our sin?

God says the weapons of our warfare are mighty through Him to pull down strongholds (2Co 10:4), enabling us to cast down our imaginations and every high thing within us that exalts itself contrary to the knowledge of God (5a), so we may bring all our thoughts under control to the obedience of Christ (5b) This war is not focused on changing the world: it’s about delivering ourselves from being slaves to sin. (Ro 6:16)

Once we become aware of a weakness in our spiritual defenses, a sin that’s getting the best of us (He 12:1), or any pattern of behavior which is un-Christlike (1Pe 2:21), where we are missing the mark (Ja 4:17), we can go on the offensive by engaging our imagination with the power of Christ and the sword of the Spirit: God’s Word. (Ep 6:17)

Reimagine the scenario in which we failed, replaying it in our mind while consciously inviting Father God into the experience. (Ep 4:6) Invite Him to show us the lies driving our behavior (Ps 139:23-24), empowering the stronghold holding us captive (Jn 8:32), and the related scriptures from His living Word which expose and address these lies. (He 4:12)

Then we speak the truth of God’s living Word along with Him into ourselves and ask Him to give us repentance to receive and acknowledge the truth in the very deepest places of our mind and heart. (2Ti 2:26) In this way we receive with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to deliver (save) our souls. (Ja 1:21) We cast down the imagination itself, by putting it under and making it subject to the Word of God until it has no more hold on us, and then ask God to bring that part of our spirit, heart, mind and soul into obedience and set us free. (Ro 7:24-25a)

Once we overcome a particular sin pattern like this, we can bookmark it and periodically check to ensure we’re still free by replaying related scenarios in our mind as part of an entire series where we’ve experienced failure and have been set free, noting in each one that we’re still responding as Jesus would. If we’ve lapsed at all, we can cleanse ourselves again with the washing of water by the Word in the same fashion to regain and maintain our freedom. (Ep 5:26) This is how we add virtue — moral excellence — to our Faith (2Pe 1:5), overcome the world and live in victory. (1Jn 5:4)

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Flee From the Wrath

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The Bible says God is very angry with all who aren’t believing on Christ (Jn 3:36), and that Christ Himself is angry with all who aren’t worshipping Him. (Ps 2:12). How do we flee from the wrath of God and of His Son? (Lk 3:7)

Whether one believes in God or not, the possibility God might exist and that He might be angry ought to be sobering. (Ac 17:30) If God might exist it is rational to act as if He might, and if He might be angry then acting accordingly is likewise rational.

This follows from Pacal’s Wager: given the remotest prospect (any non-zero probability) of suffering the infinite fury of an angry God, the expected loss of neglecting to avoid it is infinite. (2Co 5:11) What does this look like in practical terms?

We might try to flee from God, but how does one flee Omnipresence? Presuming there’s a place where God is not is foolish at best. (Ac 17:28)

The only rational response is to order our lives to please God as well as we can (i.e. repent) (Lk 3:8-9) and search for a way to be reconciled with Him. No other path is acceptable. (Ro 1:18-19)

Once we start looking in earnest for evidence of God and of His ways, it’s not so difficult to find. Irreducible Complexity in Nature becomes sufficient proof of God’s existence, power and wisdom: only those blindly presuming Philosophical Materialism as a faith-axiom can miss this. (Ro 1:20)

Acting as if God exists also implies giving Him the benefit of the doubt regarding His nature: acting as if God is good – that He’s both loving and just. For if God is not good there’s no rational way to minimize our expected loss (i.e. all bets are off). Presuming God is good is rational since this minimizes the likelihood of offending Him.

Following this reasoning, seeking reconciliation with God is also straightforward: only Christianity portrays God as both just and loving; all other religions both downplay the potential of human sinfulness and offer reconciliation with divinity apart from justice, as if repentance and personal merit can somehow atone for eternal sin — all the while rejecting this concept in all of our civil institutions: no one really believes proper order can exist in the universe without justice.

And no other religion addresses how any sin against an infinitely good and holy God can be less than infinite … or justly atoned for without paying an infinite penalty. Christianity offers us both.

As we earnestly seek, we find we’re all guilty before God: He is justly angry with us for our sin and will punish us eternally unless we flee to His Son as our propitiation (1Jn 2:2), God Himself suffering the infinite penalty for our sin (1Jn 3:16), and hide ourselves in Him. (Ps 119:114) This is the only way to flee from the wrath to come.

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All the Fullness

If we’re filled with all the fullness of God (Ep 3:19b), if Father God is strengthening us with might by His Spirit in our inner man (16), if we’re continually conscious of the indwelling Christ living in and through us (17a), if we’re firmly rooted and grounded in love (17b), comprehending the deep things of God (18), if Christ’s love for us energizes, motivates and overwhelms us (19a), then we’re rightly enjoying God’s salvation and redemption.

Otherwise, we’re leaving much wonder and glory on the table, not pursuing God’s kingdom and righteousness with our whole heart. (Ps 119:5)

Perhaps we’ve become lukewarm (Re 3:15-16); perhaps we don’t yet fathom what’s available to us and how to obtain it. (Ep 4:17-18)

We might start by asking God to begin deepening our hunger and thirst for righteousness (Mt 5:6), that He would begin inclining our heart towards Himself (Ps 119: 36), renewing our mind and helping us put on our new nature. (Ep 4:23-24) This would start stirring up our appetite for holiness (Ps 119:32) and awakening us to our need. (Re 3:17)

We could then start asking Him to help us become more aware of ourselves (Ja 1:23-24), to help us begin noticing how we’re feeling and thinking and reacting, to perceive what’s energizing and motivating us throughout each day (Ps 19:12), especially when we’re under stress. (Pr 20:27)

Then we could start asking Him to show us any areas He would like to cleanse and renew, any consistent patterns which are misaligned with Torah: His perfect standard of righteousness. (Ps 139:23-24) As the Author and Finisher our faith (He 12:2), He knows how to take us to the next phase of our particular journey, what areas we should be working on next.

Then we could prayerfully start considering any scriptures which come to mind (Ps 119:18), which expose any part of our lives as misaligned with God’s Way. (Ps 119:105)

Then we could start memorizing these verses (Ps 119:11) and meditating on them (15), comparing our beliefs, affections and desires with what He reveals. (9)

Then we could begin visualizing ourselves walking in more obedience to God in these specific areas, setting our minds on our destiny (Re 3:18): to be more Christlike, and begin aligning our behavior moment by moment with that holy vision, asking God to order our steps in His Word, to not let any iniquity have dominion over us (Ps 119:133), and to continue making us go in the path of His commandments. (35)

We may persist, asking in faith, knowing He is with us and continually helping us, because that’s precisely why He gave Himself for us: to redeem us from all iniquity and purify us unto Himself. (Ti 2:14)

Yet, as we’re praying and looking to Him to deliver us (2Co 7:1), God expects us to strive to cleanse ourselves (He 12:4), even as we’re asking Him to cleanse and strengthen us. (Jn 15:5) If we’re earnestly seeking Him and His righteousness (Mt 6:33), we’ll do whatever we can to pursue holiness as a manner of life (1Jn 3:3), as we depend on Him to deliver us. (Php 2:12) In our striving He works in us both to will and to do as He pleases (13), ordering our steps according to His perfect plan. (Ps 37:23)

And all along the way, we can be praying for ourselves and others, and asking others to be praying for us (Ja 5:16), that we might be continually filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. (Co 1:9-11)

In this way we can be adding to our faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and agape love (2Pe 1:5-7), for if these are abounding in us, we’ll not be barren nor unfruitful in our knowledge of Christ. (8) Without them we’re blind and forgetful, wandering in the twilight, wanton and dissatisfied in God. (9)

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Guilty Before God

Guilt is the fact of having committed a breach of conduct, an offense or crime, which may produce a wide variety of feelings.

If the offense involves a righteous law and one regrets breaking it, guilt may bring a feeling of deserving blame for moral failure, remorse for making an immoral choice. We also call this feeling, guilt.

If a severe punishment is imposed for an offense, guilt may bring dread or even terror. If we expect willful moral failure to draw disdain and rejection from others, we call it shame.

If the offender feels the violated statute is unjust or inappropriate, or if they disdain moral obligations altogether, they may be defiant in their guilt, resolutely committed to violating the establishment. (Re 16:10-11)

If the offender feels they’re not guilty due to a flawed judicial process, they may feel frustrated, resentful, angry or bitter.

If the punishment is trivial and the offender isn’t inconvenienced, they may not feel much of anything.

Eventually, every human being will be found guilty before God (Ro 3:19); what we each feel in that Day may be unique, but it won’t change the fact of our guilt: we will all be found guilty because we all are guilty.

What should we feel when we’re found guilty before God?

Well, since God’s judicial process is perfect (Is 9:7), His law is just (Ro 7:12), and since violating it is evidence of moral failure (Ps 119:118), we should admit we’re deserving of blame — because we are (Pr 20:9); God would not find us guilty otherwise. (Ro 3:4)

This is the first step in drawing near to God: submit to His right to rule over us (Ps 81:15), and agree with His assessment of us. (Ro 3:10) To do otherwise is to lie to ourselves and to God, and also to call God Himself a liar. (1Jn 1:10)

We should also regret that we’re guilty, not simply that we’ve been found guilty; we should feel genuinely sorry we’ve been disobedient to God, acknowledge we’re at His mercy (Lk 18:13), and look to Him to deliver us from our own sinful nature. (Ro 7:24-25) Ultimately, there is no excuse for moral failure (Ro 1:20); we should never disobey Him willfully, but be committed to obeying Him as well as we can.

As concerning the penalty for sin, for the consequences God will impose for our guilt, it’s sort of a “pay Me now or pay Me later” kind of proposal (Ga 6:7); one way or another, there will be consequences for our behavior. (Re 2:23b)

If we’re willing to own up to our sin and confess it, submit to Christ and receive Him as our Lord and Savior, acknowledging the immense penalty He is willing to pay on our behalf, offering Himself up for our sins (Ga 1:4) to redeem us from all iniquity (Tit 2:14), and flee to Him from the wrath to come (Lk 3:7), trusting Him as the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1Jn 2:2), we can receive forgiveness of sins and be delivered from the eternal punishment we justly deserve. (Co 1:14)

From this place of submission to God, we’re left to recon with the guilt for sins we can’t stop, even as we try our best; in this we should expect God’s mercy in judgment; He is infinitely merciful toward those who fear Him. (Ps 103:11) He will discipline us to bring us into holiness (He 12:10), and judge us for our sins in this world as He sees fit (1Pe 4:17); His judgment of His people will be severe in this life for all lapses into willful sin. (He 10:26-31) Yet there is no fear of eternal condemnation in this kind of judgement: even if it is severe, it is for our good to deliver us from the bondage of our sin. (He 12:11)

The alternative is to continue to live our lives our own way, defiantly refusing to submit to the Lordship of Christ (Ro 2:4-5), and suffer the eternal consequences. (Mt 7:26-27) This should produce fear and dread (Is 33:14), even if only in the subconscious, to move the thoughtful soul to repentance. (Pr 16:6) For those who will not turn, eternal terror shall be their destiny. (Re 20:11)

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They Are Remitted

As Jesus equips His disciples for ministry, He gives them authority to both remit and retain sins, implying God Himself will align with their choices. (Jn 20:23)

Some take this to mean the Twelve Apostles could decide whom God would forgive and whom He wouldn’t, effectively determining who would enter Heaven and who would go to Hell. Some evidently leverage this to teach the Roman Catholic Church controls our eternal destiny through sacramental confession, contradicting what God Himself says about salvation: we’re saved by believing on Christ (Jn 3:16), not by confessing our sins. This eternal relationship is between each individual person and God (18); Church leaders have nothing to do with it.

Others take it to mean the Twelve Apostles were simply messengers of the Gospel, showing people how to be forgiven, declaring forgiveness when people believed on Christ. (1Th 1:4-5) Yet the wording doesn’t permit this: it says the disciples themselves could either remit or retain the sins of individuals as they saw fit. It’s not the same thing at all.

Neither of the above interpretations does full justice to the context, and it isn’t easy to find any other intelligible take on it. Even so, there must be a better way. (Mt 7:7)

Note carefully that this authority to remit and retain sins is the very first working principle Christ teaches His disciples after giving them the Holy Spirit. (Jn 20:22) In filling them with the Spirit, Christ is forming them into an assembly of born again, spirit-filled brothers in what we might consider to be the first local church, comprised of apostles as well as other disciples who were present. (Ac 1:21-22)

This authority to remit and retain sins is evidently given to the local church as a whole, not merely to the apostles, and it is central to the function and calling of the church: each local brotherhood is responsible for the purity of their local church. (Mt 18:17)

In such a context, the brothers are in fact now responsible to discern what kinds and levels of sins to patiently bear with (remit, or let go of) (Ga 6:1-3), cover up or overlook (1Pe 4:8) within the local assembly, and what degrees of sin to call out, judge and discipline (retain, or hold on to). (1Co 5:11-13)

Paul, an Apostle himself, reinforces this concept of brotherly authority in the context of church discipline (Ro 16:17); the brothers are to decide when someone is committed to sin and exclude them from fellowship (1Co 5:6-7), treating them as though they are unbelievers. (Mt 18:17)

Further, those whom the brothers forgive and receive back into fellowship after having disciplined them, Paul also forgives, indicating God’s alignment with them. (2Co 2:10-11)

The brothers have this spiritual authority to facilitate unity and purity within the local body (Ro 15:14); they’re responsible to manage this in all of the complexities and challenges they face together. They are effectively vested with the keys of God’s kingdom (Mt 16:19), manifested in the local church, deciding who is welcome and who isn’t. And as they seek the truth and align in the Spirit, God Himself works in and through them to glorify Himself (1Co 5:4-5), backing them up as needed. (Mt 18:18)

This kind of spiritual authority is, as we have noted, evidently not such that any sinful mortal may decide whether another soul is ultimately eternally forgiven before God, but God’s way of managing corporate purity and health within each local body of believers. (He 12:15)

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Whom Have I In Heaven?

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How important would going to Heaven be if there were no Hell?

Suppose God were to offer each of us our own unique version of Paradise, whatever we wanted, where we may do as we please any time we wish, enjoying lovers, friends and family at will, living in eternal happiness and pleasure … away from God.

And suppose Heaven is only God, each of us alone with Jehovah God forever, focused entirely on beholding and worshipping and serving Him. Nothing and no one else even on the radar.

If it were indeed so, who then would strive to enter God’s kingdom? (Lk 13:24) Would it then be more evident who’s seeking God Himself, to know Him and walk with Him? (Jn 17:3)

When we think of Heaven, is God distant and far off, the way we perceive Him now? And are we OK with that? primarily interested in being reunited with loved ones? (Mt 10:37) Or freedom from pain and suffering? (38)

Meanwhile, are we consumed with earthly cares? (Mk 4:18-19) Only turning to God when we’re in need? (Jn 6:26)

Many of us, by the way we’re living, appear to be like Adam and Eve after the Fall: seeking Paradise without God. (Ge 3:8)

If the earthly-minded are bound for eternal destruction (Php 3:18-19), how much more those who would focus Heaven itself on themselves?

Those pursuing their own benefit will forfeit it (Jn 12:25) and miss the ultimate Treasure. (Mt 13:44)

Can a soul who isn’t longing for God Himself be fit for the kingdom? (He 12:14) Can one who doesn’t value God above all rightly claim to know Him? (Mt 13:45-46)

Is God Himself enough for us? (Ps 72:26) Is Jehovah God our eternal portion? (Ps 119:57) If not, we don’t yet know Him as we should. (Php 3:8)

Asking God to search our hearts (Ps 139:23-24) helps us understand ourselves, to know who we are and where we are with God. (2Co 13:5) We can lie to ourselves about our love for God all day long, but He won’t fall for it. (1Co 16:22)

If we love God supremely, with a new heart created by Him and for Him (2Co 5:17), being with Him eternally is the Paradise we long for (Ps 27:4), and nothing less is acceptable. (Ps 73:25)

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Fit for the Kingdom

Yeshua says many things which may seem harsh, often in an arbitrary way. It’s difficult to understand Him in these contexts, so He is often misunderstood.

For example, when an enthusiastic young man decides to follow Christ, yet first wants to go home and say goodbye to his family (Lk 9:61), Christ replies, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (62) Is Jesus telling him he can’t even tell his family about his life-changing decision, and bid them farewell as he starts off on his journey?

Looking carefully at His reply, Yeshua isn’t actually forbidding the disciple this last kindness to his family: He’s warning him about indecisiveness; his relatives will likely protest and discourage him, challenging the conventional wisdom of his decision and reminding him of his responsibilities to themselves and the larger community. “What?!! You’re going to abandon your family, leaving your little brother to handle everything all by himself? to follow who? Some rogue preacher you just met? And to do what? Where? You’re being impulsive, romanticizing about a revolution, but you’re going to get yourself killed! And maybe the rest of us too!” Family doesn’t generally take kindly to these sorts of decisions. (Mt 10:35-37)

Yeshua is indirectly prompting this dear man to look carefully into his own heart and count the cost; is this really what he wants? Is he willing to pay the price? to do what it takes to follow Messiah? Has he committed and focused his own spirit to take on the rigors demanded of the spiritual life? This isn’t a cake-walk; we’re called to take up our execution stake every single day. (Lk 9:23) Second-guessing will defeat us.

Those who start off in shallow passion and excitement after Messiah without doing this honest self-examination, this sobering kind of soul-searching evaluation, reflection and preparation (Lk 14:28), who have some ulterior motive, looking to advantage themselves — when the going gets tough, like the seed sprouting on stony ground, they’ll cool off, wither and fall away. (Mk 4:16-17) These are not fit for the kingdom of God.

This seems consistent with the rest of the immediate context; Christ responds to another enthusiast, willing to follow Him to the ends of the earth, that He Himself is homeless, having no place of His own to lie down at night. (Lk 9:57-58) Following Him means sleeping outside on the ground at times, in the rain and cold, going without food for days. (Mk 8:2-3) He’s suffering and calls us to endure hardness with Him (2Ti 2:3); are we in for that? (1Pe 4:1-2)

Those who aren’t willing to give up all to follow Christ (Lk 5:27-28), to forsake themselves for Him (Lk 14:25), to put Him first in every area of their lives, aren’t yet believing on Him, don’t yet know Him, and aren’t yet suited for the kingdom of God. (Lk 14:33)

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Anathema Maranatha

Eternal hellfire and brimstone is seldom mentioned anymore, and the little we do hear about it is often tearless (Ph 3:18), yet Christ warns us all to avoid Hell at any cost. (Mt 5:29-30) Who among us still races headlong into this dreadful end? (Is 33:14)

How many souls are actually going to make it to Heaven? One in a thousand? (Ec 7:28) One in ten thousand? If the antediluvian proportion of His elect is any indication (one in a billion — 1Pe 3:20) it’s only a remnant (Ro 11:5); very, very few. (Mt 7:14)

The reality is all who don’t love Jesus Christ will be anathema maranatha: cursed when Christ returns (1Co 16:22); this is very nearly everyone. (Mt 7:13)

By inference, all who aren’t keeping and obeying the words of Christ are headed to Hell. (Jn 14:23) Those who don’t obey Him don’t love Him. (24a)

Similarly, all who mind earthly things, who focus more on temporal concerns than on God’s kingdom, these folk are also headed to Hell. (Php 3:19) The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches distract them (Mt 13:22), because these also do not love Him.

Who’s living as if they’re elect? Who is obeying Jesus Christ today (Mt 7:21), cherishing His Words (Col 3:16), the words of Torah (Ro 7:22), hiding them in their hearts and meditating on them day and night as a manner of life? dedicated to Him and to His glory? Almost no one. It shouldn’t surprise us, but it’s sobering.

The fact people aren’t aware of their dreadful, eternal fate is irrelevant; science and/or religion may give peace for the moment, but confidence without holiness is an illusion, deception. (He 12:14) They’re stumbling heedless over the fathomless depths of Hell itself every moment of their lives, and will fall into it suddenly, utterly consumed with terrors. (Ps 73:18-19)

How are we supposed to live in light of this? First, we diligently make our own election sure (2Pe 1:10), working out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Php 2:12), examining ourselves in light of God’s revelation whether we truly are in the faith, and prove it out for ourselves. (2Co 13:5) Are the characteristics which accompany salvation evident in our own lives? (He 6:9)

Then we do what we can to encourage others to diligently seek God (He 11:6) and strive to enter the kingdom (Lk 13:24), bearing patiently with them (2Ti 2:24-25), knowing we ourselves also were lost (Ti 3:3), teaching and warning those who will listen (2Co 5:11) with all wisdom (Co 1:28), helping them as much as we can along the way. (He 12:24-25)

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