Friday, April 11, 2008

Not Wavering

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:17-19)

It's been thirty-five years since I made my decision to follow my Lord. I can truly say that I've never been sorry for that day I knelt, repented and accepted God's glorious invitation to invite Christ into my life! For any of you that have followed my blog for any length of time, you'll notice a recurring theme: The Cross of Christ and the love of God in Christ! I've never wavered from that premise and truth that has been etched into the memory of my life.

I will admit that I have wavered in some other areas. I've always been thirsty for knowledge and truth. In my very early years of the faith I ventured out to learn everything I could about the Lord and his Word. I would like to say that all my searching was unequivocal, but alas, it hasn't been. In my search for truth it led me into some various factions at times. I've wrestled with free will and God's sovereignty, pondered second works of grace, the sign gifts, eternal security, rapture or no rapture and a myriad of other things. I've been in Pentecostal, Nazarene and Baptist churches, looking and searching. And I even fell prey to the positive confession movement for awhile. (It was anything but positive.)

You'd probably wonder or maybe envision that I was a confused believer. No, not at all. I always wanted to keep my thoughts and mind open. I didn't want to be a slave to a man-made denomination. The caveat is clear though: I did embrace some things that I've later recanted. Plus, there were times I treated God's Word like a text book. But the last decade has been a true experience. My school days of textual outlook became one of practical application. I started living out in my daily life the things that had beforehand, been just textbook learning. But, don't misunderstand, proper doctrine is first and foremost. I've always been a true believer, but I had to experience in real life the scriptures I believed. It's a perilous thing to trust feelings. All proper living for Christ must be first grounded in pure doctrine. Sure, I like to feel good. But, the scriptures correctly applied must take preeminence. Feelings are great, but they should always be based on a true understanding of God's eternal Word.

I do know that I have never wavered on the aforementioned Cross of Christ. I have dug my heels in the sand, my face is like flint when it comes to what Christ did on the cross. My mind is made up when it comes to the love of God in Jesus Christ. With all the schisms that abound today, our hope must always be rooted and grounded in the true Word of God. I'm glad I never wavered on the essentials. Things like God's inspired Word, the second coming, the virgin birth of Christ, Jesus being the only way, et.al. The bottom line is clear. As believers we may disagree on what I call the secondary things like the mode of baptism, etc. But, I will never waver with Jesus being the only way to heaven. I'll love and pray for those who don't for their eternal souls are at stake.

Wes King and me



The above verses from Ephesians really hit home for me. Years ago I was able to spend some time with recording artist Wes King. His song, "The Love Of Christ" is simply amazing. It's difficult for me to keep a dry eye when I listen to his song that comes right out of Ephesians. I want to leave you with a sample of this amazing song that sums up what I think about the gospel. I'm glad I never wavered on what Christ did for me on the cross. For anything that has come out of my life, I owe to the Lord Jesus Christ. May the peace of Christ be with you all.


The Love Of Christ

3 comments:

  1. You'd be very comfortable at our church in Avon. When we ever get around to visiting, you'll have to come to church and dinner with us. But you have to bring your own snakes. (heh heh)

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  2. Rog,

    We need to visit soon! My snakes will fit nicely in my back seat. Get ready! But, seriously, some people do take Mark 16 a bit too literally, Ha!

    Randy

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  3. What a thoughtful and honest post about your faith, Randy. Rog and I were talking the other day about how real you are and how encouraging that is.
    TTYS - Sniz

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