Ever wondered whether you are still saved? Its ohk, I do too sometimes. God knows I have done (and probably will still, ai tog), do stuff that is pretty not-so-Jesus-ey.....ever wondered whether God is real? As in, really real? Been there too myself, because my reality and my faith often clash so hard that Im left with tons of skid marks, and sometimes bruises. Ever sinned and tried to hide it (perhaps from God, perhaps from people)? Yes? Me too#sigh...sometimes, when youre Spartan-kicked in the groin by your (continual?) sin, and people either Bible-bash you, or gossip, or judge, or try to encourage, or delight in it, or are just indifferent, or pray and put their lives on the line for you (take your pick) or you just plain do NOT want to be saved at that moment, because sinning is so NICE, you trail off...kinda like this sentence... I took an excerpt from an article Niven Spence posted on giving true testimonies,because it suits (for me) the context of what I am trying to relay... Struggle is a reality. Temptation is a reality. Failure is a reality. Yes, even for those who are actively walking with Christ. We can and should work to change Christian culture so that struggle doesnt have to be so embarrassing. The reality of Christ is that shame isnt ours to bear (Isaiah 61:7). The reality of living in faith is that Christians need to support each other (Ephesians 4, 5)....we are doing a harming to our representation of Christianity if we discount struggles, sins and lulls as non-faith periods—because we present the idea that real faith is without temptation, failure or dry spells. It can be scary to get vulnerable, but when everyone gets vulnerable together, there are so many more opportunities to receive help and healing. Real faith lives arent just rainbows and sunshine. Lets stop acting as if they are.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 06:30:54 +0000
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