To Call part 2
Those who call on the Lord will be saved. Seems pretty cut and dry, right? Profess Jesus as your personal Savior and get into heaven when you die. Or so years and years of religious tradition would have you believe. Like God is a member's only club and you have to say the password or you're doomed to an eternity of fiery torment and punishment. But what if Jesus was more interested in LIFE (and that more abundantly) than afterlife. What if being saved (from our SINS) is about experiencing what is available to us right now. And what if calling on the Lord is simply acknowledging Him in our lives. Giving Him the room to operate instead of trying to do it ourselves. Because I believe (to a point) that God will let us try to do it ourselves, if that's what we choose to do. He was willing to give Israel a human king, even though it wasn't what was best for them, because that's what they had their hearts set on. But I say "to a point" because Jonah got squeezed pretty hard in order to get him on the right path. My pastor sometimes says, "Some are called, and some are cornered." And I'm not trying to say God is a bully. I'm simply saying sometimes it feels like a fire shut up in your bones. And if you don't walk in your calling you can literally burn alive. The good things about THAT is that GOD is the consuming fire. He won't let you be burnt to a crisp, but He WILL totally consume you. What does any of this have to do with our Rant series? I think it's summed up in 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT), "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." Calling on the Lord and BEING saved--not GETTING saved, because we WERE saved 2,000 years ago on the cross--is about enduring whatever life throws at us. Not taking what life thows at us and trying to do the best we can with it, but instead letting the Kingdom that is within us overflow out of us. Being saved from whatever we're going through. Standing on the Rock and not being shaken. Understanding that sometimes you have to go through this... to get to that. It's a journey. And instead of trying to escape (in the sense of avoiding something) or get saved (again, in the sense of missing out on something) I think we would be much better off understanding, and enjoying, the journey. Finding the beauty--the God, the love--in everything. In every situation. Being Christ-conscious, if I can say it that way, rather than using Him as a "break glass in case of emergency" last resort. Calling on Him to save us by being aware of Him in the midst of... whatever. I start every day by praying, "Daddy I need you." Not because I know specifically WHY I'll need Him, and not because He doesn't already KNOW that I need Him, but as a reminder to myself that no matter what, He's got my back. He stands at the door (of our heart) and knocks, and all we have to do is have a heart that open to love. That's how we let Him in. That's how we call on Him. And that's how we BE saved!