Dying to save the dead

A person will die for one they love. Will a person give their life for an enemy, or someone unknown? It seems to be a rhetorical question and yet there is a remarkable answer which involves the only possible means by which the heart can learn to love unconditionally. Meditating on this concept, a friend of mine reminded me that most of Jesus' apostles died to follow Jesus. They did not die for the idea of a crucified man, but for the living reality of a resurrected Savior who loved them in spite of their sins and denials. Their lives embodied the scripture in Colossians 3:23 that states "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

All of us, at times, look at our faith as work or actions that we must do or must refrain from. For example, as a positive work, many believe that we must tithe to the church to be faithful. Others believe in negative actions of righteousness such as avoiding alcohol. However, the radical truth of the gospel is that Christianity is not at all about what you do or don't do. It is about the works that have been done on the sinner's behalf. The apostles did not live or die for Jesus because they had to. They lived and died for him because they loved every aspect of His existence and unconditional love.



Christ does not ask us to go through anything that He Himself has not already been through. His followers were willing to give up their lives for Him who is worthy of all glory and honor. After all, He gave up His own life as God in the flesh to save their depraved and dishonorable lives. Their works were the result of a heart change that was manifested outwardly. In other words, they produced good works because what they gave honor to changed. They esteemed works in life that brought honor to God instead of self-seeking works. This is the means by which we have faith in God's kindness that leads us to repentance in order to produce works worthy of repentance!


The process of producing good works is a result of getting to know the man, Jesus Christ. Everything He undertook during His life was meant to highlight the perfect and humble love of His Father. By contrast, the people whom He confronted through His words and works often revealed the depth-less depravity of the human heart. All of His works culminated in His death on a cross where the penalty for the depravity of His faithless apostles and every sinning child of God was paid for. Christ gave His life for His enemies and those who did not desire to know Him so that they would have a change of heart that produced an unconditional love for all people. Anything that comes from such a heart is worthy of honor.

What does your religion teach? Does your life mirror this radical love? Do your works bring glory to yourself or to Jesus? To answer these questions, consider that in order to know what you want in life you must first look at what you have or how you live.

Questions that probe the soul.

I found a great blog entry that is worth quoting. It discusses the two different ways of reflecting on our salvation and faith. Here are the two groups of questions for you:

The weaker questions-

*Do you know you are a sinner?
*Do you want to go to heaven?
*Have you asked Jesus into your heart?
*Do you remember a time when you prayed to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior?
*If not, would you like to do that now? Repeat after me. “Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner. . .”

Questions of strength-

*Do you believe that you are sinner who has fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)?
*Do you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16; Acts 8:37)?
*Do you believe that He died for your sin according to the Scriptures, that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (I Corinthians 15:3-4) and that apart from His substitutionary, atoning work on the cross you would spend eternity in hell according to the Scriptures (John 3:16; II Corinthians 5:21; I John 4:10)?
*Have you confessed Him as Lord (Romans 10:9-10)?
*Do you hate your sin (Ezekiel 36:31; Romans 7:15-20)?
*Do you treasure Christ more than anything or anyone else (Philippians 3:7-10)?
*Is your life characterized by a spirit of continual repentance (Romans 2:4; II Cor. 7:9-10)?
*Do you strive to be holy in all your behavior (I Peter 1:15)?
*Do you long for the Word of God (Psalm 119:20; I Peter 2:2)?
*Do you bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8)?
*Do you love your Christian brothers and sisters (I John 3:14-16)?
*If not, come to the cross. Repent of your sin and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15). Turn from the darkness to the light, from the dominion of Satan to God and receive the forgiveness and inheritance God offers in Christ (Acts 26:18). Confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9-10), go and sin no more (John 8:11), and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace (II Timothy 2:2; Hebrews 12:14).

God's perfect paradox.

Sometimes, when I'm talking about God's nature with people, the sort of tongue-in-cheek paradoxical question of whether or not God could create a rock so heavy He could not lift it comes up. I can't help but think that this question is too simple. A better one that conveys the nuances and penumbras of God's creative genius would have to be "can God create something so complicated that even He can't understand it?" Any sentient creature would have to admit that the answer is "yes" and more specifically "women."

Random thoughts and questions from tonight.

-Putting thought to paper (or blog) is an amazing thing to do. It takes a lot of effort but bears rich rewards if you can apply reason to reality to find wisdom. In fact, much like praying before a God who knows you perfectly, writing your thoughts out helps in the process of obtaining wisdom by exposing hypocrisy in your thought processes. The best way to find wisdom is to ask questions and discover certain principles that never change. Once you've found those principles, you have an immutable foundation upon which to build your life. This foundation leads to a strong conscience and character and a hatred of deceit.

-A friend writes concerning the scriptures: "Okay, whatever. I'm done talking about the Bible because I don't know anything from it. I am useless."

My response: "That's foolish to say lil' sister! Ask me for scriptures for proof instead of lambasting yourself. Ask questions, ask questions, ask questions! You won't gain wisdom by denying your creation as a daughter of God, made in His image!"

-A question I asked on Facebook: "How does gay marriage infringe upon our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Does another person's marriage take away your ability to live life as you see fit?"

A friend writes: "I feel that if our nation was to legally endorse gay "marriage" then the judgment of our heavenly father would be upon the whole nation."

My response: "Doesn't the judgment of God fall upon people for every sin? Does God deem one sin as more worthy of eternal justice than another? Doesn't our allowance of abortion as a country place us under God's judgment already? We are either under judgment already or we are not."

(The picture above is an illustration intended to reveal conceit and is not in alignment with my beliefs)

Another friend writes on this topic: "A gay man thinks the same as a straight man. Therefore no limitation [on marriage] should be made. But what about those with a mental disability that could cause harm to oneself or another? Is it okay then to have limits?"

My response in part: "Who determines mental disability? Even mentally disabled people can be wise and make proper decisions. I know plenty of mentally enabled people who make incredibly destructive choices. Wisdom is not constrained by one's ability to think but rather by one's ability to have empathy towards others. Mentally disabled people I have known are some of the most loving people I have ever met."

-A third friend ask how I got on the topic and I said: "[My reason is] anger over the conduct of judgmental Christians who would rather judge their unbelieving neighbor instead of loving their enemies as God loved them when they were His enemies!"