Simplicity

Monday, February 25, 2008

I had one of those moments yesterday while teaching Sunday school that I come into a new realization about something.

We got onto the topic of predestination...or with our class...*I* got on the subject of predestination and salvation. We talked about how some people make our salvation a difficult thing. You have to agree to a certain amount of doctrine, you have to give so much money to the church or attend a denominational conference, etc...People make up these lists of how you are seen right in God's eyes.

But it's so much easier than that.

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life." - John 3:16 from The Message Remix

It's that simple.

Faith in Jesus.

We have all this "You have to live a holy life..." or "You have to have good works..." those things are products of our sanctification. As we come to know Jesus, he trims away the excess of who we were and puts in place himself. The process takes more than a lifetime.

There isn't a list or creed we have to memorize or recite or a list of things to do. It just comes down to knowing Jesus. Simple.

3 comments:

Jake Charles said...

So true DJ I agree completely. I was just wondering how you were relating this to predestination though.

Belief in Christ whom God sent is the only criteria though, I couldn't agree more, and its refreshing to hear that there are still ministers preaching the simple message of Truth.

Dj said...

I was only relating it to predestination in that it often becomes a complicated issue. Is it predestination like those of the reformed school of thought or those on the other side of the fence. We tend to make it more complicated with a list of theology and doctrines.

Jake Charles said...

ahh I see, definitely true. Keep on preaching it.