salvation

Wise Words from Rich Mullins

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Rich Mullins would have turned 70 today. Instead, we remember him and celebrate his legacy 28 years after his untimely passing in 1997. I sometimes wonder how much more great music he could have produced had he lived longer, but I’m thankful for the catalog of great albums and songs he left behind. Songs like Awesome God and Sometimes by Step are still sung in churches and youth groups and retreats all over the world.

I ran across something Rich wrote that was an interesting take on happiness. He definitely marched to the beat of his own drummer and didn’t conform to anyone else’s idea of normal, but I suppose that is what makes his music so memorable and lasting. Here’s what he wrote:

“1. Forget about finding happiness. Happiness is not worthy of your search.

2. Bake a cake – a really rich cake, preferably from scratch and especially if you are an inexperienced baker or a tested, tried, & notoriously awful cook. The value is in the baking more than in the cake.

3. Call up some enemy of yours and invite that enemy to eat the cake with you. If the cake is good you may lose an enemy and gain a friend. If the cake is bad, at least vengeance is sweet.

4. If you can’t think of a single enemy, then call up a friend. Invite your friend over to eat the cake with you. If the cake is good the favor may be returned. If the cake is awful your friend may go buy one from a bakery for you. If you are without any enemies or friends, take your cake to an old folks’ home. Eat it with them! If the cake is good you will no longer be without friends. If the cake is terrible you will no longer be without enemies.

Finding a friend, making an enemy – now those are things worth pursuing. Happiness may come tagged on – but even if it doesn’t, at least you will have done something and established some relationships.

5. Memorize Isaiah 40 or the first Psalm or Psalm 91. Read the closing chapters of the Book of Job. Meditate on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). Write out one of the Prison Epistles (Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Collosians) and send them to some other unhappy person.

All of this may not make you happy but it will tell you how to be holy. Once you tie that knot you may find yourself in a position to be made happy.

6. Work hard. Clean something. Find new and more space-efficient ways of folding your clothes. Rake someone else’s yard for them. If you are unhappy maybe you can help someone else be less so.

7. Go back to the third chapter of Lamentations and then repeat after me:

“It is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear
The yoke while he is young.
Let him sit alone in silence
For the Lord has laid it on him.”

8. Reread the 23rd Psalm and remember that if the Lord is your shepherd, then you are in a lush pasture. You are by a still stream. If it seems otherwise to you, it may be because you would rather be happy than be God’s. If this is so, then you have more reason to be happy than anyone. God has chosen you – ungrateful, decadent you – and being His is a joy and a happiness that goes beyond anything else you may seek, and in your folly settle for. God will (in His mercy) make you discontent with anything less than Him.

So we have only one step left…

9. Rejoice.”

Thankful for Grace

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“O God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we hope in thy Word. There we see thee, not on a fearful throne of judgment, but on a throne of grace, waiting to be gracious, and exalted in mercy. There we hear thee saying, not ‘Depart ye cursed,’ but ‘Look unto me and be ye saved, for I am God and there is none else.'”

I’m thankful for that throne of grace. I know I deserve the fearful throne of judgment. If I’m honest, there’s no way I could hope in a million years for mercy. If I got what I deserved, I’d hear the words “Depart ye cursed.” But I hear the words “Look unto me and be ye saved, for I am God and there is none else.”

The question isn’t why aren’t there more ways to be saved than through Jesus. The question is why do I get to be saved at all, considering what I’ve done and what thoughts go through my mind and who I could be apart from the very grace of God.

The question isn’t why bad things happen to good people, because we know there aren’t any good people who have never sinned. As R. C. Sproul once said, bad things happened to a good man only once because He volunteered for it. He chose the nails. He chose the cross. That’s why I can be declared righteous.

I remember people used to say things like “If anyone deserves to get into heaven, it’s . . .” fill in the blank with any upstanding citizen. But truthfully no one deserves to get into heaven. Not one. Not you. Not me. None. Only Jesus deserves to be in heaven, but He left His throne for the likes of you and me so we could get there, not by our own efforts but by His own shed blood.

I’m thankful that salvation belongs not to the strong or the fast or to the intelligent or the clever. Salvation belongs to those who humbly repent and place their faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. That’s it.

The Whole Gospel

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“There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of Our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason. If a game is played, it must be possible to lose it. If the happiness of a creature lies in self-surrender, no one can make that surrender but himself (though many can help him to make it) and he may refuse. I would pay any price to be able to say truthfully “All will be saved.” But my reason retorts, ‘Without their will, or with it?’ If I say ‘Without their will’ I at once perceive a contradiction; how can the supreme voluntary act of self-surrender be involuntary? If I say ‘With their will,’ my reason replies ‘How if they will not give in?’. . .

The doors of Hell are locked on the inside. I do not mean that the ghosts may not wish to come out of Hell, in the vague fashion wherein an envious man ‘wishes’ to be happy: but they certainly do not will even the first preliminary stages of that self-abandonment through which alone the soul can reach any good. They enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved: just as the blessed, forever submitting to obedience, become through all eternity more and more free” (C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain).

If we want to be true to the true gospel, we have to be true to the Word of God. If we are true to the Word of God, then we must believe that there is a hell as much as there is a heaven. There is no universal salvation. Some will be saved, some will not.

Jesus mentions that the road to life is narrow, and few find it. He then proceeds to say that the road to destruction is broad, and many are on it. As much as I want to believe that everyone is on their way to heaven, I can’t deny these words of Jesus.

That’s why the offer of the gospel still stands. To whomever will repent of their sins and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, God will grant them eternal life. God will save anyone who calls on Him in faith. God is not willing that you should perish but that you should be saved.

You can pray a prayer like this: “Jesus, I know I’m a sinner. I know I’m separated from you. I deeply regret and repent of my sin. I turn to You in faith and receive you now as my Lord and Savior. I commit myself to following You for the rest of my days and to obeying whatever You ask of me from now until eternity. Thank You for saving me. Amen”

God Has Overcome the World

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“An optimist says, ‘The war will be over; your wounds will be healed; the depression will go away; all will be better soon.’ The optimist may be right, but unfortunately he or she may be wrong. For none of us can control our circumstances.

No, hope does not come from positive predictions about the state of the world anymore than does faith. Nor does hope depend on the ups and downs of our life’s particulars. Hope, rather, has to do with God. We have hope and joy in our faith because we believe that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world… We follow One who is not limited or defeated by the world’s sufferings” (Henri Nouwen).

Not everything bad will be fixed in this lifetime. Not every wrong will be made right. I think the Apostle Paul said something like if we have hope only for this life, we are to be pitied above all. If this is all there is, then you might as well become a cynic. You might as well not care about anything and live for today.

But this is not all there is, thank God. There is so much more. Your best life is not now, but the best is yet to come. We believe that God has overcome the world. That’s the victory that fuels our faith. That’s the hope we hold on to in the midst of deep heartache. That’s the reason we can sing in the middle of the storms and sorrows of this world.

The older I get, the more I’m ready for Jesus to come back and make that victory final. I’m so ready for evil to be defeated once and for all. I love that it’s not a matter of if but when. The victory is sure. God has overcome!

Waking Up and Finding You’re Home

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“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’”(‭‭Revelation‬ ‭14‬:‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

I noticed that in the month of July at least nine celebrities passed away. From what I’ve read, at least two had a saving relationship with Jesus. I hope the rest of them did.

I wish I could say that the Bible teaches that everyone will be saved in the end, but I know that’s not the case. Otherwise, Jesus could have stayed in heaven and avoided the cross. There had to be a payment for the sin punishment that we deserved. God can’t overlook sin and still be holy.

But that also got me thinking of what it will be like for the believer to fall asleep on earth and to wake up in heaven. It will be like that first day of summer after the school term is over. It will be like that first day of vacation after some long weeks at work. Oh, and multiply those by infinity times infinity, and you’ll have a good idea of heaven.

The older I get, the more I’m ready for heaven. This world makes less and less sense. There’s more chaos and darkness everywhere you turn. Things are definitely not improving toward any kind of utopia. More like a dystopian nightmare becoming reality.

But we have a certain hope. Our story doesn’t end with dystopia or futility. It ends with Jesus coming back and setting everything right. All the pain, suffering, and death will end. Can you imagine? It will be like your best day times a million. And your best day will be every day for the rest of eternity.

Hopefully, the rest of my time here will be so that more people can know Jesus and experience that abundant and eternal life both now and in eternity. May that be the goal of every believer between now and when Jesus returns.

Keith’s Legacy

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It’s hard to believe that Keith Green went home to be with the Lord 43 years ago today. What amazes and saddens me even more was that he was only 28 years old at the time. He was able to accomplish so much and leave behind a legacy of music and ministry in such a short amount of time.

I think Keith would be grieved at the current state of the American Church. He’d see that so many people and churches that profess to follow Jesus now teach a kind of universalist message that the Apostle Paul would call another gospel. So many have surrendered their core beliefs for the illusion of fitting in and conforming to the culture. Sadly, even entire denominations have gone away from true faith.

I don’t think for one moment that Keith Green was perfect. He himself would admit as much. However, he did more to call people to repentance and faith in Jesus than just about anyone else. He begged and pleased for people to get right with the Lord. He also begged and pleaded for lukewarm churches to recover their first love and not be asleep in the light when so many outside their stained glass windows are perishing without Christ and without hope.

But I believe as always that there is a remnant that is faithful. As in the early Church and all throughout history, there has been a small core of true believers who have kept the gospel message alive even when it was unpopular or even deadly to do so. People all around the world are holding on to the message of Christ in the face of persecution and martyrdom. I think Keith would be so proud of them.

I love that I have all of his albums but one. I can put them on my turntable and drop the needle and instantly Keith, yet though he were dead, still speaks. His message and the message of all who have come after remains just as true and timely now as it was back in 1982 and down through all the centuries before that.

May we hold true to the Apostles Creed and the Gospel, and may all who come behind us find us to have been faithful.

My Eye on the Goal

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I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back” (Philippians 3:12-14, The Message).

That’s the key, isn’t it. Keeping my eye on the goal?

But what does that look like? Anymore, there’s no such thing as working 40 years for one company and retiring with a gold watch and a pension. The average person will work for several different places across many types of jobs over his or her lifetime.

But what is the goal then? If you read the Apostle Paul in other places, he talks about keeping our eyes on Christ. To keep your eyes on Christ is to keep your eyes on the goal, because Christ is the goal. Not retirement. Not comfortable living. Not a pension. Jesus is the goal.

Not only that but Christ is the means to that goal. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that the poor in spirit are blessed because the Kingdom of God is theirs. That means those of us who know we have nothing to offer God are blessed because we have nowhere to turn and nowhere to lean but on Jesus and the promises of God.

Still, it’s quite easy to get distracted by all the shiny baubles of the world. It’s easy in the midst of a storm to focus on the wind and the waves and take our eyes off of the Master of those winds and waves. We are so easily distracted and forgetful, which is why we need the constant reminder of keeping our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

How do we keep our eyes on Jesus? By preaching the gospel to ourselves at least once a day every day. We need to remember that we’re sinners in need of a Savior. We need to remember that salvation comes through faith by means of repentance and trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. We need to remember that we’re saved by faith alone, not by any works or good deeds of ours. We need to remember that Jesus promised that those who trust God with their lives would receive eternal abundant life not just in the hereafter but in the here and now.

May you and I never stop encouraging each other, especially in these last days, to keep our eyes on Jesus as the goal of everything we do and everything we are.

Broken Things

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“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever” (Vance Havner).

I think if you’re feeling broken beyond compare, you might just be at the point where God is about to do something incredible in you and through you. I don’t mean that you should beat yourself up and think you’re worthless. I think it’s about recognizing that each one of us has been profoundly affected by the original fall and are broken to one degree or another.

The beautiful part of the Gospel is that it’s for broken people. Not only that, God uses broken people to reach other broken people. What the world wants to throw away, God repurposes for His glory. What the world sees as worthless, God sees as priceless.

I love the verse in the Bible that talks about how God uses nobodies to shame those who think that they’re somebodies. 1 Corinthians 1:27 in the New Living Translation says “ Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.”

That’s me. At times, I have been foolish and powerless. We all have. Face it, we’re nothing apart from the sustaining grace of God. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing (at least nothing of eternal significance and value). Even our next heartbeat is a gift from God.

I need to remember that every time I start to think that I am anything on my own apart from God and what He has done in me. Anytime I start thinking that I’m better than anyone else, I need to remember that it took as much of Jesus’ blood to save me as it did anyone else. Who knows what I could have been apart from the saving grace of God?

“You can have my heart, though it isn’t new
It’s been used and broken, and only comes in blue
It’s been down a long road, and it got dirty along the way
If I give it to you, will you make it clean and wash the shame away?

You can have my heart, if you don’t mind broken things
You can have my life; you don’t mind these tears
Well, I heard that you make old things new, so I give these pieces all to you
If you want it, you can have my heart

So beyond repair, nothing I could do
I tried to fix it myself, but it was only worse when I got through
Then you walk right into my darkness and you speak words so sweet
And you hold me like a child, ’til my frozen tears fall at your feet

You can have my heart, if you don’t mind broken things
You can have my life if you don’t mind these tears
Well, I heard that you make old things new
So I give these pieces up to you
If you want it, you can have my heart” (Julie Miller).

Jesus Is Lord

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“Paul often referred to himself as a ‘slave’ of Jesus Christ. Because we’ve grown up in an American democracy, few of us understand the radical nature of Paul’s description.

Paul was literally saying that Jesus bought him. In His death and resurrection, Jesus paid for Paul. Jesus bought his career, desires, dreams, talents—his total life!

Paul had no will of his own, no dreams of his own. They all belonged to Jesus.

Christians often exclaim ‘Jesus is Lord!’ without much thought to what we’re actually saying. When we say this, we’re saying: ‘Jesus owns us. He’s the boss.’

We’re committed to doing WHAT Jesus says to do, WHEN He says to do it, the WAY He says to do it.

Our lives are not our own. We’ve been bought with a price—a terrible, unspeakable price. And how we live now tells the world exactly what we think of Jesus and His death for us” (Mike Glenn).

I sometimes think that if we truly meant what we said when we proclaim that Jesus is Lord, our lives would look totally different. At least mine would.

Can I live in open sin and truthfully say that Jesus is Lord? No.

Can I be permissive about what the Bible forbids and say that Jesus is Lord? No.

Can I call my own shots and ask God to bless what I’ve already decided to do and still claim that Jesus is Lord? Absolutely not.

Can I sing about the joy of the Lord and then live with a sour face and a sad disposition because my true greatest joy is in something other than God that can be taken away, then shout at the top of my lungs that Jesus is Lord? No way.

If Jesus is my Lord, then I have no rights. What He says, goes. Period. I submit to His will 100%. Otherwise, I’m just paying lip service and I am still my own lord. Not Jesus.

The irony of the Bible is that true freedom isn’t doing what you want because then you become a slave to your whims and desires. True freedom comes from being a slave to Jesus and finding your true self in the process. You’re not beholden to anything or anyone who doesn’t have your best interests at heart.

May we live like Jesus as Lord as often as we say Jesus is Lord. Then more people will want to know Jesus as Savior and Lord.

No Matter What

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“Our prayers for guidance (or for anything else) really begin here: I trust him. This requires abandonment. We are no longer saying, ‘If I trust him, he’ll give me such and such,’ but ‘I trust him. Let him give me or withhold from me what he chooses” (Elisabeth Elliot, God’s Guidance: A Slow & Certain Light).

It’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to bargain with God. Something along the lines of “I’ll trust you if you will give me a) a job, b) a spouse, or c) lots of money.”

It feels more like a transaction than faith. If God does X, then I’ll do Y. The trouble is that I’m in no position to bargain with God. He’s the Eternal Lord and King of the Universe who has every right to destroy me because of my sin, and I’m the one who’s only alive at this moment because of His grace.

The truth is that if all God ever did was to save me from an eternity in hell and leave me alone, that would be way more than I deserve. That alone would merit my praise from now until 10,000 X 10,000 years have passed.

But that’s not all God did. He has sustained me and blessed me and been with me through every kind of joy and sorrow, triumph and trial. All He asks in return is my allegiance. My loyalty. My surrender. Me.

It’s not wrong to ask God for things, but the more I spend time with God and in His word and the more I grow in Christlikeness, the things I ask for change and my desire to have them changes.

God doesn’t owe me anything. Even the next breath is a gift. I owe God everything, more than I could possibly ever pay in a million lifetimes. Yet all God asks for is me. I think that’s a good enough reason to trust Him no matter what.