Confidence in Commitment

A clear concept of what is involved in being saved gives peace of mind resulting in great joy. Consider these human facilities and be sure they are balanced in your life..

God can tell who has said “no” and who has said “yes” at the point of God-consciousness.  We can’t. Don’t assume all have said, “Yes, I want to know more.” Therefore, we must evangelistically reach out to them. That means we are to export the gospel.  Have you said “Yes” to Jesus?

For any person to be saved, they must “accept Jesus Christ.”  What does this involve? It involves an attachment to Jesus which is intellectual, emotional and willful.

It is as though three little people are sitting on a bench under the dome of your cranium. One is named Mr. Intellect, one Mr. Emotions, and the third Mr. Will.  Each is to give a testimony.

Mr. Intellect stands to say, “I believe the Bible to be the sole authority for faith and practice. I believe Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, was born of a virgin to be the Savior who died for the sins of the world.” This intellectual ascent is wonderful, but at this point the person isn’t saved.

Some have come to Jesus with the most elemental knowledge of insight. A native American who had just failed a seminary exam said to his wife, “I don’t know nothing but Jesus,” and he didn’t, but he later learned much more.

Mr. Emotion speaks with great depth of feelings. Emotion is evident in his every word as he shares how deeply he feels about Jesus Christ. Poignantly with passion he tells of his sensitive regard for Jesus.  He speaks in terms of chill bumps, thrills, a tingling spine, and tears of joy.

Others testify of coming to Jesus with little or no emotional involvement. They are devoid of the facts with which Mr. Intellect spoke. Facts, not feelings, have led to the salvation of many.

Now Mr. Emotion and Mr. Intellect have joined in testifying of their regard for Jesus, but the person still isn’t saved.  The devil believes and trembles. Satan has intellectual knowledge with which he agrees about Jesus as the Son of God and is emotional about it, but he certainly isn’t saved.

Next, Mr. Will stands to testify saying, “I ‘Will’ will  that my will be your will Jesus. Not my will, but your will be done. Knowing the will of the Father to be to trust Jesus Christ as Savior I join with Mr. Intellect and Mr. Emotion in declaring my will is for Jesus to forgive and give me new life.”

When the three join as one then the person is saved. The degree with which Mr. Intellect and Mr. Emotion are involved may vary from person to person. They alone do not save. It is when they are under the control of Mr. Will a person is saved.

You Are a Good Ensample

 “that you were ensamples to all that believe” I Thessalonians 1:7 

Are you a good ensample of Jesus? An “ensample,” defined by biblical precept, is a person that one can pattern oneself after in every way, if possible, because he is precisely what one is supposed to be.”

There is a difference in an ensample  (obsolete) and an example. An ensample is a pattern or model for imitation while example is something that is representative of all such things in a group.

Having defined an ensample, now an illustration. Consider a soft malleable plate of wax. With your fist you strike it. When you remove your fist that which remains is an ensample of your fist. The word is used to describe the imprint on a coin left by a dye.

Are you a good ensample of Jesus? Is His impression on you obvious? Do you bear the mark of Jesus in your life? Do others see Jesus in you?

Being a good ensample requires closeness. That is, it bears a close resemblance.

Persons speak of being far from God. Of Israel it was lamented, “Their heart is far from me.”  The reference does not refer to physical distance, but likeness. Their conduct was not that which was becoming of God. It is dissimilarity that causes a sense of remoteness between a believer and God.

Conversely, one may be remote from a friend geographically, and feel a closeness because of their oneness of spirit. It is the likeness of spirit and will to the Father, not the locations, that causes closeness. When our will conforms to His others see Jesus in us.

This is being written on a computer with which I have limited knowledge. I am gaining familiarity with how it works. Even then I hit the wrong keys, move the screen in the wrong direction, and have the heartbreak of deleting items unintentionally. In the process I have gained confidence in the computer. It can make no mistakes. Every problem that arises demands that I depend on the computer. I have to do what the computer demands. When I do, the results are remarkable. As I am forced to learn new capacities and controls of the machine, I have increased confidence in its capacity.

The parallels with our relationship with Jesus teach us that He is dependable, error free, and when we operate according to His will life works better and we become a better ensample of Jesus. Go show Him to those in your world. They will see your difficulties, and that you are “being ENSAMPLES to the flock.” ( I Peter 5:3) 

May you so live that you can say with Paul, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” (I Corinthians 11: 1)

Stay the Course

Doing the right thing is the right thing to do. However, there are times when the right thing isn’t the easy thing to do. Even then, right is right and wrong is wrong. There are conditions that make it challenging to do the right thing.

Seldom there is resolution as decided as it was for John Bunyon who was threatened with extended prison time if he did not renounce a bold statement of conviction replied, “I will stay in prison till the moss grows on my eyelids rather than disobey God.” And on another occasion he declared, “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.”

Martin Luther held firmly to his conviction when threatened. Luther was urged to recant his statements, his “95” theses, and his other writings and teachings. He refused. In January 1521, Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X. By mid-April, Luther found himself answering allegations of heresy at the now-famous Diet of Worms, an assembly of princes and prelates overseen by the Holy Roman Emperor, with the strong possibility that the 37-year-old excommunicant would be burned at the stake.

He responded with these now famous words, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one’s conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me.”

Modern day martyrs are numerous in some countries. Many have opted to die rather than renounce their faith in Jesus Christ.

These and countless others have paid with their lives because of their faith in Jesus. They have been the embodiment of this statement by Jesus: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Thus, forewarned many have rejoiced in obedience to Jesus Christ. We should keep this statement by Jesus, and the example of Christian martyrs in mind as we face increasing adversity.

Hopefully none will have a life threatening experience. It is insults, lies, belittling, mocking, exclusion, teasing, fear of rejection, and affronts we desire to avoid that threaten our devotion. “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” (1 Peter 3:14)

Mistreatment is hard. It is oftentimes caused by anger, hate, jealousy, and wrath. If you find yourself being under pressure, then ask God for strength and wisdom to help you do the right thing. God has constantly reminded us through His gospel to pray without ceasing. 

Pause now and refresh your commitment.

You Are a Problem Solver

Many Christians act as though they should be given immunity to problems by Jesus. He actually countered this concept by saying: 

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. 
In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer,
I have overcome the world.” (Matthew 16: 33)

Sing it: “Oh, victory in Jesus ….”

He spoke truth, as He always did, when He foretold the truth regarding problems. Reality reveals that if you follow Jesus you will have problems. A casual observation will reveal that those who don’t follow Jesus have problems also. Having problems doesn’t make you different from anybody else. The difference is the resources with which to advantageously use them. The church in Thessalonica was spoken of as “…having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.…” (I Thessalonians 1: 6) “With joy?” Ask the average Christian , “How are you?” and sit down. You are about to get an organ recital. You are likely to get insight into what is necessary to fine tune every organ. As a bonus you were assured of being assured about the doctor who said he had never seen anything like it.

If Jesus wore a crown of thorns, why should we expect a bed of roses?

Make no mistake “…all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (II Timothy 3: 12)

The term often used for suffering is affliction. It came from the grape industry of the day. It was used to describe the process of putting the grapes under intense pressure to extract the juice. Thus, the process was used to make the grapes into a different productive product. That is what the end product of our afflictions are designed to do.

Affliction is somewhat a divine alchemy intended to be used to make of the bitter experiences better persons.

Outward pressure can produce inner peace. Jesus has committed Himself to giving us inner peace. He described His peace as being different from that offered by the world.

Outward persecution often produces inner power. When overcome by external circumstances we are sometimes driven to look for a source of supernatural power and peace. Jesus is that source.

Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and ruler of Rome, noted: “Man must be arched and buttressed from within else like the temple he will waver to the dust.” 

He used two architectural sources of support to illustrate the point. For the Christian Jesus is that support. Call on Him for support in facing the affliction sure to come. He said it would. Got ‘um, use them, that is, rely on Him for peace.

What Are You Worth?

What are you worth? There are various ways to answer that. Some seek to do it on the basis of cost-analysis. Consider the following in getting a dollar value answer.

Years ago there was a formula used which involved adding up the cost of such elements as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and other trace elements of which the body is composed. It valued the human body at 96 cents.

A current study of a catalogue from a biological house gives a different picture. Using the going rate at the time of such compounds as hemoglobin ($2.95 per gram) and human DNA ($765 per gram), the human body is worth about $254.54 per gram (roughly 1/30 of an ounce.) To determine your value exclude 68 percent of your weight (that much is water) and multiply the remaining gram weight by $254.54. That means a person weighing 170 pounds would be worth over $6,000,000.

Consider your brain. It weighs between forty-five and fifty ounces. Approximately 89 percent is water. Thus, there is approximately 10 ounces of brain. This system of cells has the capacity of storing 100 million bits of information. It contains ten billion nerve cells. each with some 25,000 possible interconnections with other nerve cells.                                                                                 

A British neurophysicist has said that if we were to electronically approximate an average human brain, the cost would be about three billion, billion dollars (that is, three followed by eighteen zeros). 

You are valuable!  

Museums are filled with items that have little intrinsic value. They are there not because of their value, but whose they were.  My wife has a pair of agate earrings. Agate isn’t an expensive stone. Yet, these earrings have a significant value to us because of whose they were, former Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir.

Your real value is not based on your substance, but your soul, not what you are, but who you are. Human beings are the only beings bearing a likeness to our Creator. You, you that is, are of inestimable value. Your worth can’t be calculated.

The marvel is the Creator wants you to spend eternity with Him. For that to be accomplished He has provided a way.  Believers in Christ as Savior are of value because of whose they are and what price was paid for them. That value is found in whose you are. That should give you a sense of self-worth, dignity.                                       Consider each part of this rhetorical question asked by Jesus:

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16: 26) In light of this you, the real you, are worth more than all the world.                                     

As a believer, be loyal to the royal blood that flows in your veins.