Being Saved

I was talking to a young woman at the Mall the other day who is quite well known to me as I have been giving her a copy of the articles I write whenever I see her, and she appears to look forward to receiving them. However, this time she was somewhat depressed and told me she was dejected because she is trying to live a perfect Christian life and seems to often fail.

I assured her that it was fairly normal for us to feel like that, at times, but the main thing is that we keep striving towards our goal.  For sure, the Apostle Paul did say, in Hebrews 12:14, “Follow peace with all people and holiness, without which no person will see the Lord.” And that does seem to have a dreadful finality about it. However, that word “Follow” is the important word in that statement as it indicates “ongoing” determination on the part of the person involved.

  When I was farming, foxes frequently killed our baby lambs so when I went around the ewes that were lambing out in the paddock, I always took a rifle with me in case I saw a fox.

If I did see one I would follow it with great stealth and determination and often kill it. However even if I failed to get it; the fact that I followed or pursued it whilst ever I could, showed my determination, and if the sheep could have possibly known what I had been doing to protect their babies, I know they would have given me full credit for my sincerity, determination and tenacity.

Pursuing a fox is a negative thing because that is what foxes are, as far as sheep graziers are concerned. On the other hand, pursuing holiness is a very positive occupation, as far as we are concerned, but I used that illustration because the principle is the same no matter what we are following; whether it be our chosen job qualification or profession, happiness in our marriage, or rearing our family, and it is for sure that sincerity, determination and tenacity are needed when we follow peace and holiness. However, we are not alone in this as God has committed His Holy Spirit to help us from the outset. Therefore, right from the beginning of our quest for holiness the attributes of love, joy, peace, patience, faith, gentleness, kindness, goodness and self- control, will become more apparent in our lives because these are the “fruits” of The Holy Spirit who is helping us. You see, after we come to Jesus and ask Him to be our own personal Lord and Saviour we certainly are not instantly “Holy”; on the contrary, we are sinners freshly forgiven by the grace of God. The beauty of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, as far as we are concerned, is that He deleted all our sin by taking it all on Himself. Of course, once we have committed our lives to Jesus we should then want to behave the way He has set out for us in the New Testament and if we are sincere God’s Holy Spirit will help us achieve that behaviour pattern.

 When I told that young lady that it was “normal” for us to feel disappointed that we have not achieved the standard of “perfection” that we would have wished to, I was thinking of the Apostle Paul when he was writing to the Philippian Christians about his goal of Christian perfection, because he was quick to comment: “I don’t mean to say that I have already…reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus is calling us.” (Philippians 3: 12-14 New Living Translation). So somehow (in a backhanded sort of way) it is reassuring to know that Paul, the man who was one of the greatest of Christ’s followers, admitted that he had to keep working hard to try to attain the Christian Perfection he desired.

I told the story before about how one morning our two little daughters brought tea and biscuits to Audrey and I whilst we were still in bed.

Some outsider (if present), might have criticised them because the tea had too much milk and sugar, and the S.A.O. biscuits had too much butter and Vegemite, but such critics would have been overlooking the fact that these children had done this with Love and done it to the very best of their ability, so what they had done was just “Perfect” as far as Audrey and I were concerned!

God is a very loving parent, as evidenced by the fact that He sent Jesus to die for us and thus “delete” our sin, therefore, when He sees that we sincerely endeavour to do His Will, He will also see past any mistakes we might make as we “follow after Holiness” and look on our behaviour as “Perfect” too.

Keep working towards that.  Best wishes, Tom.