Peripatetics: The Art of Walking

Peripatetics: The Art of Walking

  
This page is for the students at Crossroads Bible Church in Double Oak, Texas, because...

We're convinced that walking with Christ is the truly abundant life. There's an art to it, and we're trying help each other live that kind of life. Maybe this will help...

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    Wednesday, October 20, 2004

    I was looking over some journals from my first trip to Holland not too long ago. On one particular day we'd gotten into a discussion with Dutch teens who were very curious about the show COPS. That turned into a discussion of governments that was actually very educational for me...the differences and similarities between a constitutional monarchy and a representative democracy was a very enlightening discussion.

    One thing I noted is that the foundations of our governments did indeed affect our actions. Suffice to say that those "self-evident" truths weren't so much held as self-evident by the Dutch, and we were each influenced by those principles. How we viewed social issues, legal issues, moral issues and the like, and how we lived our lives, in some ways could be traced all the way back to our Constitution.

    I've found this to be true in my walk with God as well. Some of those "self-evident" truths that others don't percieve as self-evident...well, how we view them affects our day to day relationship with God.

    One of those is the idea of "once saved, always saved." I believe that the idea that my eternity is secure helps me take information from my head and make it real in my life...that Head To Heart thing again.

    How?

    Well, take a look at Psalm 125:

    "Those who trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever."

    I'm not sure it can be more plain. There are plenty of other verses I could use to back my view up, but space is the issue here. Suffice to say that I firmly believe that if you trust in the Lord, you abide forever.

    "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever."

    The Lord will surround His people...today and forever. Again, it can't be more clear.

    But how does that reality help my actions today, right here, right now?

    Well, think about it. If there's nothing you can do to lose your salvation because your salvation depends on the faithfulness of God, then you're actually under no pressure to "be good."

    There's no requirement to be good to get you into heaven. There's not some cosmic Jeopardy board that could go into the negative numbers and you hope to get a Daily Double just to break even. There's no deals to be cut. There's no shortcut you've got to take or palms you've got to grease.

    You're in. Christ paid the price. And because there's no cosmic scoreboard, you can simply relax, enjoy that relationship and trust in the grace and mercy of God instead of your own abilities.

    No more looking over your shoulder to see if you've been caught.

    Nope. Jesus' yoke is light. Now you're free to "do good" and be "upright in heart." Inwardly and outwardly.

    So, the pressure's off if you're one of His children...and this foundational truth should change your entire view of walking with Him. Like God's covenant with Abraham, it didn't depend on Abraham's behavior. The covenant was made. And it's the same with us: Once the covenant is made, it's irrevocable on either end.

    And that freedom because of security in Him should lead to...

    ...Joy,

    which we'll see in the Psalm that follows, 126, next Sunday. But read over Philippians 3 and we'll continue our discussion on this in tomorrow's entry.

    Brent 11:01 PM
    Comments:
    Hi,
    My name is Savannah, most of you have heard about me. I'm Lara Zepp's sis. Do you mind me reading this blog and using it as a tool for my devotions?
    Thanks
    Savannah
    posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 2:02 PM
     
    Not at all Savannah...in fact, you can encourage anyone you want to hit the site and make comments or ask questions on it, too.
    posted by Blogger Brent : 8:13 PM
     
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