For quite some time God’s primary use of personal instruction in my life has been my children.Please know that my intention is not to dismiss the inestimable and exalted value of Scripture in the life of all believers, but sometimes God tattoos our hearts with scriptural truth via practical elements of everyday life.I’ve learned so much about His fatherhood through my own relationship with Alicia and Landon.Yesterday was another classroom session wherein God taught me some things through my beautiful little girl.
She was having a rough afternoon and I probably didn’t help much.I came home a little frustrated from some stresses from the workday.There was a stack of bills waiting on me that the postman had the gall to deliver to my home.The kids had lost a couple of the Blockbuster videos that were due back and we were unable to locate them for a while (Amy, our resident Indiana Jones, located the missing treasure on the floor behind the kitchen trashcan).The final straw was when I learned that Alicia had delegated some of her chores to her five-year-old brother for a prorated portion of her weekly allowance.It is probably commendable in that she showed some entrepreneurial instincts but kindergarteners don’t do a good job of cleaning downstairs bathrooms.She got a short lesson from me on the importance of being responsible and thorough in her duties and to never blame another (Landon) when she was accountable to see that her job was complete.
This set the table for what followed.My precious little girl fell apart in my arms about twenty minutes later.Somehow, correction over cat litter and dirty bathroom floors led to an hour of soul searching and the need for assurance that she belonged to God.
I think we have all wrestled with the question “How good is good enough for God?”Theologically we understand that the only good which is good enough for God is that which is perfectly good.No sin.No stain.No streak.Perfect holiness requires perfect holiness from all.We immediately know then that we don’t qualify as “good enough” for God and find an appropriate sense of guilt.This conviction of falling short of God’s glory is what ultimately awakens us to our need for His grace.Helplessness requires a rescue.God, as the only One who is perfectly good, knows that He must rescue and has had His plan since before the foundation of the world.He would impart His perfection to us through the life, death, burial and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.When an imperfect sinner exercises faith in a perfect Savior, His perfection is placed upon the believing sinner's account as our sin has been placed upon Him on the cross.It is a staggering transaction which was accomplished historically on Calvary’s cross and is actualized individually when we believe.That is a simple summary of what it means to be made acceptable to God.In Jesus Christ we are perfectly accepted for all eternity.Outside of Jesus Christ we are absolutely rejected for all of eternity because we are still in our sins.Jesus paid it all.You can pay for nothing.
So then, why do we struggle with the assurance of our salvation as Christians?Why does kitty litter on the bathroom floor of our lives cause us to feel like God could not possibly accept us?Alicia is only ten years old and she let me know that her failure in one area was powerfully defining her sense of security and well-being.She did not see, in that moment, her relationship to me and her mother.She did not remember our unconditional love shown to her every day of her life.She got amnesia concerning every validating word she ever heard from us, every affirming expression of our joy in her, each celebration of who she is and, ultimately, each occasion where we exalted some great thing she had done.No, she only remembered the crunch of kitty litter beneath her feet.To her, it was the sound of failing her earthly father.
Here is where I gained God’s perspective (forgive the boldness) on our struggles with His love for us.How it must break His infinite heart to lavish such astounding grace and mercy upon us through the blood of His Son, only to have us wonder if it is effective unto the end.Could such an astounding price be prepared in eternity past, paid in time, endure for eternity…only to have us shuffle our feet and wonder if we might be the only one to whom its effectiveness has no enduring power?A friend of mine once saw a Christian psychologist because of a paralyzing lack of salvation assurance.He was a seminary student, intellectually gifted, biblically informed and theologically astute.He just couldn’t believe he was secure in God’s grace.After interrogating him for an hour about the theology of salvation she discerned that my friend knew all the truth needed to be known.When he still persisted that he just couldn’t believe that it could apply to him the counselor asked, “What makes you so special?”KABOOM! She wisely traced his persistent refusal of assurance as being rooted in pride rather than humility. If God's securing of salvation is true for all others, then why do you refuse to rest in Him?
Let us never forget in our hunger for practical righteousness that the whole reason we needed a rescuing Savior is because that we are sinners to the core.Redemption remedies much of the fallout of that curse but it does not remove the imprint of our flesh during this life.Yes, proud saint, you still sin.And might I add that the blood of Jesus Christ is still the agent whereby you are pardoned from that sin.His blood is still needed in your practical life;He has certainly removed the penalty of your sin once and for all of time upon your exercising of faith, but that same blood is your sole defense against a weak conscience, an accusing enemy and a scarred horizontal life.It is not that you received Christ and the benefits of His shed blood so that you can now move forward and handle your justification through a determined righteousness.No, dear friend, I must declare reverently that the blood of Jesus has a perpetual reverberation which echoes through the ages as the only hope of your assured standing before God.Even unto the last chapters of God’s Word we find the established truth which heralds, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb…” {Rev. 12:11}. Face it, friend, He justified you completely forever. You can never be condemned again. Like it or lump it, your sins have been obliterated from the record for all eternity...even the ones you haven't committed yet. You are so secure it is pitiful.
Back to my troubled baby girl: I spoke with Alicia as she held my hand, put her head in her daddy’s lap and choked on some cleansing tears.It was so vital that I affirmed how much I love her and that nothing she would ever do could change that.My love for her is not something that is in her power.I love her because I cannot do otherwise; it is woven into my soul.I instructed her about the issues she was struggling with.Her ears soaked in my counsel from the Word concerning what it is to be forgiven and how we can rest in what Jesus has accomplished.Her tears eventually stopped streaking and her voice was no longer choked.She never let go of my hand and when I prayed with her she put her other hand over mine.She was holding onto her father.What she could not possibly fathom was how passionately her father was holding on to her.She let go and went to her little room to read her bible.She let go.I’m still holding her this very moment.
Your God is holding you.He has.He will forever.Your security is never in your grip on Him.Assurance is found in the gentleness of His omnipotent hand enclosed around your soul forever.
Good morning, Jeff. I loved this one as I can relate so well. Most of my life, I struggled with my unworthiness and still realize it today, but one day, it dawned on me that my unworthiness is exactly why I needed Jesus and need Him every hour of every day! On FB this week, I posted the song His Grace Still Amazes Me and yes, it does. I have decided that I will use these computer privileges to exalt His Name.People can choose whether to read or not. The direction of our country makes me wonder how long it will be before the freedom to do so openly will be seized from us. Praise His Name, they cannot take our liberty in Christ!! "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." Love you much! MaMa
