In thinking about being slaves to righteousness in Christ, here’s a few more thoughts.
There have been times in my life where I was frustrated in my faith and contemplated walking away for good. But in the midst of these thoughts, I realized there was no alternative to living out my faith, no matter its current state. I mean, where do you go? How do you stop the Author and Finisher of your faith from dragging you along. I think you can’t. If God has saved you, he will be sure you are sanctified. But the sanctification process isn’t ever an easy one, at least for me.
God never really trumpets easy stuff, does he? Sounds like Jesus was right; the path to righteousness is narrow and hard.
But your larger point reminds me of one of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes. Speaking for the enemies of God, Screwtape wrote, “Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”
So I would say no, you cannot walk away as you propose. To some extent because of the “God dragging you along” factor (perseverance of the saints and all that), but more because faith is not yours to walk away from! As you say, God is the Author of “our” faith. As a new creation, it is inextricably woven through the fiber of our being… it would be like trying to walk away from red blood cells.
Just to clarify, I did not propose that you can walk away. I agree with you fully. My faith is a gift from God as a result of His grace(Ephesians 2:8,9). Can I get an AMEN? Most of those last questions were rhetorical.
I think this blog thing is great and everything, but it would be a little cooler if there was a message board so more than just a few people could post ideas for people to think about or respond to. Hopefully this church is not afraid of a free marketplace of ideas.
I don’t think we (if a may speak for the church) are afraid of a free marketplace of ideas. Just read Eric’s blog on spiders. 😉 Your ability to leave a comment without cost or qualification freely on this website is unhindered. While the form may not be “a little cooler”, you have executed the very thing you hoped.
Andrew, we arn’t scared of your thoughts…. bring it on. All you need to do is pick one of us and let loose with a question! After I read Eric’s blog I had a hard time sleeping with the lights off!
Hey Andrew, I responded to your post under Eric’s blog. Since it’s the same topic I will restate and expand.
In due time my friend. We are currently developing an area for members/registered users to engage in an online community – bulletin boards and all. Most churches would never approve of blogs like this because they would be “scared”. I applaud our leadership for seeing that the benefits far outweigh the risks.
thanks for all the responses guys. I’m glad everyone is so “cool” about it. Kevin explained the money issues that are there.
As not to mislead you Andrew, I found out that the message board would be part of our webhosting services. So there is no money issue. Eric is the director of IT. You should ask him.