Stunted Christianity
To forever start and end with "I love Jesus because He died for me" is to never let the relationship grow beyond "Jesus is the one who saved me," and therefore, to never let oneself grow beyond "I am the sinner who was unworthy."
A stunted Christian like this can never grow beyond their own unworthiness, as fallen children of Adam and Eve. A stunted Christian like this will always feel guilt when saying "I can," "I want," or even "I need." They do not realize that their fallenness, as a state of being, ended at the cross.
Certainly, they will make wrong choices, they will make mistakes, throughout the rest of their lives. However, they can now make right choices, they can now do things without mistakes.
They don't realize that part of the package of being saved is the indwelling Holy Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit, now lives inside them, and will help them whenever they need Him, even if they don't know it at the time. This means that the normal human abilities (which God gave, like the rain, to the just and the unjust) have been supplemented by God's own abilities.
This attitude diminishes God's role in their lives, as provider, caretaker, parent, teacher, boss, and King. They cannot accept that God will provide and take care of them by giving them the means to provide and care for themselves. They cannot accept that God, as a parent, wants to see them succeed. They cannot accept that God wants to teach them, not just through discipline, but through the minds He gave them, and not having to go through a bad experience to gain that knowledge. They cannot accept that a worker who is always apologizing for their work is a worker who makes the boss look bad. They cannot accept that God is a just and kind monarch, who listens to the concerns of His subjects, and is always willing to give people a second chance.
By remaining "the lowly worm saved only because God decreed it," they are the kind of church nobody wants - spineless, weak, ineffectual.
GOD DID NOT SAVE YOU SO YOU COULD COWER AND GROVEL!!! GOD SAVED YOU SO YOU COULD GO HELP HIM SAVE OTHERS!!! GOD SAVED YOU SO YOU COULD ENJOY THE LIFE HE HAS GIVEN YOU!!!
A stunted Christian like this can never grow beyond their own unworthiness, as fallen children of Adam and Eve. A stunted Christian like this will always feel guilt when saying "I can," "I want," or even "I need." They do not realize that their fallenness, as a state of being, ended at the cross.
Certainly, they will make wrong choices, they will make mistakes, throughout the rest of their lives. However, they can now make right choices, they can now do things without mistakes.
They don't realize that part of the package of being saved is the indwelling Holy Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit, now lives inside them, and will help them whenever they need Him, even if they don't know it at the time. This means that the normal human abilities (which God gave, like the rain, to the just and the unjust) have been supplemented by God's own abilities.
This attitude diminishes God's role in their lives, as provider, caretaker, parent, teacher, boss, and King. They cannot accept that God will provide and take care of them by giving them the means to provide and care for themselves. They cannot accept that God, as a parent, wants to see them succeed. They cannot accept that God wants to teach them, not just through discipline, but through the minds He gave them, and not having to go through a bad experience to gain that knowledge. They cannot accept that a worker who is always apologizing for their work is a worker who makes the boss look bad. They cannot accept that God is a just and kind monarch, who listens to the concerns of His subjects, and is always willing to give people a second chance.
By remaining "the lowly worm saved only because God decreed it," they are the kind of church nobody wants - spineless, weak, ineffectual.
GOD DID NOT SAVE YOU SO YOU COULD COWER AND GROVEL!!! GOD SAVED YOU SO YOU COULD GO HELP HIM SAVE OTHERS!!! GOD SAVED YOU SO YOU COULD ENJOY THE LIFE HE HAS GIVEN YOU!!!
posted by BlueNight at
3:43 PM
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